It’s been a strange year so far for American League power. Go back to your March projections, see what you expected from Paul Konerko, Ty Wigginton, Jose Bautista, Alex Gonzalez and Andruw Jones. Auction bucks have been trumped, at least temporarily, by waiver luck.
With that theme in mind, let’s talk about Luke Scott(notes). I’m not going to promise you anything long-term on this stock, but we’ve seen him go on power runs before and he’s smoking hot right now.
Scott knocked a pair of homers at Camden Yards Tuesday, giving him seven in 45 May at-bats. He wasn’t picking on a scrub pitcher here; the taters came against Kansas City ace Zack Greinke(notes). And both of the home runs were absolute rockets; the first one was more the towering type, while the second one left the park almost instantly.
Scott is never going to get into the All-Star Game without a ticket, but he’s not a bad power source in certain circumstances. He’s got 36 career homers over 521 career at-bats at Camden Yards. He’s a career .504 slugger against right-handed pitching. And he’s one of those notorious streak hitters; perhaps you remember the late May tear he went on last season (eight homers in 10 days). He’s not a perfect player, but if you need a power boost, there’s a case to be made for Scott.
The Orioles don’t have any home games left this week, but Scott still offers some short-term cachet. He’s a decent play at Texas the next two days (up against a pair of right-handed starters), and Scott should get some good hacks in against Washington’s Craig Stammen(notes) Saturday (the Nats throw lefties Friday and Sunday). Scott has been successful in both of these stadiums, albeit in small samples: he’s got two homers in 30 career at-bats at Arlington, and he’s gone deep twice in three games at Nationals Park.
If you’re looking for a National League version of Scott, how about Cincinnati’s Jonny Gomes(notes)? The hack-tastistic Red is on a 20-for-49 binge this month with three homers and 13 RBIs, and he’s got some nice matchups coming up (Kenshin Kawakami(notes) on Wednesday, and three games at Cleveland this weekend). Gomes is available in 93 percent of Yahoo! leagues as we go to press, while Scott is 88-percent available. Give these guys a tryout over the rest of the week.
There’s your lead (or lede) item, amigos. I’ll be back in a little bit with 850 more words, give or take a few.