Keon Broxton has been one of the more, shall we say difficult(?) players to own in fantasy baseball this year, and one of the most talked about. He ended last year on a ridiculous stretch (that was very BABIP-fueled) and a lot of people (including myself) thought that he could have a really good year this year. But it started off bad, and through July 21st, he was slashing .218/.294/.430. Sure, he had 17 stolen bases and 14 home runs, but that average and OBP was pitiful, and it got him sent to the minors. He got called back up on August 1st, and since then, he's been slashing .273/.360/.659, and continued that Wednesday night going 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI. Now look, if you're like me, and Broxton's excellent power/speed combo is so tantalizing to you, you want me to tell you that he figured something out in the minors. That he's cut down on the strikeouts, changed his approach, and that we can expect great things from him. Well unfortunately, I can't tell you that, because that's not what's happening. Yes, his strikeout rate is down a couple points and his walk rate is up a couple points, and that's nice, but he's still striking out 36% of the time, which isn't good. The streak isn't BABIP-fueled either, as his BABIP is sitting at a reasonable .333 during that streak. No, you can thank his absurd 57.7% hard hit rate and 41.7% HR/FB rate for all of that. Now, it's good to see his hard hit rate that high, even if it's unsustainable, he's hitting the ball harder, that's good, so perhaps there's still power to be sapped from him, and we know his excellent speed potential. But that hard hit rate and HR/FB rate will come down, and with the strikeouts, he'll continue being the Keon Broxton we know and love (or hate). So why am I bothering talking about him? Because Broxton is prone to streaks. He'll bat .197 for three weeks and then he'll bat .340 with six home runs and five steals for like two weeks all of a sudden. Right now, he's in the middle of a hot streak, and when Keon's hot, he's hot, and he's available in around 83% of ESPN leagues, so if you're pushing for the playoffs, Keon might be the one to help you get there while he's destroying the ball. Just remember, he'll cool off, so give him a short leash.
Let's take a look at some of the other performances from Wednesday:
