The top 25 players to use for Beat the Streak in July 2014

Three players share the top spot with 66 games with a hit (GH). Daniel Murphy, Melky Cabrera, and Jose Altuve. Which of these three players should you prefer?

You don’t want a player that will get lots of goose eggs in a game (going 0-for-4 or 0-for-3). I call these GzH (Games with zero Hits)

• 16 GzH: Daniel Murphy
• 16 GzH: Jose Altuve
• 18 GzH: Melky Cabrera

Pretty close call there. How about at bats? You should pick players that get lots of at bats per game, therefore increasing the chance of the player getting a hit.

• 4.179 AB/G: Daniel Murphy (ranked 5th overall)
• 4.173 AB/G: Melky Cabrera (ranked 6th overall)
• 4.167 AB/G: Jose Altuve (ranked 8th overall)

All three are excellent percentages. Murphy’s is slightly the best, so he gets the nod. Although be careful as Murphy normally bats second in the Mets lineup. But the past four days he has batted 3rd.

The top 25 players to use for Beat the Streak in July 2014:

Rank                 Player  GH
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1             Daniel Murphy   66
2             Melky Cabrera   66
3               Jose Altuve   66
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4            Alexei Ramirez   65
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5                Adam Jones   64
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6             Casey McGehee   63
7             Nick Markakis   63
8             Robinson Cano   63
9          Michael Brantley   63
10             Elvis Andrus   63
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11        Giancarlo Stanton   62
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12                Alex Rios   61
13         Andrew McCutchen   61
14          Victor Martinez   61
15            Evan Longoria   61
16             Carlos Gomez   61
17             Todd Frazier   61
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18              Chase Utley   60
19               Mike Trout   60
20           Dustin Pedroia   60
21           Justin Morneau   60
22          Jonathan Lucroy   60
23         Paul Goldschmidt   60
24            Brett Gardner   60
25              Nelson Cruz   60
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Alexei Ramirez has slid down from the #1 Beat the Streak player to being the 4th-best.  For comparison, Alexei Ramirez’s at bats per game is 3.877, ranking him 47th. Not so great. Alexei’s fewer at bats means fewer changes at getting a hit for that game. Hitting 5th or 6th in the lineup is hurting Alexei’s Beat the Streak top spot.