Stats of the Day: Outfielders Heating Up

Those cold bats are finally starting to heat up around the league. Now if only Ryan Howard and Robinson Cano could stop killing my fantasy teams...

Florida	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Willingham, LF	4	1	3	4	0	0	1	.329

Josh Willingham has remained hot over the past two weeks, seemingly have a multi-hit game every other day. He's not quite at the level of Chipper Jones or Chase Utley, but I bet you got him for much cheaper than those guys.

Willingham is 29 years old, so don't think he is suddenly going to blossom into an MVP candidate this year. This is a player in his peak years, but he has pretty well established what he can do in the majors to this point. A peak in power is a possibility though, with him currently slugging .659. You might want to bump up your home run projections for him, but the average should end up around .280 still.

Baltimore	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jones, CF	4	0	3	3	0	0	0	.270

Adam Jones finally had a big game to bring his average back up to respectable levels. There was a lot of buzz on Jones over spring when he was included in the Erik Bedard deal. He's still only 22 years old, but has the skills to succeed some day. I wouldn't put a lot of eggs in this basket, but in a deep league he might be worth grabbing down the road since he should be able to put together a hot month or two. Keep an eye on him to see if he gets hot now or if this was just a one game aberration.

Houston	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Pence, RF	4	1	2	0	0	0	2	.268

Hunter Pence had a rough start to the year, but sometime between hanging out in hot tubs and playing World of Warcraft he decided to show up to the park. His current hot streak has him making an occasional appearance in the leadoff spot as he continues to crank out extra base hits. Hopefully this is the start of a great year for Pence, but the jury remains out on whether or not he can match last year's stellar numbers.

Detroit	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Granderson, CF	4	1	1	1	1	0	2	.375

Not the most impressive line score, but Curtis Granderson hit a home run on cue last night after I questioned his ability to hit for power following a finger injury. It's also good to see him taking walks in his first few games back without striking out. The Tigers lineup and fantasy teams are happy to have him back.

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Lee (W, 4-0)	9.0	3	0	0	0	9	0	0.28

A complete game, 3 hit shutout for Cliff Lee. I don't think anybody has a real explanation of what has gone on with Cliff, although he has faced some weaker lineups between Oakland and Kansas City. His next start is scheduled to be against Seattle, conveniently missing the entire series against the Yankees. With that kind of luck he could keep putting up great numbers for a while, but expect him to get hit around sooner or later when he faces better teams.