Fantasy Baseball Hitters Trending Upwards / Downwards

July 5, 2014

RotoBaller analyzes several MLB hitters who are trending up or down in fantasy baseball. These hitters are good to keep an eye on over the next couple weeks.

The point of this article is to highlight fantasy baseball batters and pitchers who have been hot lately or players that have been colder than the Batman villain Mr. Freeze. The article will highlight the players most recent stats, with some advice about what should be done with the player for the rest of the season. Let's get started!

Fantasy Baseball Hitters Trending Up

Adrian Gonzalez  (1B, LAD) - Adrian Gonzalez started the season by hitting for a .336/.386/.685 triple slash which included 8 homers and 23 RBIs in April. Unfortunately, June was not as kind to him since he hit for a .222/.262/.313 triple slash with only 1 homer and 13 RBIs.

The June numbers led to chatter about trading him for pennies on the dollars or outright dropping him among some impatient owners. Don't let those numbers deceive you though. Gonzalez is on the upswing having hit .306/.321/.490 with 2 homers and 12 RBIs in the two week span from June 18th to July 2nd.

Rest of the season: Gonzo will be perfectly fine as the season continues. In fact his .273 BABIP is way below career norms suggesting that his average will increase and the power will continue to come. It's hard not to put your faith in a guy who has 100 RBIs or more in 6 of the past 7 seasons (and the 7th season he had 99). In Gonzo we trust!

Salvador Perez (C, KC) - Few have been as hot as Salvador Perez has been the past two weeks slashing .298/.313/.511 with 3 homers, 7 runs scored, and 5 RBIs. On the season Perez has a .284/.331/.450 line so while he is getting on base slightly less in the past two weeks the power numbers are definitely increasing since he only had 7 homers for the season otherwise. The Royals have been somewhat of a surprise this season and as of late their hitting has seemed to get better. Maybe Perez's hot hitting will be contagious, but for now enjoy the ride he is on.

Rest of the season: Salvador is on pace to easily break his career high of 13 homers, although I would expect the recent power surge to die down a bit. His low BABIP compared to career norms also suggest that he should come closer to his usual .290 + AVG. These numbers combined with Perez's numbers from the past two seasons suggest that he should be a borderline elite option as a fantasy catcher, especially in a season that has seen a lot of disappointments at the position. I'm buying wherever I can unless I have an option like Lucroy or Molina.

Melky Cabrera (OF, TOR) - Melky Cabrera has been great all season slashing .299/.343/.468 with 11 homers and 43 RBIs which puts him on pace for a career high in homers and to match his career high in RBIs. Which is why it's so impressive that Melky's two week span from June 18th to July 2nd actually is an improvement over his season's triple slash at .340/.400/.540 with a homer and 8 RBIs to boot. This recent surge followed one of Melky's worst stretches of the year from June 1st to June 17th when he hit .226/.258/.355 although he still had 2 homers during that span and 5 RBIs showing what a threat Melky has become even when he is cold.

Rest of the season: The Melk Man is here to stay! Nothing in his numbers really suggest too much in terms of regression as almost everything is completely in line with his career numbers. His ISO is way up from 2013 with the Jays, but essentially matches what he did in 2011 with the Royals and 2012 with the Blue Jays (PEDS aside). The homers probably won't keep coming all season, but as long as he keeps hitting he should have plenty of opportunities to drive in runs in the Blue Jays lineup. The Melk Man will keep delivering all season long. Going forward I see Melky easily as a top 20 outfielder and maybe even top 15!

Fantasy Baseball Hitters Trending Down

Jason Kipnis (2B, CLE) - It has not been a pretty season for Kipnis or his owners. Kipnis was drafted as a top option at the 2nd base position, but he has not performed like one at all hitting .250/.332/.361 on the season.

Impressively his numbers except his SLG % from June 18th to July 2nd look even worse than his season line at .234/.294/.383 and to top it off he is striking out 29.4 %  of the time! Yikes. The past two weeks Kippy is looking like someone who isn't fully recovered from the oblique issue that put him on the DL for a few weeks.

Rest of the season: Maybe the All-Star break and some rest will do Kipnis some good and allow him to recover some more from the oblique injury. However, it's hard to feel overly optimistic when he has a history of not playing well in the 2nd half of the season and speed is a huge part of his value. Maybe this is the year he reverses that trend. Regardless, with the surprising amount of depth at 2nd base this year I'm not overly confident in Kipnis becoming a top option again. If I were a Kipnis owner, and I used to be, I'd be trying to sell him on name value pretty quickly.

Joey Votto (1B, CIN) - Since I talked about Kipnis, it seemed only fair to talk about the man that I traded him for in Joey Votto. Votto was drafted in the upper rounds in many leagues and to date has rewarded his owners with a paltry .261/.399/.417 triple slash with 6 homers and 22 RBIs. He is still getting on-base at a great clip, but the power numbers are way down. The numbers from June 18th to July 2nd are even worse than his season numbers at .213/.356/.298 with only 3 RBIs. Votto really hasn't done much in any regard to help his owners the past two weeks.

Rest of the season: Unlike Kipnis, I still believe in Votto. Like Kipnis, Votto has recently returned from the DL . Unlike Kipnis, Votto's peripherals are more in line with what they have been for his career except his .302 BABIP  which is way below career norms. The only caution I feel with Votto is that he was injured, and that could be what is sapping him his strength and getting more hits. However, I feel the All-Star break will be a good breather for him and Votto will have a very strong 2nd half. In my opinion, now would be the time to attempt to buy low on Votto even though first base is such a deep position especially for those of you like myself in OBP leagues.

Gregory Polanco (OF, Pit) - For the first 8 days of his big league career, Polanco may have surpassed most of the hype surrounding him by hitting for a .385/.429/.487 triple slash with a homer and 6 RBIs over that span. Unfortunately, the days from June 18th up to July 1 were not quite so kind to Polanco, seeing him hit a measly .239/.365/.326  with 1 homer and 5 RBIS. The one improved part of Polanco's game is that he did have 4 steals over that span as opposed to none before it. However, owners who thought they had the next Mike Trout instantly have had to be disappointed in the way Polanco has played lately except for possibly those in OBP leagues.  The silver lining is that in the past 4 days Polanco has turned it on again with 5 hits in his last 13 ABs, and 1 HR, 3 RBIs and 5 Runs.

Rest of the season: Polanco hit for average, power, and speed in the minors. He did it all, hence why he was the most hyped prospect on the offensive side entering the season after George Springer. Like many rookies before him, Polanco is going to go through his stretches where he struggles to adjust to big league pitching. I do think expectations need to be tampered on him a little bit, but he is easily still worth a shot as your 3rd outfielder or at the very least on your bench going forward, and his recent 4 day surge show's he's likely fine.

Thanks for reading everyone, and I hope to see you in the same place same time next week. If you have any players you feel belong on my list, I'm happy to take request on my twitter account @RekedFantasy.