Grishmmmmm…?

Trent Grisham (SD): 3-7, 2 HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB.

Yesterday was a day full of baseball craziness for the Padres. A doubleheader double victory. Dealing away Eric Hosmer, and of course, dealing for Juan Soto (and Josh Bell). Despite all of this, one performer stood out in both games, and that was Trent Grisham.

In game one, he went 2-4 with a homer, three runs, and three RBI. The homer barely made it over the wall at 96 mph going 345 feet. Game two, he added a 111-mph homer going 373 feet. In total he put up a robust stat line of 3-7, 2 HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB.

He now has three homers in his last three games and seven since the start of July, which is over half of his yearly total. Grisham has had a rough year at the plate batting under .200, and a hard-hit rate of 32.4%. He’s hitting more grounders and barely any line drives (12.7% much lower than his career of 19%). His BABIP is also an abysmal .230 which is mostly from his line drives disappearing.

The one bright spot, however, is his rolling hard-hit rate. The rolling hard-hit rate of his last 50 batted balls has been steadily climbing since the middle of July from 26% to now at 54%. The results haven’t been there outside of the last few games, but this could be a major sign of a turnaround for Grisham’s rest of the year.

Let’s see how the other hitters did Tuesday

Marcell Ozuna (ATL): 3-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI.

Ozuna launched a 445-foot homer yesterday and added a 103 MPH double. He has been hitting the ball well for most of the year with a minor dip in HardHit rate earlier this season. But recently he’s experiencing another severe dip in hard-hit rate over his last 50 batted balls. It is down to 36% when it had been bouncing around 50% for the last couple of months. This has shown up in his stats too with a 68 wRC+ in July and a 38 wRC+ so far since the All-Star break (prior to this game, that is). He hasn’t had a month over 100 wRC+ since April.

Josh Donaldson (NYY): 2-3, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.

Donaldson’s age seems to finally be catching up to him this season as he’s having the weakest year he’s had at the plate since he debuted in Oakland. He’s been striking out a bit more often and is walking at less than 10% rate, something he hasn’t done since 2012. His hard-hit rate is in the low 40s for the first time since 2018. The plate discipline stands out to me since his O-Swing is significantly higher this year. He is swinging at 33.6% of pitches out of the zone (seven points higher than his career number). He just isn’t the same guy at the plate anymore.

Jurickson Profar (SD): 7-10, 2 2B, 3 R, 2 RBI.

Profar scattered three singles and two doubles, with only two total hard hits throughout yesterday’s first game and added two more singles in the second. He’s having one of his best offensive seasons with a 122 wRC+ aided by an excellent 12.7% walk rate. He’s been unstoppable lately, continuing his hit barrage as he has homered in the three games prior to yesterday’s doubleheader, and then went on to add seven more hits.

Ha-Seong Kim (SD): 4-9, 2B, 3B, 2 R, 2 RBI.

Kim had three hard hits in game one and added another hard hit in game two, which is a rarity. His career hard-hit rate is firmly at 30% and has been a bit lower this season so far. But this past month, he has been excellent. Not even including the doubleheader yesterday, Kim is slashing .314/.380/.443 since July 2nd. And that is with a 44% hard-hit rate. The rolling hard-hit rate over his last 50 batted balls hit 40% on July 2nd and has stayed there since. It seems Kim has made a critical change to improve his swing and it’s paying off.

Luis García (WSH): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Juan Soto is gone and deGrom is on the bump. So all García could do was see an opportunity. He hit a 105-mph double off deGrom in the fourth for his only run against in his five innings. And then once the relievers came in in the sixth, García crushed a 427-foot home run. That was only his fourth homer all season. He was in my Batter’s Box last week as well, and all he’s done since is add a bunch more singles and a double til this big game.

Eloy Jiménez (CWS): 3-3, 2B, R, 4 RBI, BB.

It’s been nearly a month now that Jiménez returned from the IL for a torn hamstring. He also sat out a few days around the All-Star break. Since then, he’s gotten a hit in every start and is slashing .367/.387/.700 not even including yesterday. Now that it seems like he is finally healthy, he’ll start hitting and is a must-have on any roster. It has been a rough couple of years health-wise for Jiménez and it would be wonderful if he can just focus on playing awesome baseball.

Jorge Mateo (BAL): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI

Mateo decided yesterday to just crush baseballs. He hit a 408-foot home run, a 107-mph line out, and then added a 103-mph homer. Before yesterday’s game, he only had eight dingers, but five triples and 25 steals. His hard-hit rate is under 30%, yet he got a couple of them yesterday. He is most likely on someone’s team due to his stolen base prowess so that double home run game is a nice cherry on top.

Meibrys Viloria (TEX): 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI.

First off, this guy has a wonderful name. Second, he was called up in June because he was killing it in Triple-A with a 154 wRC+. He’s been acting as the backup catcher to Jonah Heim and has only 34 plate appearances this year so far. He hasn’t hit until the last couple of games and this one has certainly been his best. I don’t expect much more playing time with Heim in front of him.

Eddie Rosario (ATL): 3-5, 2B, R, 5 RBI.

Rosario had missed a big chunk of time this year due to an issue with his eye. He returned at the beginning of July and has been pretty poor at the plate, slashing .222/.250/.365. The Braves added Robbie Grossman at the deadline so this will most likely turn into a platoon with Rosario facing righties and Grossman lefties. Regardless, with how Rosario has been performing I don’t see room for him in any fantasy lineup.

Oneil Cruz (PIT): 1-3, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB, SB.

Cruz is an exciting player, and he did some exciting things yesterday in stealing and hitting a 408-foot homer. Despite what has seemed like a great start to his career, Cruz has struggled out of the gate. He’s slashing .206/.241/.405 with a 34.6% strike-out rate. He’s swinging at almost 40% of pitches out of the zone. The plate discipline can certainly be tightened up, and that would be a great start to improving.

 

Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)