Saac ‘N’ Roll

Isaac Paredes (HOU): 3-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.

Paredes posted a rock-solid .810 OPS with 20 home runs during his first season in Houston. However, he entered last night’s game at Progressive Field with a .565 OPS and no dingers through his first 18 games of 2026. In the top of the fourth, Slade Cecconi started Paredes with a belt-high slider, and guess what? He yanked it down the left field line and inside the foul pole for his first long ball (382 feet, 99.6 EV). Paredes has underwhelming raw power, judging by his EVs, but maximizing pulled flyballs has been his thing for a while. It reminds me a little of Didi Gregorius during his peak with the Yankees.

Sure enough, Paredes pulled the same trick in the ninth, yanking a knee-high heater from righty reliever Connor Brogdon to just about the exact same spot inside the left field foul pole (375 feet, 104.1 EV). If you’ve got Paredes on your squad and are looking for a silver lining, you won’t find it looking at his PLV metrics, with his Power having dipped nearly a full standard deviation from 91 to 77. His Process has also plummeted from 107 to 84. And you might have noticed that his strikeout rate has climbed up just over four ticks to 21.6%, backed by a drop in his contact ability from 115 to 106. This is all to say that Paredes’ slow start seems warranted to at least some degree. That picture could change, of course. In the meantime, his modus operandi remains unchanged: according to Savant, his pulled fly-ball rate of 34% is roughly double the league average. Good ol’ Paredes. Some things never change.

Let’s see how the other hitters did Monday:

Max Muncy (LAD): 4-4, 2 HR, 4 R, 2 RBI, BB.

Hitting seventh against the lefty, José Quintana, Muncy scored the Dodgers’ first of twelve runs with a shot to right in his first at-bat (419 feet, 100.8 EV). He later went oppo on a heater from righty reliever Tanner Gordon (397 feet, 99.3 EV). After entering the season almost as a forgotten man, the 35-year-old lefty is hitting .303 with eight dingers and a 1.008 OPS through 85 plate appearances. His PLV metrics, including a Power of 137 and a Process of 122, indicate continued success ahead. Dalton Rushing, who started at first for Freeman (paternity leave), also hit two dingers from the ninth spot.

Jac Caglianone (KCR): 1-4, HR, R, RBI, BB.

There it is! Caglianone’s first of the year came against a 95 mph belt-high heater from Kyle Bradish and flew 437 feet just to the right of straightaway center. His .277/ .356/ .415 slash is pretty decent. However, his swing decisions (77 DV) remain troublesome. The 23-year-old lefty is a curious case; his exit velocities are superb, but his 88 HR Power suggests he’s simply not driving the ball in the air as often as he ought to.

Dansby Swanson (CHC): 1-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Swanson had the longest drive of the game in the second, when he knocked the stuffing out of a 3-1 sinker from Aaron Nola (423 feet, 110.3 EV). That’s five for the Swanson, four of which have come over his previous eight games. He also has a career-high walk rate of 17.4%. However, a sky-high 56% pull rate suggests that his batting average might not move much past the dreaded Mendoza line.

Samuel Basallo (BAL): 2-3, R, 2 RBI, 2 BB.

Basallo entered last night’s game in KC having gone hitless in his previous ten at-bats, so it’s good to see him back in the boxscore. He has had a brutal start, hitting .153 with a .570 OPS.  And his PLV metrics aren’t great, aside from his 112 Power. Still, I think it’s best to stay patient. You don’t really see too many 21-year-old rookies hit right out of the box.

Lawrence Butler (ATH): 2-4, 2 RBI, SB.

Butler’s ice-cold start has sent him tumbling down the A’s order; he has hit no higher than seventh since last Wednesday. At the very least, he has salvaged his fantasy value with three steals in his last two games. I wouldn’t rule out the chance of Butler crawling back up the lineup, considering that his strikeout rate has dropped from 28.4% to 25.3% and he has made at least average-ish swing decisions (98 DV). Still, it’s hard to be enthused by Butler’s immediate outlook.

Carlos Cortes (ATH): 4-5, HR, R, RBI.

Butler’s struggles have opened the door for Cortes to seize a more prominent role. Batting third last night, the 28-year-old lefty got the A’s on the board by sending a 94 mph heater from Emerson Hancock up near the hands a few rows back into the seats in right (378 feet, 101.9 EV). He is hitting .333 with a .965 OPS through 48 plate appearances. He also had a pretty solid showing last season (132 wRC+ in 99 PA), so deep-leaguers might want to give him a look.

Sal Stewart (CIN): 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB.

He’s unstoppable! Sal parked a 3-2 sinker from righty Jesse Scholtens to the deepest part of the Trop, just to the left of straightaway center, for his fifth of the season (424 feet, 108.5 EV). His 1.027 OPS trails only Ben Rice (1.276) and Yordan Alvarez (1.215). He didn’t steal any bases after last year’s call-up, but he had a career-best 17 in the minors last year, so he is clearly not afraid to pick his spots on the bases. His 18.1% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate are terrific. What can’t he do?

Masyn Winn (STL): 2-3, 3B, R, RBI, SB.

Winn’s current seven-game hit streak has upped his slash to a decent .242/.346/.379. To his credit, Winn has shown a pretty good eye, nearly doubling his walk rate to just over 12%. However, he hasn’t shown much gain in the power department yet, with his PLV Power coming in at 88, about a standard deviation below average.

Josh Naylor (SEA): 3-4, 2 2B, RBI, SB.

Amazing. Just last Monday, he notched his first two dingers. And now, a week later, his first two doubles. His first of the night was a hard ground ball down the line past a diving Nick Kurtz. He also swiped his first base. Naylor’s slash sits at .174/.253/.267. A career-high ground-ball rate of 28.8% could be at least part of the problem.

Christian Walker (HOU): 3-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI.

Jordan Walker has been the toast of the town and rightfully so. But the other Walker has started hot, too. Christian started the scoring last night at Progressive Field by taking a knee-high fastball on the inner third from Slade Cecconi for a ride to deep left (390 feet, 111.1 EV). That’s five home runs and a .903 OPS. His 92 Power indicates that 30 home runs is probably a long shot, but his gains in contact have been huge, with his strikeout rate dropping from 27.7% to 17.2%.

Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire | Featured image by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X) and adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter/X; @justinparadis.bsky.social on BlueSky)