This Week in the MLB: 5/4-5/9

George Springer Struggles: Remember three weeks ago when the Astros George Springer was compared to Mike Trout? Well things haven't exactly gone Springer's way since his debut. Baseball Prospectus writer RJ Anderson doesn't exactly give up on Springer, but this article isn't exactly a ringing endorsement either. The gist of it is, Springer swings at way too many pitches, induces way too much weak contact, and hasn't shown any power. And to top it all off, Anderson reminds everyone that Springer is older than Jose Altuve and just a month younger than Matt Dominguez. Good news for the Astros is that they have like another 100 uber prospects in their system.......

The Surprising Marlins?: Beyond the Boxscore looks at the surprisingly not crappy Miami Marlins. No they're not great but they're not a bad team either. One of Miami's reasons for winning is their very high BABIP on the season. Now the question here is will their BABIP regress or not? That's the thing with BABIP is that you have no idea if someone or a team can maintain such high luck all year.

Gritty Ball Boy: Kirk Gibson and Matt Williams saw this kid make this pay and they immediately asked their GMs to sign him.



The Rise of Charlie Blackmon: Fangraphs takes a look at the rise of Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon. The Rockies have been one of the more surprising teams in the league so far and Blackmon has been a big part of that. Blackmon has walked more this year and cut down on his swing-and-miss rate creating more good contact and better plate appearances.

Instant Replay Numbers: You're not going to believe this but CB Bucknor leads the league with the most overturned calls. Shocking I know. You're also not going to believe this but Bob Davidson, Joe West, and Angel Hernandez are second with the most overturned calls. Who knew bad umpires make bad calls?

Pirates Get Turned Down: The Pittsburgh Pirates offered Gregory Polanco a 7-year deal worth $25 million before he even had his first AB in the majors. Polanco smartly declined the deal and the Pirates will keep him in the minors to bypass the Super-2 arbitration process. The way these prospects are handled, the arbitration process, and these team friendly contracts are going to become a big deal in the next CBA discussions between the teams and players. Selig has smartly delayed these talks until he retires.

Farm System Rankings & Mock Draft: John Sickles finally got around to ranking teams farm systems. I was shocked to see the Rays and A's farm system ranked in the bottom half of the league. Baseball America meanwhile has their first mock draft up for the upcoming June draft. Lots of pitchers in the first round this season.

The Decline of Prince Fielder: Prince Fielder hasn't been that great in Texas this year. That's no surprise since he was a disaster last year in the championship series for Detroit. What is surprising is the fact that Fielder has been declining since 2011 which seems hard to believe because Fielder still hasn't turned 30 yet. The Score believes that Fielder pulling a Cal Ripken Jr and playing every day has worn him out and that's why we've seen his power decline every year since 2011.

Games of the Weekend: A look at the best games and pitching matchups of the weekend.

Friday, Yankees vs Brewers, Tanaka vs Gallardo: The Brewers pitching staff has slipped a little since their terrific start for the season. Tanaka has been everything as advertised so far this year and his 2.16 xFIP proves so.

Saturday, Kansas City vs Seattle: Ventura vs Young: You're going to be hearing the name Yordano Ventura a lot. The young righty for Kansas City is one of the best young strike throwers in the league at the moment. Meanwhile Chris Young has been pretty good for the Mariners this season.

Sunday, San Francisco vs Los Angeles, Hudson vs Kershaw: Best pitching matchup of the weekend. Hudson has only walked 3 batters in 54 innings. That's amazing. Kershaw meanwhile has come back to the Dodgers and looked like he hasn't lost a beat. It's going to be painful when the Dodgers win this game 1-0.