Batter’s Box: Jackson Cannery

Photo by Justin Berl/Icon Sportswire

Remember Austin Jackson? If you’re a New York Mets fan, you definitely do, because the dude has been lighting it up since being acquired by the Mets from the San Francisco Giants, slashing .400/.440/.600 since then, including yesterday’s 3-4, 1 RBI performance. He’s been playing pretty much every day too, so it’s fair to wonder—how real is this? Well, the short answer is pretty much no, because, during that same time, he also has a .553 BABIP. Yes, you read that right, .553. So no, that’s not going to stick, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pick him up and ride out this streak. He’s hot, and he’s playing every day, and you should take advantage of that. He’s available in 98% of leagues.

Let’s take a look at some of the other performances from yesterday’s games:

Jorge Alfaro (C, Philadelphia Phillies) – 1-3, 1 RBI, 2 SB. It’s not often you see any stolen bases in a game from a catcher, let alone two. It’s a nice game from Alfar, but the guy is slashing .239/.342/.358 over the past month with inconsistent playing time. I’m not interested.

Neil Walker (2B/1B/3B, New York Yankees) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI. Walker had himself a nice August, slashing .345/.429/.466 so if that got you to pick him up, I hope you enjoyed it, because he’s regressing to the mean now, slashing .178/.245/.444 in August. That .432 BABIP he had in July wasn’t going to stick forever.

Andrew McCutchen (OF, San Francisco Giants) – 3-5, 1 RBI, 1 SB. Nice to see a steal from Cutch, who’s only stolen two bases now over the past month. He’s been struggling, and being in AT&T Park all the time certainly doesn’t help. I’m not saying drop him, but I don’t really see how you can start him right now until he heats up.

Xander Bogaerts (SS, Boston Red Sox) – 3-4, 1 R, 2 RBI. Nice game from Bogaerts who’s been heating up lately, slashing .324/.458/.568 over the past two weeks.

Ian Desmond (1B/OF, Colorado Rockies) – 3-5, 1 R, 5 RBI, 1 SB. A lot of people have wanted to drop Desmond, and I get it. He’s been slashing .233/.287/.360 over the past month, and that’s with a fair number of home games. But then he goes and has a game like this one, and you remember why you own Desmond. If you want to drop him, I get it and I don’t blame you, but personally, I’m going to bench him until he heats up again, because when he’s hot, he’s amazing.

Trevor Story (SS, Colorado Rockies) – 3-4, 2 R, 1 SB. Trevor Story is awesome. That’s now a .295/.340/.516 slashline over the past month and he’s got 17 steals on the year. What a season.

Nicky Delmonico (OF, Chicago White Sox) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 5 RBI. Delmonico was a guy I liked when he came up last year, but he hasn’t done much this year, slashing .232/.293/.493 over the past month. He’s certainly got power, but it’s something that needs to develop more.

Victor Martinez (DH, Detroit Tigers) – 3-3, 1 RBI. What is dead may never die. V-Mart is still kicking around and he’s been slashing .333/.386/.493 over the past month. With DH-only eligibility though, I’m not inclined to pick him up.

Tyler Austin (1B, Minnesota Twins) – 2-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Great game from Austin but he’s not playing a lot in Minnesota and hasn’t been good this year. I’ll pass.

Jedd Gyorko (3B/2B, St. Louis Cardinals) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Gyorko always seems to ride the edge of fantasy relevance and he’s doing it again, slashing .289/.396/.467 over the past two weeks. He’s worth a grab in deeper leagues thanks to his positional eligibility.

Matt Olson (1B, Oakland Athletics) – 2-5, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. Another home run for Olson who’s now got 23 on the year. While he hasn’t been as good as fellow Oakland Matt, Matt Chapman, he’s still useful for his power alongside an average that won’t kill you.

Alex Bregman (SS/3B, Houston Astros) – 1-3, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB. Bregman has been struggling lately, slashing .235/.356/.424 over the past month. That OBP is awesome, but everything else has been difficult to deal with. Still, he’s a great player and it’s just a cold spell, hang tough.

Steven Souza Jr. (OF, Arizona Diamondbacks) – 3-5, 3 RBI. Don’t look now, but Steven Souza is heating up. In the second half of the season, he’s been slashing .321/.391/.526, and while that does come with a .418 BABIP, he’s seen a decrease in his groundball rate while maintaining a 42% hard-hit rate. Worth a grab for the streak at the very least. He’s available in 80% of leagues.

Eric Hosmer (1B, San Diego Padres) – 2-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 SB. I’ve seen some people saying they want to drop Hosmer, personally I wouldn’t, he’s in the middle of a nice hot streak, slashing .286/.333/.390 over the past month. Yes, the power hasn’t really been there, but he’s been useful.

Manny Machado (3B/SS, Los Angeles Dodgers) – 2-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI. Manny Machado is amazing and I miss him in Baltimore.