Fearless predictions, Part II

A look at four more players that caught our eye so far:

Marlon Byrd: .388/.443/.560 in 134 AB. His BABIP is .462. Even with his improved line drive/groundball stroke, that number should tumble. He had a .329 BABIP in 216 AB in 2005 with Washington and batted .264. That seems more likely.

Reggie Willits: .324/.416/.384 in 219 AB. Last year, he had 11 BB and 10 K in 58 PA. This season, he has 37 BB and 36 K in 267 PA. I’d say those numbers bode well for the 26-year-old. He has a .388 BABIP this year, which is 45 points higher than last season. If he keeps the ball out of the air, he should continue to get hits. He might not hit to a .324 tune, but .290-.300 is in range.

Pat Burrell: .207/.371/.392 in 222 AB. Burrell has always hit the ball in the air a lot, but even more so this season. One difference is his HR per flyball percentage has dropped from its usual 15-17% the past few years to a merely mortal 10.7%. The lack of punch coupled with a decrease in line drives makes one wonder if there is more here than meets the eye. His .231 BABIP might not all be bad luck, but it is well below the .298 he had last year and the .341 he produced in 2005. Burrell has always been an enigma, and will remain so. But if he gets playing time in the second half, and is healthy, he has nowhere to go but up. (Although, all parties involved would probably prefer out – as in out of town.) If his BABIP and HR/F are simply bad luck and not indicative of injury, he could put up decent numbers in the second half.

Richie Sexson: .210/.301/.424 in 276 AB. The Pat Burrell of the AL, with 15 HR and 48 RBI. His BABIP is .214, probably because his line drives are decreased and popups are increased. His 19% HR per flyball figure is on par with last season, when he batted .264-34-107. If he can start hitting the ball on a line again and get his BABIP up to the .300 level it saw in 2005 and 2006, he could improve nicely in the second half. Just 10 more base knocks at this point of the year would've jumped his BA from .210 to .246.