Paul DeJong (25.7% owned – increase of 19.2%) is batting .313/.331/.602 with nine home runs, 17 runs scored, and 20 RBI in 128 at-bats. Over the past week of regular season games, DeJong is 11-for-16 with five doubles and three home runs. He has hit a home run in three consecutive games! Why am I suddenly walking through a Vegas casino and see a roulette board showing that the last 15 spins have all been red? “Always bet on black.” When trying to dig deeper into DeJong, Fangraphs just happens to be down. Kind of like every missle launch that the Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un has had. Thank goodness the internet has a plethora of options for any and every subject matter. Too much perhaps? North Korea scoffs at the notion, as they have just 28 websites. Anyways, DeJong is striking out 28.6% of the time and has an ISO of .289. The BABIP is also .378, so expect that .313 batting average to come down. DeJong is eligible at 3B/2B/SS, but he’s batting eighth in the batting order. He did hit .299 with 13 home runs in 190 at-bats down in Triple-A, so there’s hope, the same amount as an American going to North Korea and not getting arrested for being a spy. TRASH…
Edit: Fangraphs came back up later in the day. DeJong’s swinging strike rate is 15.2%. Yuck. And he’s only walking 3% of the time. The contact rates are in the 70% and he chases 37% of pitches outside the strike zone.
Whit Merrifield (42% owned – increase of 14.3%)
Interestingly, Merrifield’s ownership increased after a week in which he went 3-for-17 with one extra base hit. For the season, he has a .281/.319/.449 triple-slash with seven home runs, 32 runs scored, 33 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. Remarkably, he’s only been caught once. There’s a lot to like with Merrifield. For starters, he bats lead-off for the Royals. He only strikes out 13.8% of the time, has a reasonable .304 BABIP, and a .169 ISO. He utilizes the whole field, as his pull/center/oppo percentages are all in the 30% range. The swinging strike rate is only 8.4% and the contact rates are in the mid-to-high 80% range. Now, he’s only walking 4.8% of the time and chases 34% of pitches outside the zone. With that said, the overall package is very nice. 2 LeWhit 2 Quit? Does that work or do I need to run to the fridge and crush tomatoes onto/into my face? TREASURE
Cameron Maybin (48% owned – decrease of 11.2%)
For the month of July, Maybin is 4-for-27 with one extra-base hit and one stolen base. U. G. L. Y. He ain’t got no alibi. The triple-slash line is .148/.272/.185. Man….Here’s the thing, though. It’s freaking baseball. Slumps happen. He still bats lead-off for the Angels and he’s 25-for-28 in stolen base attempts. He also has six home runs on the season, so there’s some snap, crackle, and pop. I just went to Fangraphs again and….it’s down. What did they do to the Russians? Is Donald Putin going to be leading the league in home runs when baseball returns from the All-Star break? Anyways, I can’t dig too deep into Maybin but I still think there’s something there. Plus, some guy named Mike Trout is expected to return soon, so that will give that offense a boost. TREASURE
Domingo Santana (60.3% owned – increase of 15.3%)
I’m kind of surprised that he’s only owned in 60% of ESPN leagues. In RCL’s? 100. Anyways, Santana is batting .291 with 54 runs scored, 15 home runs, 50 RBI, and nine stolen bases. Wow. He’s the 13th outfielder on the Razzball Player Rater and 30th overall player. Santana bats fifth against righties and second against lefties. And, Miller Park is great for right-handed power. There’s so much to like here. He has lowered his strikeout rate from 32% to 27% and has a walk rate of 12.7%. Thanks Baseball Reference. Now, if only the freaking Russians would stop trying to input data into Fangraphs that says Donald Putin has a hard contact rate of 119% and a HR/FB rate of 1 billion! From the numbers that I can see, the .372 BABIP really jumps out to me, so some negative regression wouldn’t be surprising. In his brief career, Santana has shown to be a .260-ish hitter, but I’m not expecting that. .270-ish sounds reasonable. With the power/speed combo he possesses, that’s a very valuable asset. TREASURE
