Michael Conforto hasn’t cooled off since he was called up to the Big Leagues

We are a month into the season, so we should have a clearer picture of our teams now. Many of the stats should be stabilizing. Read this to get more in-depth information. Now is the time to assess your team and see how you can improve.

In this weekly column, I will highlight some players that performed the best/worst over the past week. Hopefully, the information will improve your team and help you hoist the trophy at the end of the season.

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RISERS

• Michael Conforto (OF – NYM)
  14 hits, eight runs scored, two home runs, and 10 RBI. I love this kid. Bats third for the Mets, has a silky-smooth swing, and an advanced approach at the plate. He was my sleeper pick for the year. The only issue is his futility against left-handed pitching. To be fair, the sample size is only 28 major league plate appearances, but a .231 average is a .231 average. Conforto could continue to struggle against left-handed pitching for sure, but he’s only struck out 14.3% of the time against them, so I think he figures it out. I’ll just end with this… Granted, Conforto is three years older than Trout and Harper at that stage of their careers, but it’s impressive regardless.

• Gerardo Parra (OF – COL)
  12 hits, three runs scored, one home run, nine RBI, and two stolen bases. I really liked Parra coming into the season and he hasn’t disappointed. 15 home runs with 15 stolen bases is attainable, especially playing in Coors Field. The most encouraging aspect to Parra’s season so far is that he’s batting .379 with one home run against left-handed pitching in 29 plate appearances. That was the one concern entering the season, that he would be a platoon bat. With the return of Charlie Blackmon and the emergence of Ryan Raburn, that could still play out but I’m thinking Parra continues to get in the lineup often, especially because of his excellent glove.

• Rick Porcello (SP – BOS)
  Two wins (@ ATL and vs NYY), 13 1/3 innings pitched, nine hits, zero earned runs, three walks, and 12 strikeouts. Porcello is now 5-0 on the season with a 2.76 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in 32 2/3 innings pitched. The K/9 (9.92) and BB/9 (1.65) are all at career bests. The LOB % is at 88%, which is unsustainable. His SIERA and xFIP numbers are in-line so that’s encouraging. The one thing that I see is that the line drive % is under 15% for the first time in his career. I think this correlates with the 44.2% two-seam fastball usage, which could be keeping batters from squaring up the ball. The fact that he pitches in a brutal division and the LOB % will probably come down, I’d expect some tough times ahead for Porcello.

• Logan Forsythe (2B/1B – TB)
  11 hits, three runs scored, two home runs, three RBI, and two stolen bases. He bats leadoff. He gets on base via the hit or walk. He hits home runs. He steals bases. What more do you want? Well, Forsythe is on heater right now. He’s a career .256 avg and .329 OBP batter. Currently, he’s hitting .341 with a .426 OBP. There are going to be lean times ahead. With that said, he did bat .281 with a .359 OBP in 153 games last year. It’s not unheard of players breaking out at age 29, especially since 2015 was the first year he played in more than 110 games. I like Forsythe. Yes, I own him so I’m probably biased. Double digit steals/homers with a decent average/OBP batting leadoff? And multi-position eligibility? Not the sexiest name but I’ll take it everyday.

• J.T. Realmuto (C – MIA)
  12 hits, six runs scored, two home runs, and four RBI. Entering last week, Realmuto was batting .188. He’s at .292 now. He only has one stolen base on the season so far, but I think he can still get to double-digits. In 126 games last year, Realmuto stole eight bases and clubbed 10 home runs. That would be pretty valuable from the catcher position.

FALLERS

• Matt Shoemaker (SP – LAA)
  Two losses (vs SEA and @ TEX), 5 1/3 innings, 15 hits, 13 earned runs, three walks, and five strikeouts. Optioned to Triple-A on Sunday.

• Nick Ahmed (SS – ARI)
  Two hits, two runs scored, and one RBI. That was so cute when people were picking up Ahmed earlier in April after he clubbed three home runs and was batting .300. Since April 16th, it’s been all downhill. To make matters worse, Brandon Drury has been tearing the cover off the ball and he’s been getting starts at second base with Jean Segura starting at shortstop.

• Chris Bassitt (SP – OAK)
  Two losses (@ DET and @ TOR), 8 2/3 innings, 19 hits, 13 earned runs, five walks, and 10 strikeouts. Unfortunately, he injured his arm and may need Tommy John surgery.

• Luis Severino (SP – NYY)
  Loss (@ TEX), three innings, seven hits, six earned runs, two walks, and one strikeout. The hard-throwing righty is now 0-3 on the season with a 6.86 ERA, 1.78 WHIP and 12 strikeouts. Severino’s fastball averages 95 mph, but he’s primarily a fastball/slider pitcher with an occasional changeup. Here’s a gross stat: lefties are batting .306, but righties are hitting .460 against Severino.

• Jarrod Saltalamacchia (C – DET)
  Two hits, one run scored, one home run. and one RBI. There was a stretch in which Salty hit four home runs in five games and people were actually asking if it was real. I’m glad all is right in the universe now. Salty is not good. He can run into one occassionally, but he’s batting .214 on the season. Once James McCann returns to the lineup, Salty will take a back seat.

Stan Son is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Stan, check out his archive and follow him @Stan_Son.