Week nine of the fantasy baseball season featured another bad performance from a former Cy Young winner and the continuous great play of a NL center fielder.
The five worst performances of week nine.
5. R.A. Dickey, Starting Pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays
The former Cy Young winner has been struggling all season to get back the ways he was pitching in 2012. With the New York Mets he looked like one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball. 2013? Not even close. His knuckleball has not had the movement that it did last season and he has been paying for it. He lost both of his starts this week and had an ERA of 8.53. He has struggled at Turner Field his entire career and has yet to record a win there. He gave up three home runs in two starts with four walks and only six strikeouts. Once the weather starts to warm up you should see his knuckleball start moving more, but he was in Atlanta when it was 85 degrees and those balls were gift wrapped.
4. Jon Jay, Center Fielder, St. Louis Cardinals
Of every batter in baseball Jay had the worst batting average of all. In 22 at-bats he could only manage to record one hit, giving him a batting average of .045. He has clearly been struggling this week and has been doing pretty average for the season. Overall, he is batting .250 and has four home runs with 24 RBIs. Might be time to stick him on your bench or go for the straight up drop.
3. Evan Longoria, Third Basemen, Tampa Bay Rays
The hot streak was bound to slow down eventually and you could now say that Longoria is in a mini-slump. He has a weekly batting average of .194 and has only driven in two runs in seven games. He also did not hit a homerun on the week which isn’t the craziest thing ever. Along with a low batting average is the amount of strikeouts he has had on the week, averaging one a game with seven. Longoria will obviously be alright and there should not be an panic from his owners.
2. Ryan Howard, First Basemen, Philadelphia Phillies
One of the highest paid players on the Phillies hasn’t been playing like the highest paid player should be. His strikeout numbers have been a problem for him all year and they don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. He led the league in strikeouts on the week with 13 in 21 at-bats. He did manage to hit one home run but overall has had little to no fantasy value. I wouldn’t be starting Howard on the regular but he still has a bit of upside as the power seems to still be there.
1. Justin Upton, Left Fielder, Atlanta Braves
Arguably the hottest start in all of baseball, Upton, has finally cooled off. Especially in the ninth week of the season as he has only four hits in his last 25 at-bats, giving him a batting average of .160 on the week. The worst part about this slump is how many times Upton has swung and missed at 12. These struggles happen to every player and Upton is known for his high strikeout numbers anyways. He will come out of this and go on a tear, my guess is that it will be two or three weeks before the All Star Break.
The top five performances of the week.
5. Kendrys Morales, First Basemen, Seattle Mariners
The big man for the Mariners is having himself a year to remember. This week is one of the reasons why as he has been on a tear at the plate. His batting average was .355 for the week and he managed to hit three home runs and drive in a league high 11 runs. He did strike out six times this week, which isn’t horrible for a power hitting first basemen. Look for him to have little streaks like this all year as his batting average for the season is at .296.
4. Adrian Gonzalez, First Basemen, Los Angeles Dodgers
Gonzalez looked very good with the bat this week. His batting average was through the roof at .444 and has received a hit in 12 of his previous 27 at-bats. Everyone was waiting for Gonzalez to heat up and it is safe to say he has done just that. The Dodgers are still trying to find their identity and once Kemp comes back from injury, this team could start to turn the corner.
3. Yadier Molina, Catcher, St. Louis Cardinals
One of the best catcher in all of baseball is at it again. He led the league in batting average this week with a .588 mark and three walks. The power numbers haven’t been there this week as he only hit one home run and drove in three but he is getting on-base and you can not ask for more than that. If you drafted Molina you obviously know what you were getting and has been giving you just that. Molina continues to be the most consistent catcher in baseball and has one of the strongest arms at his respected position.
2. Bartolo Colon, Starting Pitcher, Oakland Athletics
Oh how the times have changed. Just two weeks ago Colon was being booed by his home fans and now he is being rejoiced over. He won both of this starts this week and did not give up a single earned run. He pitched 16 totals innings and struck out 12 over this span. He also didn’t walk a single batter and looked great on the bump. Colon is known for being an on-again off-again player but he is on right now.
1. Carlos Gomez, Center Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers
The speedy center fielder for the Brewers continues to play great, as this is his second time being number one on the best/worst performance list. In seven games Gomez has hit four home runs and drove in seven. His batting average was nearly .300 and even stole two bases. With everything that is going wrong in Milwaukee, it is nice to see that they still have a lot of skilled position players that can make the games for Brewers fans bearable. Continue to start him whatever league you are playing in.