Hot Pitcher: Nevin Griffith. An up and down season his finished with a bang for Griffith as he gave up just 2 earned runs over his two starts last week, he finished with the following line; 13 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, giving him a 1.38 ERA and a 0.769 WHIP. Griffith’s high walk rate has led to him getting hit around pretty hard at points during this season, but as a player just coming off Tommy John surgery, a healthy season has to be considered a success, irrespective of the numbers put up. Next year will be a big one for Nevin, while he is still relatively young, he will need to start putting up numbers at some point soon.

Hot Hitter: Lee Cruz. After a great stint in Birmingham to end last season Lee Cruz has had a disappoint year and the power in particular hasn’t been there, but last week was a good one for Cruz. In five games with the Barons Cruz went 9-23 (.391), with two doubles and two home runs (.739 SLG), he didn’t walk at all though, leaving his OPS at 1.130. At 26, Cruz is old for his level and he would have needed to put up great numbers to break his way onto the prospect map, but it hasn’t happened for him. He’s just organizational depth at this point.

Cold Pitcher: Jacob Rasner. One of the more frequent names on the hot and cold list, Rasner finds his way on again and for the wrong reasons. A two start week for Rasner culminated in him giving up 12 ER in 8.1 IP (12.97 ERA), with 15 hits and 3 walks allowed (2.22 WHIP) against 5 strikeouts. Rasner will be pitching in the Arizona Fall League next month, and while he does show some promise as a prospect, I can’t help but think that there are one or two pitchers more deserving of an AFL roster spot than him.

Cold Hitter: Jordan Danks. Mired in a month long slump, Jordan finds his way onto the hot and cold list again as our cold hitter of the week. Jordan gets here by going just 1-16 (.063) with one walk (.118 OBP) and one home run (.250 SLG), good for a measly .368 OPS. Like Rasner, Jordan will also be playing in the AFL next month, but given his recent performances and two stints on the DL, I wonder if he would be better off just going home this winter and making sure that wrist is fully healed and ready to go for next season.