Good gravy, let’s talk about two recent power surges. Duda Where’s My Car and He’s on the Mark, Teixeira. Lucas Duda and the Teixecutioner have been absolutely bananas over the past week.
Duda has hammered 6 long balls in the past week (9 in the past two weeks) with a 1.708 OPS. That’s good for the second best OPS over the past week in baseball, behind only the aforementioned switch-hitting Mark Teixeira. Earlier in the year, Duda was annihilating baseballs. He had a phenomenal April and May but slumped terribly through June and first half of July. Towards the end of July and now into August, Duda has flipped back to the early season guy that Mets fans were drooling over. With the surge, Duda has nearly doubled his HR count (21) and could be a threat for 30. For OPS leagues, obviously he’s been stud-worthy recently, but be careful if you’re trying to deal for him at your league’s trade deadline. This is a guy who can get cold just as quick as he got hot. With how high the price tag must be on him right now, I’d stay clear. If you’re an owner, I would see what I could get back for him.
It’s hard to get much better than what Duda has done of late in an OPS league. But, Tex has done it. Over the past week, Tex has in equal parts OBP and SLG, outdone Duda by about 100 points. Tex’s 1.792 OPS is pretty awesome, and recalls memories of Harper’s magnificent power surge earlier in the year. Sound bonkers? Well, he is now tied with Bryce Harper for the 4th most home runs this season at 29. Tex’s season BABIP sits at .255, which is a little low for him (career BABIP is .285). This resurgent Tex looks a lot more like the player from 2010 (with near identical ratios) than the dawdler we’ve seen over the last several seasons. His struggles have partly been due to injury, as he has never been quite at full health, seemingly ever since injuring his wrist in batting practice preparing for the World Baseball Classic in 2013. Tex is certainly well beyond that now, and has an outside shot at tying his Yankee career high HR mark of 39, set back in 2009 (when he finished second in the MVP voting). 10 more Tex – you can do it!
Another standout from this past week is the sneakily effective catcher Wellington Castillo. Castillo has bounced around a bit this season, playing games for Chicago, Seattle, and now Arizona. In case you missed it, Castillo was in the deal that saw Mark Trumbo sent to Seattle. The dry Arizona air has done well for Castillo, as he is now batting a robust .289/.372/.594 for the Diamondbacks with 10 homers and 21 RBI, through just 40 games. Castillo has launched 4 homers in the past week with a gorgeous 1.555 OPS. Castillo was well-regarded when he was in Chicago and was often considered the Cubs catcher of the future before the rapid ascent of the awesome Kyle Schwarber and the trade for Miguel Montero. If you need a catcher, you could do a lot worse than Castillo right now. [Update: This column was actually drafted yesterday before games had begun, so I was pleased to see Castillo have another great game on Wednesday night. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI. Grab ’em!]
Okay, fine. I’ll write about Carlos Correa. I am embittered with respect to Correa and have resisted the urge to write about him in my posts. He is great. As Grey might say, I’d eat sushi off his nipples if he’d let me. Let me explain my dismay. I dealt my Correa for Giancarlo Stanton in a long-term keeper league, only to see Stanton’s hamate bone explode on a routine swing a few days later. So, yeah, watching Correa’s rise to stardom has been somewhat mixed for me. Anyhow, I still enjoy watching him play, because I like watching big bodied shortstops do their thing (a la Ripken, Rodriguez). Now that my Correa story is out of the way, let’s talk about his impact on OPS leagues. Correa slugged .883 across four seasons in the minor leagues. Considering he was going up against competition that was older than him at each level, this is an impressive feat. Now, consider that at age 20, Correa’s OPS sits at .907 through over a month of play – at the major league level. At age 20, Bryce Harper’s OPS (in his second full season) was at .854. Let’s look at other shortstops. In Cal’s first full season, his OPS was .792, at age 21. We can’t really compare Correa to Alex Rodriguez, who at age 20 posted a ridiculous 1.045 OPS. That’s just inhuman. But, what I’m trying to get at is that Correa’s career has started off incredibly well for owners in OPS formats, particularly when you compare him historically to other power-hitting shortstops. I’m sure you didn’t need me to tell you this, but with respect to OPS formats, Correa could be the top shortstop to own in 2016, with Tulowitzki being the only other guy that could get into the conversation with a strong finish. What do you think?
How are your teams doing as we approach the trade deadline in a lot of leagues? Any moves you are considering making to get ready for the stretch run? Tell me about it in the comments.
