Houston Astros: Trend – Who’s Hot, Who’s Not – Vol 2

Who’s Hot

Michael Brantley

Brantley is on fire, but it’s a little underwhelming. The left-hander is slashing .375 over the past two weeks (18-48) with six doubles and four multi-hit games.  However, he also has no HRs and only two RBIs to his name during this time. Hey, I’m not complaining – Brantley is getting knocks and getting on base. But I’d be nice to leverage Brantley’s .330 BA and clutch hitting into more runs and power for this ball club.

The good thing is that I don’t think he’ll cool off anytime soon. Brantley is hitting .365 against RHP this year, and the Yankees have plenty of righty pitchers – Gerrit Cole, Domingo Germain, Chad Green – that should see plenty of him this week.

Cristian Javier

Javier gave up a back-breaking three run home run on Sunday to Austin Meadows, which stinks. However, those three runs were the only runs Javier has given up recently. Javier is 3-0 in his last four starts, with a 1.25 ERA to along with 26Ks, eight walks, and a 0.80 WHIP. Javier whipped on the Angels for five shutout innings back on April 18th, only to follow that up with seven scoreless against the then-hot Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park.

Javier’s 4-seam fastball has been electric this year (.185 OPP BA) and his slider has been a nearly unhittable punch-out pitch (.050 OPP BA). The righty from the Dominican Republican has evolved from a nice prospect into a top-of-the-rotation fixture for Dusty Baker and Brent Strom. Let’s hope he can keep this up throughout the summer – he might just be an All-Star by then.