Who's Hot and Who's Not: Games Played Through April 21st

This article will take a look at some of the hot and cold hitters and pitchers through April 21st:

Who's Hot

Matt Kemp

Kemp is proving that his 2011 season was not fluke as he is leading MLB in HRs, RBI, BA, OBP, SLG and ISO. His 9 home runs are more than some teams have hit so far this season. He may make good on his promise to hit 50 homers after all.

Matt Wieters

Wieters was one of my top 10 players to target this season, and he is making me look good so far, as he is hitting .283-.377-.630 with 5 HRs, 12 RBI and a .348 ISO.

Adam Jones

Jones had a solid 2011 season, and he appears to be taking another step toward stardom this season, as he is hitting .311-.344-.656 with 5 HRs, 8 RBI, 12 runs and 3 stolen bases. Could he put up a 30-20 season in 2012?

Ross Detwiler

Detwiler probably went undrafted in many leagues this season, but so far this season he has looked solid in his 3 starts, putting up a 0.56 ERA, 2.64 FIP and 2.76 xFIP with a 8.44 K/9, 2.25 BB/9 and an absurd 64.3% ground ball rate.

Mike Minor

Minor is fresh off a dominating performance against the Diamondbacks in Arizona where he struck out 9 and walked none in 8 innings of one run ball. He is 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA and 1.96 FIP with a K rate of 8.41 and BB rate of 2.21.

Lance Lynn

Lynn is another young starter who has surprised thus far this season. He is 3-0 with a 1.42 ERA and 3.16 WHIP. He has struck out just over 8 batters per nine and has limited his walks to just under 2 walks per nine innings.

A look at Who's Not after the jump:

Who's Not

Albert Pujols

Pujols has yet to hit a HR this season, his longest drought of his career dating back to last season. The reason? Check out this piece by Jeff Sullivan over at Baseball Nation.

Giancarlo Stanton

Stanton was my preseason favorite to lead MLB in home runs this season, but, to date, he has exactly zero home runs and is hitting just .255-.296-.333 with 5 RBI. One positive is that his strikeout rate is down to 20.45 from 27.6% in 2011 and 31.1% in 2010.

Eric Hosmer

Hosmer is not struggling to hit home runs, yet it seems like most of his hits are home runs, as he is hitting just .179-.270-.375 with 3 HRs, 9 RBI and 9 runs scored. Hosmer is walking at an 11.1% clip, and his BABIP is just .163 so far this season.

Clay Buchholz

Buccholz is having a disastrous start to the 2012 season, as he has given up 6 HRs in just over 17 innings pitched, thanks to the 5 homers he gave up on Friday. I am not a fan of his, and think fantasy owners should stay very far away from him.

Jeremy Hellickson

Hellickson is 2-0 with a 3.26 ERA, but is getting away with a walk rate (4.66) that is higher than his strikeout rate (4.19). For some reason, he strands base runners at an absurdly high 82.6%, just over his 82.0% in 2011. Should that regress to the mean of around 70%, his ERA will suffer.

Mat Latos

Latos is a slow starter, but fantasy owners have to be worried about his 0-2 start and 8.22 ERA. Even more worrisome is the drop in his strikeout rate from 8.57 to 6.46, and increase in walk rate from 2.87 to 4.70 in the early going.