Three Up, Three Down: Double Pleasure For Devon Travis

Each week, BA will take a look at the trends in major league baseball.

THREE 👍

Devon Travis | 2b | Blue Jays. Travis has 14 doubles this month—the most ever by a Blue Jays second baseman in May and just one short of the record 15, accomplished by Fred Lewis in 2010. Travis in the past week hit .542 with six doubles and eight RBIs. Travis’ line-drive rate has increased from a year ago, per FanGraphs.com, his ground ball rate is down and he’s swinging at fewer pitches outside the zone.

Corey Dickerson | of | Rays. Dickerson struggled last season in his introduction to the American League, posting career highs in strikeouts and career lows in walks and batting. He seems to have adjusted in year two. In the past week, Dickerson blasted five homers. He’s pounding lefties (.373) and righties (.336) and is hitting .366 this month. His average on balls in play is an absurd .405, so some regression is ahead, but Dickerson is also making more contact out of the zone. His hard-hit rate has climbed to 37.7 percent from 31.7 percent a year ago.

Matt Kemp | of | Braves. Kemp was thought of as a salary dump for the Padres, but he’s been a highly productive player for Atlanta. Since April 21, Kemp has reached base in 25 games in a row, going 38-for-107 in that time with 21 RBIs. He hit .464 in the past week with six extra-base hits. His 1.022 OPS ranks 11th in baseball.

THREE 👎

Masahiro Tanaka | rhp | Yankees. In his three years in the States, Tanaka has been a reliable, if not exactly durable, ace. He has been healthy in 2017, but has been anything but an ace. In his past four starts Tanaka has allowed 34 hits in 18 innings, has given up 10 homers, and opponents are batting .395 with an OPS of 1.260. Tanaka has been pitching with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, but the Yankees say there is nothing physically wrong. His velocity isn’t measurably different, but batters are teeing off on his four-seamer (.668 slugging) and sinker (.502 SLG).

Anthony Rizzo | 1b | Cubs. After a terrific (.877 OPS) April, Rizzo is just 11-for-63 in May (.175) with just three extra-base hits. Rizzo is still showing excellent plate discipline (13 walks), but he’s hitting the ball on the ground more (53.6 percent) with a line-drive rate of just 17.1 percent. Rizzo had a .309 average on balls in play in 2016; this year it’s .224.

Joey Gallo | 3b | Rangers. Strikeouts will always be a big part of Gallo’s game, and when he produces the Rangers can live with it. Through April 24, Gallo had a 32.4 percent strikeout rate, but that was paired with a .985 OPS. Since then, however, Gallo’s strikeout rate has zoomed to 38.2 percent and his OPS in that time is .650. Amazingly, Gallo has 13 homers overall, tied for fourth in baseball, but he has struck out 63 times in 163 plate appearances.