C Matt Wieters, Baltimore Orioles: In Wieters' first 13 major league games, he didn't drive-in a single run. Last night, he hit his 1st HR. There isn't a single baseball afficianado who thought it would take Wieters until his 14th game to erase the zeroes from the HR and RBI column.
SP David Price, Tampa Bay Rays: Seven innings with 10 hits and five earned runs may not show it, but last night's start may have seen the light go on for Price. After allowing four runs in the 2nd inning, one could be excused for thinking he'd be failing again to give his team even five innings. Instead, he goes seven with just 99 pitches thrown and no walks.
OF Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds: The 22-year-old outfielder hit his 16th HR of the season. It was his only hit and took his AVG to .217. His batting average is worrisome though, but his age will keep him as an intriguing prospect for another couple years.
SS Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox: Ramirez hit his 6th HR of the season. He is well behind last season's 21 HR pace but has stolen 10 bases and looks to have doubled his walk rate. That may not be enough to get his BA to .300 though. 35 walks over 500 ABs is still low.
RP Brandon League, Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays put their closer on the 15-day D.L. Fantasy fans hoped last night's game would present a save opportunity to see who will fill-in. Unfortunately, Scott Richmond pitched and eight-inning gem in a blowout. However, League came in and cleaned-up a tiny B.J. Ryan-created mess in the 9th. Is League the closer?
2B Robinson Cano, New York Yankees: His 12th HR has Cano 2/3s of the way to his career-high with more than 50% of the season yet to be played. I can't help compare the Yankees' hitters to the 2007 New England Patriots. If you played fantasy football with a Patriots' homer in 2007, you got killed. If you're playing 2009 with a Yankees' homer, chances are the homer is kicking butt on offense.
OF Curtis Granderson, Detroit Tigers: Granderson hit two HRs and stole a base last night to bring his season totals to 16 and 11, respectively. Those 16 HRs are today's surprising stat of the day.
OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox: Ellsbury's lack of walks has drawn a lot of negative attention his way because it makes his OBP heavily AVG-dependent. As a matter of fact, he is drawing walks at a similar pace as Alexei Ramirez. However, Ellsbury has drastically improved his contact rate over last season when he struck out 80 times with a contact rate of 85.6%. This season his contact rate has improved to 91%.
3B Mark Reynolds, Arizona Diamondbacks: With his 18th HR, Reynolds is looking like this season's big breakout power hitter. I can't help thinking he will be overrated next season along the same lines Chris Davis of the Texas Rangers was this year. He strikes out too much for me to believe otherwise. His other peripherals reinforce my belief - an increased GB % along with a big jump in HR/F%. His walks and Ks are basically the same as last season.
8th Inning Holds: David Weathers CIN (10), Darren Oliver (6) and Justin Speier LAA (4), Kyle McClellan STL (8), Sean White SEA (7), Brad Ziegler OAK (2)
Saves: Francisco Cordero CIN (16), Bobby Jenks CSW (15), Mitch Stetter MLW (1), Brien Fuentes LAA (18), George Sherrill BAL (13), Mike MacDougal WAS (1), Ryan Frnaklin STL (16), Huston Street COL (14), David Aardsma SEA (12), Andrew Bailey OAK (6)
Blown Saves: Trevor Hoffman MLW (1)