Daily Baseball Update: Who's Hot 5/11

If the Season Ended Today

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera (Tigers): 7 HR, 40 RBI, .382 AVG, 1 SB.  On pace for: 34 HR, 196 RBI, .382 AVG, 5 SB.

NL MVP: Bryce Harper (Nationals): 10 HR, 21 RBI, .302 AVG, 1 SB.  On pace for: 46 HR, 97 RBI, .302 AVG, 5 SB.

AL Cy Young: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox): 6-0, 1.60 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 56 K's.  On pace for: 27-0, 1.60 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 252 K's.

NL Cy Young: Matt Harvey (Mets): 4-0, 1.28 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 58 K's.  On pace for: 20-0, 1.28 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 294 K's.

AL Rookie: Justin Grimm (Rangers): 2-2, 3.45 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 31 K's.  On pace for: 9-9, 3.45 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 143 K's.

NL Rookie: Shelby Miller (Cardinals): 5-2, 1.58 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 51 K's.  On pace for: 24-10, 1.58 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 243 K's.

Who's Hot (Stats from last 7 days for hitters, 30 days for pitchers).

Miguel Cabrera (Tigers): 3 HR, 10 RBI, .455 AVG, 0 SB.

Through his first 24 games, Miguel was doing well: 3 HR, 26 RBI, .367 AVG.  However, in the past nine games, he has shot off, homering four times, driving in 14 runs, and batting .421.  He's recorded a hit in each game and has scored nine runs.  His best game came on May 4th, when he was 4-4 with two home runs and six RBI.  The Tigers have gone with him; they are 6-3 during Miggy's nine game hitting streak.  Dating back to April 9th, he has been on base in 27 straight games, garnering a hit in 25 of them.  This season, he as already compiled hitting streaks of twelve and nine games.  His .382 average leads the majors.

Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks): 4 HR, 11 RBI, .364 AVG, 1 SB.

In his last nine games, Goldschmidt has homered four times, driven in twelve runs, and batted .379 with two stolen bases.  In a three game stretch from May 6th to May 8th, he homered four times, drove in nine runs, and batted .538 (7-13).  In the first game, on the 6th, he went 4-5 with a home run and three RBI.  He followed that up with a home run and three more RBI on the 7th, then two home runs and another three RBI on the eighth.  Since returning home for the series with Philly, he's 0-5, but that will change.  Like Miggy and the Tigers, the Goldschmidt's D-Backs are 6-3 during his nine game hot stretch, including a five game winning streak.  

Marco Scutaro (Indians): 0 HR, 4 RBI, .500 AVG, 0 SB.

Scutaro is currently on a ten game hitting streak in which he's hitting .487.  His average has jumped from .215 to .295, as he has recorded multiple hits in seven of those ten games.  Twice, on April 29th and May 8th, he recorded three hits.  On May 4th, he reached base in five of his six plate appearances, going 2-3 with three walks.  Of his 19 hits during the streak, four have been doubles, and he's scored nine times.  As of now, it's pretty much impossible to get him out.

Will Venable (Padres): 3 HR, 5 RBI, .429 AVG, 3 SB.

Will hasn't played much, but when he plays, he hits.  In his last seven games, he's hit three homers, driven in five runs, and batted .467 with four stolen bases.  His best game came on May 7th, when he was 2-4 with a home run and three RBI.  He's been running all over the place, stealing bags in three of his last seven games, including two on May 10th.

Felix Hernandez (Mariners): 4-1, 1.21 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 45 K's in 44.2 innings.

In his last five starts, the King has been nearly flawless, going 4-0 with a 0.71 ERA and 40 K's in 38 innings.  In four of the five, he went eight innings, and never gave up more than one run in any.  On April 17th, he went eight innings and gave up just one run on five hits and twelve strikeouts.  He also tossed eight shutout innings on five hits on May 3rd in Toronto.  On April 22nd, the only of his past five starts where he failed to go eight innings, he tossed six shutout and struck out nine.  Overall, his ERA has dropped from 3.05 to 1.53.

Jordan Zimmermann (Nationals): 4-1, 1.42 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 29 K's in 38 innings.

Jordan's been terrific all season (6-1, 1.59 ERA), but he really showed what heis capable of in two starts.  On April 26th, he tossed a complete game, one hit shutout of the Reds.  Then, in his very next start, pitching in one of the toughest ballparks to play in on the road, Turner Field, he tossed eight shutout innings on two hits and no walks.  Between the two starts, he threw 17 shutout innings and gave up just three hits and one walk, striking out twelve. 

Who's Cold

Brett Lawrie (Blue Jays): 0 HR, 1 RBI, .083 AVG, 0 SB.

In his last 38 at bats, Lawrie has recorded just two hits for a sorry .071 average.  He's struck out seven times and seen his average drop from .220 to .172.  On May 6th, he went 0-4 with three strikeouts.  Hopefully for the Blue Jays' sake, he can turn it around, as they've gone 3-5 during his slump.

Philip Humber (Astros): 0-5, 11.19 ERA, 2.27 WHIP.

Humber has STRUGGLED.  In his first three starts, he actually pitched well despite going 0-3, posting a 2.89 ERA and not giving up more than three runs in any start.  His next four were four to forget.  He went 0-4 with a 16.20 ERA, giving up 27 earned runs in just 15 innings.  On April 20th, he recorded exactly one out and gave up eight runs on eight hits and a walk.  In his next start, he was pounded for seven runs on ten hits and three walks in 4.2 innings.  Then, in Yankee Stadium, he gave up four more runs on nine hits in six innings.  On April 5th, the Tigers knocked him for eight runs on eight hits and three walks in four innings.  These four starts were enough to knock the man who threw a perfect game in 2012 out of the rotation.  Dallas Keuchal, who was 0-1 with a 4.96 ERA in the bullpen, replaced him and gave up two runs in six innings.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.

HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman