Welcome to Ronnie’s 3 Ups and 3 Downs! This column looks at some fascinating matchups and facts that might pique the interest of the reader as that day’s games are reviewed. This is my attempt at creating compelling thought on any given day.
Ups
Carlos Rodon
This is a prime matchup for Rodon. His arsenal is made up of mostly a fourseam fastball and a slider, the two pitches accounting for 92.7% of his usage. Today he faces the Tigers on the road in Detroit. The motown team is the worst in the league against the fastball with a -17.4 wFA. They struggle mightily against the slider as well with a -7.9 wSL as a team.
Shin-Soo Choo
The former all-star is working hard to get back to the midsummer classic. Through 65 PA on the season Choo is hitting .345/.446/.600. He’s currently ranked 2nd in the American League with a 58.5% HC on the year with a miniscule 7.3% SC. He’s turned it up over the last week making 62.5% HC in his last 23 PA, good enough for a .574 wOBA.
Carlos Correa
Correa is ranked 2nd in the Major leagues with 72.7% HC against left handed pitching. He has a 36.4% LD and a massive 301 wRC+ against southpaws this year while striking out at just a 6.7% clip. TOday he faces Ranger lefty Drew Smyly. The Texas hurler has just a 69 ERA+ through 11.1 innings on the season and is allowing opposing hitters to make 58.3% HC.
Downs
Brandon Drury
There may not be a less productive starter in the game right now. Leading the league in K rate at 42.2%, Drury is hitting like he has a tennis racket with no strings. He is walking at just a 4.7% rate which is unfortunate because when he does swing he owns a 13.2% whiff rate. When he manages to put a ball in play, Drury isn’t hitting it hard. He has a .066 ISO on the year with only 3 extra base hits in 64 plate appearances.
David Fletcher
Over the last week the Angels David Fletcher has a 100% contact rate in 5 games. He’s showing incredible discipline in that time swinging at only 11.1% of the pitches he sees outside the strike zone. The unfortunate thing for Fletcher is that he faces left hander Marco Gonzalez. Fletcher has a -12 sOPS+ against left handed pitching thanks to only 2 hits in 23 PA on the year.
Mitch Moreland
Moreland is mired in quite the slump as of late. In his last 5 games he has a 59.6% contact rate, the 3rd worst in the Majors over that time. It should come as no surprise then that he is also leading the league in the last week with a 21.9% whiff rate. The disturbing part is that he is showing no discipline at the plate, swinging at 39.3% of the pitches he sees outside the strike zone. It doesn’t look like this slump is going to end any time soon, stay away from Moreland.
