MLB Week 13 Hot or Not: Spencer Steer slams three home runs in one game

Meanwhile, Angels and Royals regress

Welcome back to the Hot or Not feature series! This week’s recap covers the 13th full week of the season, from June 22-28.

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AL West
Hot: Jacob deGrom flirts with a no-hitter
There have been a couple of complete games this year, but deGrom has been one of the few starters to come close to pitching a no-hitter. Through seven innings, deGrom kept the Orioles two walks and seven strikeouts before he gave up the first and only hit of the game to Colton Cowser in the eighth. He was immediately pulled, with a close-to-flawless 89-pitch outing. Pitching has been dominant this season, and deGrom’s start underscores this imbalance.

Not: Angels bullpen gets run over by the Nats
A couple weeks ago they were cruising, but now the Angels have been knocked down a few pegs. Los Angeles’ relievers were steamrolled by Washington, relinquishing seven runs in five innings. Sam Bachman was charged with the loss despite only giving up a run in one frame, but Hector Neris and Hunter Strickland quickly let the game get out of hand, with Strickland turning an 11-9 deficit into a 15-9 runaway within one inning. There’s always next time, Angels firemen.

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AL Central
Hot: Brooks Lee pushes the Twins forward
Lee’s sophomore campaign has been promising, and last week was clear evidence of his improvement. He batted .476 and slugged .667, plating three runs and five RBIs. Lee recorded a hit in Minnesota’s six games to improve his season batting average to .280, and he only struck out once. Consistency has been key for Lee, and his steadfast plate discipline is helping him excel.

Not: Kansas City’s volatility persists
June has been a streaky month for the Royals, mainly filled with more lows than highs. Extending a six-game losing streak, Kansas City’s lineup batted a miserable .154 and hardly slugged .250. Tampa Bay silenced the team at Kauffman Stadium twice during their underwhelming series sweep. Although the entire lineup struggled, Jac Caglianone’s hitless stretch didn’t help matters. With each loss, the Royals are falling out of buying contention far before the trade deadline.

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AL East
Hot: Tampa Bay’s starters look invincible
The Rays rotation was elusive. The starters secured three of five potential wins last week and showcased two quality starts from Shane Baz and Taj Bradley. Baz pitched an eight-frame shutout while striking out nine in the 4-0 Rays win against the Royals, and Bradley held the Royals to two hits and a walk in 6 ⅔ scoreless innings paving the team’s 5-1 rout. With a 0.36 ERA combined, Rays pitching was certainly Ray-ing.

Not: Tomoyuki Sugano’s AL ROY campaign goes awry
The course toward AL Rookie of the Year hasn’t run smoothly for Sugano, and his poor outing against Tampa Bay only adds insult to injury. Sugano quickly conceded six of his seven earned runs to the Rays in the second inning from three home runs and an RBI single. He left the game with nine hits and a walk allowed on top of three home runs and seven runs. Sugano hasn’t been the breakout player Baltimore has hoped for, and this latest pummeling was the worst game of his MLB career.

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NL West
Hot: Eduardo Rodríguez take control for the Diamondbacks
Rodríguez happily took advantage of Chicago’s struggles with runners in scoring position —and getting runners into scoring position — in Arizona’s 10-0 triumph over the second-worst team in the baseball. Rodríguez only surrendered five hits and two walks while striking out 10 over six innings, raising his strikeout total to 74 and cutting his June ERA to 2.05. Rodríguez stepped up to secure a should-win game.

Not: San Diego’s lineup scrapes out a few runs
The Padres got lucky last week with such little offense. The bats slashed just .181/.262/.290 and recorded a -0.4 WAR. Manny Machado and Fernando Tatís Jr. batted around .100, taking away plenty of offensive power. Fortunately, the Padres didn’t need to come in with guns blazing, as they took home wins in nearly half of their games. An off-week happens to every team, but in a tight division it’s harder to survive them.

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NL Central
Hot: Bombs away, Spencer Steer
Steer was a hitting machine against the Padres. In Cincinnati’s 8-1 victory, Steer crushed three home runs in his first three at-bats, compiling 12 total bases and four RBIs in one game. While the MLB record for home runs per game by a single player sits at four, Steer’s three bombs puts him in elite company as a feat that has only been achieved seven other times this year. With his crazy night, Steer raised his June slugging percentage to .560.

Not: Paul Skenes loses duel against Brewers rookie
Using the same team in consecutive weeks for a division’s “Hot” or “Not” is typically avoided at all costs, but this week it’s worth mentioning Skenes’ imperfect performance. Facing rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski in Milwaukee, Skenes allowed four hits, four runs, and two walks in a short, four-inning outing. At least he didn’t give up a home run, as the Brewers had already tallied four in the series. For only the third out of 17 times this year, Skenes struggled.

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NL East
Hot: Miami rides the heat wave
The Marlins brought the East Coast heat wave west with their hot hitting. They outscored the Giants, 24-12, in their Bay Area sweep before moving on to trample the Diamondbacks. Miami’s young infielders Otto López, Connor Norby, and Xavier Edwards each batted better than .350 last week, contributing to a productive lineup slash line of .321/.369/.455. The Marlins have jumped the Nationals in the NL East and are on a five-game win streak.

Not: Michael’s Harris II continues battling for hits
Atlanta’s former NL Rookie of the Year in 2022 hasn’t had a great summer. His .215/.241/.323 slash line shows a steep decline in hitting from last year’s borderline All-Star-worthy hitting. Harris went 0-for-13 last week, contributing only a run and RBI in Atlanta’s fights against its division rivals. Atlanta has been slowly growing out of a bumpy spring, but Harris hasn’t quite caught up.