When you go to the club….DISCLAIMER: It’s been a looooooooong time….your eyes are attracted to the lights and sexy, scantily-clad girls dancing on the table/speaker/2-feet high heels. They are the show pieces and provide a good time whether you engage with them or not. The true treasures, though, lie in the shadows. Not the ambivalent ones, but the reserved ones who are scoping. Not saying they are marriage material, although I’ve seen it happen plenty of times, but many tend to be wholesome on the outside, but freaky in the bedroom. With a little effort, one can unmask these values. Which segues perfectly to Yonder Alonso (52.9% owned – increase of 18.7%). Ok, maybe not but there are some similarities to my poor analogy. Alonso has a .261 average. Eh. 18 home runs. Eh Eh. He’s eligible at 1B. Eh Eh Eh. Not that exciting except….he has a .205 ISO, which doesn’t jump off the page, but it’s 12th-best for all first basemen. The 18 home runs are 10th-best. The batted ball and plate discipline numbers look fine and there are no glaring splits (he hits righties better, but so do most left-handed batters). If you haven’t noticed, the Indians are one of the top offenses in all of baseball and Alonso usually hits 5th in the batting order. TREASURE
Kole Calhoun (45.6% owned – increase of 31%) was the most-added player over the past week. Paul “The” Martian went over him HERE earlier this week. Regression was due and regression came, as Calhoun had a scorching month of July: .322/.378/.759 with 10 home runs. The ISO was .437 and BABIP .333. With the hot July, the season-to-date numbers are as such: .172 ISO, .231 BABIP, and .209 average. There could be more regression coming, but the power numbers are not going to continue at this pace. .437 ISO is unsustainable. Now, Calhoun’s hot streak started when the Scioscipath slotted him into the leadoff position. Hitting in front of Mike Trout is a good thing for sure. If you’re expecting this torrid pace to continue, I’ve got bad news for you. I do want to label him as TRASH, but the lineup position and continued BABIP regression make me scream: TREASURE!
Maikel Franco (50.8% owned – increase of 17.1%) has been blistering hot in July as well: .330/.378/.593 with 7 home runs. The ISO has been at .264 while BABIP has been .315. For the season, he has a .278/.323/.485 slash with 17 home runs, a .207 ISO, and .278 BABIP. What I really like about Franco are the 13.4% strikeout rate and 10.3% swinging strike rate. The 17 home runs are the 8th-most for third basemen. In addition, Citizens Bank Park is above average for right-handed power. Interestingly, Franco has reverse-splits, in that he hits right-handed pitching better than lefties. The BABIP against lefties for this season, though, is only .188. There should be some positive regression, which provides some more upside. TREASURE
