Freaks of the Week

FOTW 7/21-7/27

By: Spent Brockman

Yusei Kikuchi, Toronto Blue Jays

After posting a negative WAR a year ago, it seemed like the Blue Jays made a huge mistake locking Kikuchi up to a three year deal, but a year later and that deal might end up being a steal. It remains to be seen if this Kikuchi we are seeing this year is the actual Yusei or if it is just a mirage made out of a string of lucky starts. I tend to think that this is more of the latter as he is allowing the highest batting average since his rookie year and his FIP is just around his career average. Now that I am done belittling his accomplishments let's dig into why he is on this list. We will get into his stellar week in a sec but this week did not come out of nowhere as he is sporting an ERA a whole point lower than his career average with a 3.79 ERA to go along with a 8-3 record. Even with this good season working in his favor, this week stands out. Kikuchi had a two start week with a game against the middling Mariners but his second came against the fierce Dodger lineup. Kikuchi was ready for the occasion, throwing a combined 11.1 innings while allowing a single run and striking out 16. Although those numbers are impressive when you look deeper into the number you can see that luck once again played a big factor in Kikuchi's success as he allowed a whopping 15 baserunners so he definitely caught a break by stranding 14 opponents on base. I am sure Toronto and Yusei hope luck stays in their corner but given the underlying numbers it is only a matter of time until he returns to the norm but until that happens we will celebrate and enjoy this streak he is riding.

Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros

If you were to tell me that Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez would miss the majority of the season and the Astros would still be 13 games over .500 I would think a miracle would have had to happen. And maybe a miracle did happen or maybe it was destiny but Kyle Tucker's ascent into superstardom has been the driving force of this team. Tucker has been a good player in this league for a couple of years now but he always had a hole in his game, namely his inability to hit lefties but this year the script is flipped. Last year Tucker had positive splits against righties hitting a respectable .275 against them but a lowly .228 against lefties. This year that split against righties has remained the same as he is hitting .277 against them but he has done a complete 180 against lefties hitting an absurd .358 against them. This ability to hit pitchers regardless of handedness has led to a revolution for Tucker as he looks to be on the verge of hitting for his first .300+ season while also pushing for a 30/30 season. Tucker's insane season continued this week as he had a three homer game as a part of a four homer week to go along with his 8 hits and 2 steals over six games this week. Lucky for Tucker and the Astros some of the pressure has been taken off his shoulders as the team got Altuve and Alvarez back this week which are insane additions to pair with the red hot Tucker to help push them over the hump in what is shaping up to be a fierce division race against the Rangers.

Adbert Alzolay, Chicago Cubs

It seemed like Adbert was the Cubs top pitching prospect for the entirety of the 2010s. But when the Venezuelan failed to take the next step to show he can be a viable big league starter, it seemed like the team put him on the back burner and he looked destined to be a player who never lived up to the hype and would have to toil away in the minors. Coming into the season the Cubs had a couple options to close games for them but no one who had a clear cut edge allowing Adbert to see a new way to reinvent himself and seize an opportunity to once again push for stardom. Now as the calendar is about to flip to August it is seeming like that the stars have aligned perfectly and both the Cubs and Alzolay are benefitting greatly. Coming into the season, Alzolay had not been horrible but was not a quality major league pitcher carrying a 4.48 career ERA mostly caused by walk issues. But Alzolay showed improved command and efficiency in his first full season as a reliever allowing the Cubs to give him a chance to work the ninth and he has shown that he was born to be a closer. Alzolay's dominance can be seen in his ERA+ as he almost has a perfect metric at 185 meaning very few pitchers are throwing the ball better than him right now. This week has been the climax of his season as in a six game week the righty racked up 4 saves across 4 innings while striking out 5 hitters and allowing a single baserunner. For a surging Cubs team having a reliable arm to lock down the ninth has been a godsend allowing them to win close games and keep their season alive.

Nico Hoerner, Chicago Cubs

You know when the Cubs win every game in a week I gotta put two of them on this list so here we go. Hoerner was the first prospect to rise through the Cubs system following the Bryzzo era and he was tasked with the burden of trying to guide this team through their rebuild. Well the Cubs picked the right guy for the job as he shows up to play everyday regardless of the team's record and wants to put together a great at bat no matter the score. Now that the Cubs are on the verge of completing their rebuild, Hoerner is enjoying the fruits of his labor as he looks like he will post career highs in every stat this year except maybe his average. Hoerner's ability to show up and constantly produce was on full display throughout the week as he has been a driving force behind the Cubs' six game winning streak. The sparkplug had 10 hits while showing a little power and speed hitting 4 XBHs with 4 steals as well. The Cubs are hoping Hoerner continues to be hot so they can ride this streak right into contention.

Sandy Alcantara, Miami Marlins

Baseball is just better when Sandy is pitching like this. A year removed from winning the Cy Young, Alcantara has experienced some serious regression. The Marlins' ace will most likely end up posting career lows in all the major ratios as he currently has a 4.46 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, numbers that are far beneath the talent of Alcantara. But a deeper look at the numbers shows that bad luck has played a big role in these poor numbers since he still has a FIP of 3.87 a figure that is not too far off from his career average of 3.73. At a certain point, Alcantara's luck had to flip and it seemed to have, temporarily at least, this past week as he put together a complete game against the Rays only allowing a single run on 5 hits while striking out 7. A year ago this would have been just another day at the office for Sandy but given the woes he had gone through this season, he deserves a shoutout when he gets back to his old ways. Let's hope Alcantara can put more of these games together because it would be awesome to see him pitch in the high stakes October games.