The A's have had a plethora of players who have surprised with breakout seasons.
You can add Nick Martini to the list. Martini went 3-for-6 on Thursday while scoring three runs, driving in two and hitting his first MLB homer in a 21-3 walloping of the Angels.
With the big afternoon, Martini is now hitting .295/.391/.411 in 48 games with the Athletics. He's been even better in September with a .955 OPS in the month, and it's more than compensated -- so far, anyway -- for the struggles he had in August when he had an OPS of just .574. He also hit .394 with a 1.130 OPS in July. Long story short, Martini has certainly shown the ability to get on base and hit for average when he's had a chance to play.
The question, of course, is how real is this. The answer is impossible to answer, but there's at least a solid chance that it's at least relatively sustainable. Martini has a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .365, which would be the sixth-highest total of any player if he had enough at-bats to quality. Tat suggests a certain amount of luck, to be sure. He's also hit 27.8 percent of his balls in play as line-drives and has a near even split of using the entire field, however, and both of those numbers suggest the ability to hit for a high average at the MLB level. He's also a very patient hitter and appears to recognize pitches well; another positive sign.
There are certainly issues with Martini as well; the power is well below-average, he can't hit left-handed pitching, and he doesn't have the speed to be more than an 8-to-10 stolen base threat. Still, his hit tool has been impressive, and as long as he's hitting on top of the Oakland lineup, he's going to score some runs. This is a sleeper to keep an eye on going forward for 2018 and beyond.
Yankees set double-digit homer record
The Yankees may not be able to catch the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the team home run record, but they set their own record in a loss to the Red Sox on Thursday.
With Luke Voit homering for the 10th time, that makes 12 players that have hit double-digit homers for the Yankees. That breaks the record of 11 that was held by the 2015 and 2017 Astros, the 2016 Twins and the 2004 Tigers. It also gives the team 245 homers, which is 19 short of the all-time record of 264 that was set by that Mariner team that featured Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and several other power hitters.
It's unlikely that the Yankees are going to hit 20 homers over the final 10 games of the season -- although it's certainly not impossible -- but the double-digit record illustrates a few things. First, the Yankees have as much power in their lineup as any team. Second, the Yankees play in very, very friendly confines. When you combine monsters like Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton with that right-field porch, you're going to see records broken. It's a fairly obvious point, but if you have a player on your fantasy roster that's playing in New York, double digit homers are a borderline lock.
American League Quick Hits: Tigers OF Christin Stewart went 2-for-4 with a pair of homers and six RBI to lead the Tigers to an 11-8 win over the Royals on Thursday ... Red Sox IF Eduardo Nunez is dealing with a hamstring injury and won't play in this weekend's series against the Indians ... Tigers RHP Michael Fulmer underwent successful surgery Thursday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee ... Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the Rangers "are contemplating replacing" manager Jeff Banister after the season ... Red So RHP Austin Maddox underwent surgery on his right rotator cuff Wednesday and is expected to miss 12 months ... Athletics RHP Trevor Cahill (back) is scheduled to return to the A's rotation Sunday against the Twins ... Angels C Francisco Arcia homered as a catcher and gave up three runs over two innings of relief work Thursday against the A's ... He's the first player to ever pitch, catch and homer in the same game ...
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