Daily Baseball Update: Who's Hot

If the Season Ended Today

AL MVP: Chris Davis (Orioles): 6 HR, 20 RBI, .353 AVG, 0 SB.

NL MVP: Justin Upton (Braves): 9 HR, 13 RBI, .311 AVG, 2 SB.

AL Cy Young: Clay Buchholz (Red Sox): 3-0, 0.41 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 23 K's in 22 innings.

NL Cy Young: Paul Maholm (Braves): 3-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 20 K's in 20.1 innings.

AL Rookie: Stephen Pryor (Mariners): 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.55 WHIP, 7 K's in 7.1 innings.

NL Rookie: Shelby Miller (Cardinals): 2-1, 1.96 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 18 K's in 18.1 innings.

Who's Hot (Stats from past seven days, pitchers' stats from last 30 days).

Carlos Gomez (Brewers): 2 HR, 3 RBI, .611 AVG, 1 SB.

Carlos Gomez has been a one man wrecking crew over the past few games.  From April 14th to April 17th (Sun-Wed), he posted three straight games with three hits, and was 3-4 with a solo homer and a pair of runs scored on the 16th.  He added a stolen base on Thursday against the Giants and homered again on Friday.  In each of the five games, he scored at least one run.  This makes him 11-18 (.611 AVG) with two homers, three RBI, six runs, and a stolen base in his past five games.

Travis Hafner (Yankees): 3 HR, 4 RBI, .429 AVG, 0 SB.

Travis is on a hot stretch.  He has four homers in his past eight games, including three in the last five.  He's 6-14, including two multi-hit games, over his past five games.  On Friday in Toronto, he went 2-5 with a homer, 2 RBI, and a run.  On Wednesday, he knocked a pinch-hit home run.  

Carlos Gonzalez (Rockies): 1 HR, 4 RBI, .524 AVG, 2 SB.

Despite an 0-4 on Friday, CarGo has hit .524 over his past five games.  From April 13th through April 18th (Sat-Thurs), he logged four straight multi-hit games, including three games of three hits.  He homered in the first game of a Tuesday double header as part of a 2-4 game, then scored three runs and stole a base in the nightcap during a 3-4 game.  Between the two, he went 5-8 with a homer and four runs scored.  If you're looking for the reason that the Rockies have surged to the top of the NL West, look no further than Carlos Gonzalez.

Paul Maholm (Braves): 3-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 20 K's in 20.1 innings.

Paul Maholm is dealing.  In three starts, he's yet to give up a run and has let opponents bat .153.  His first start, on April 3rd against Philly, yielded 5.2 shutout innings.   He followed up on April 8th in Miami with seven shutout innings on just one Marlin hit.  In D.C. on Sunday, he tossed 7.2 shutout innings on four hits.   Overall, he's got 20.1 shutout innings on 11 hits and five walks.  He starts today in Pittsburgh to try and protect his status as the only scoreless starter in baseball.

Clay Buchholz (Red Sox): 3-0, 0.41 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 23 K's in 22 innings.

In his three starts, Clay has gone seven innings each time.  His first start, where he went 7 innings and gave up one run at Yankee Stadium, has turned out to be his worst of the season.  He followed it up with 7 shutout innings against the Orioles and then eight shutout innings against the Rays.  In total, he has tossed 22 innings and given up one run.  Opponents are hitting .149 against him and, in my opinion, Clay is pitching even better than Maholm.

Who's Cold

Adam Dunn (White Sox): 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 AVG, 0 SB.

Look at that stat line and you know you can't get any colder than that.  Zeroes across the board.  He's hitless in his last 25 at bats, seeing his average drop from .187 to .105.  Dunn has struck out nine times in those 25 at bats, including at least once in each of his past six games.  This may just be a slump, or he could be returning to his 2011 form where he finished the season with a .159 average in 122 games.

Ubaldo Jimenez (Indians): 0-2, 11.25 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 11 K's in 12 innings.

Ever since Ubaldo's 19-8, 2.88 ERA 2010, he has struggled without end.  From 2011-2012, he went 19-30 with a 5.03 ERA.  In his first start of 2013, Ubaldo tossed six innings and gave up one run in Toronto, starting the season off on the right foot.  However, it's been downhill from there.  In his second start, this time hosting the mighty New York Yankees, he was tagged for seven runs and didn't make it out of the fifth inning.  In his third start, hosting the Boston Red Sox, he was tagged for seven runs again, but this time exited in the second inning after recording just five outs.  He walked five batters in that game.  Over his past two starts, the 6'5" righty is 0-2 with a 21.00 ERA and a 2.50 WHIP.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.

HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman