Last season, Cubs’ catcher Willson Contreras slugged a healthy .499 with 21 homers across 117 games (428 plate appearances). Going into play this past Wednesday, he had yet to find that same form at the plate through the first 29 games of 2018, as the third-year big leaguer was slugging a meager .354 with just one deep drive. Now, as the weekend gets underway, Contreras seems to be rounding into shape with seven hits, including two roundtrippers Friday afternoon, over his last 10 at-bats. We may be seeing a trend develop here, as Contreras, who will turn 26 on Sunday, posted a .630 OPS prior to May 12 of last year but a .932 mark from that point forward.

 

Streaking

Speaking of catchers rolling into the weekend, Wilson Ramos owns the league’s longest current hitting streak. The Tampa Bay backstop has come up with at least one knock in each of his last 17 contests, slashing .388/.431/.642 with four home runs and five doubles during that stretch.

Francisco Lindor has not only hit safely in 12 straight games, but he has put up eight multi-hit performances in that span. The switch-hitting shortstop has posted a ridiculous 1.303 with six long balls across his last 60 plate appearances.

J.D. Martínez has certainly settled in to the middle of the Red Sox lineup over the past couple weeks. Boston’s $100M slugger has gone 21-for-50 with four homers and a .320 ISO during his current 12-game hitting streak.

One last double-digit hitting streak going into Saturday belongs to Andrew McCutchen . The veteran outfielder has 13 hits over his last 10 games, as he has put up a .988 OPS with three extra-base hits and six walks since the last day of April.

 

Saturday on the Hill

Everyone was talking about Domingo Germán as last weekend came to a close, and rightly so, as he punched out nine Cleveland Indians while walking just two across 6.0 hitless frames in his first MLB start. German will take the mound for his follow-up effort Saturday afternoon versus an Athletics’ lineup that put a 10-spot on the board at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.

With debuts in mind, the Orioles will call up righty David Hess for his first taste of the bigs. MLB.com ranks Hess as the organization’s No. 18 prospect and he has getting it done for Triple-A Norfolk so far in 2018. In six starts at that level this year, Hess has worked to a 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and 29-to-12 K/BB ratio across 29.2 innings.  He will be on the bump for Game 1 of a double-header versus the Rays.

Sticking with that A.L. East double-dip, Alex Cobb will make his sixth start for the Orioles against the team with which he made his previous 115 in Game 2 on Saturday evening. After getting off to a late start this past spring, Cobb struggled mightily across three outing in April. Through two starts in May, however, he has looked much more like the Tampa Bay version of himself that resulted in a $57M free-agent deal. Across 12.0 innings this month, Cobb has allowed just four runs (three earned) on 12 hits and three walks while striking out seven. 

 

You can follow Nate Miller on Twitter @Miller_RotoDad or hear him every Monday & Thursday hosting the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Podcast along with Colby Conway.