Some owners who were enthralled when Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz was re-called just over two weeks ago are already starting to lose patience. He has failed to make it out of the sixth inning in each of his three starts since being brought back. Owners who were hoping he would lower his mid-5.00s ERA have been disappointed as it continues to climb. In the past week, Buchholz has been dropped from active rosters in nine percent of CBSSports.com leagues, and he has been dumped altogether from five percent of our leagues.

Buchholz could stand to cut down on his 4.6 BB/9 rate, which would help both his 5.81 ERA and 1.71 WHIP, but mostly he just needs better luck. 37 percent of balls hit in play against him have become base hits, which translates to Buchholz giving up 14 more hits to date than what would be expected. Even without reducing his walks, with a normal H/BIP rate, Buchholz' WHIP would be sliced to 1.47. That's still not all that attractive, but it is a dramatic improvement. Realistically, his WHIP going forward will be even lower still, because he doesn't have a history of control problems and his walk rate should come down. He does have a history of striking out more than a batter an inning, and he is already repeating that feat as a major leaguer. Buchholz is a bargain buy for owners in AL-only leagues, and a good Scout Team target for mixed league owners.

Buchholz has the skills profile to be a very good pitcher for a long time. So does Florida phenom Chris Volstad, though he has had a different formula for success. His fastball doesn't have Buchholz' zip and he gets fewer strikeouts, but he excels with superb command and inducing ground ball outs. Perhaps someday Volstad can maintain an ERA in the low-2.00s, but he won't be doing it with his current skill set. His 2.38 ERA and 1.19 WHIP have benefited from an H/BIP rate that is 10 percentage points lower than that of Buchholz. Given Volstad's ground ball tendencies, his normal H/BIP would actually be a little higher than that of the Red Sox righty. Volstad would be a good pickup for mixed or NL-only leagues, but he might be an even better pitcher to trade away, if you can find an owner who believes in his current stats.

Kenji Johjima has been more or less of a permanent resident on the "Unlucky Hitters" list, and now his catching mate, Jeff Clement, has joined him. Clement is doubly unlucky, because in addition to a 21 percent H/BIP rate, he has missed several games with a torn fingernail. His current owners should wait out his misfortunes. While his injury and rookie slump are both painful, he will recover from both. He hits for far too much power to stay below the Mendoza line for too long.

All statistics below are for season-to-date performances through Saturday, July 26.

'Lucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Lucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Ian Stewart, 3B, Colorado 48% 7.5 Brandon Morrow, RP, Seattle 16% 1.64
Denard Span, OF, Minnesota 41% 7.3 Yusmeiro Petit, SP, Arizona 20% 1.78
Howie Kendrick, 2B, L.A. Angels 41% 6.4 Justin Duchscherer, SP, Oakland 22% 2.00
Edgar V. Gonzalez, 2B, San Diego 38% 5.0 Armando Galarraga, SP, Detroit 23% 3.06
Jeff Baker, 1B, Colorado 37% 6.6 Gavin Floyd, SP, Chicago White Sox 23% 3.58
Fernando Tatis, 3B, N.Y. Mets 37% 6.1 Shaun Marcum, SP, Toronto 23% 2.81
Xavier Nady, OF, N.Y. Yankees 36% 7.5 Ryan Dempster, SP, Chicago Cubs 25% 2.87
Fred Lewis, OF, San Francisco 36% 5.7 Scott Olsen, SP, Florida 25% 3.96
Ryan Sweeney, OF, Oakland 36% 5.3 Jorge Campillo, RP, Atlanta 26% 2.48
Kelly Shoppach, C, Cleveland 35% 5.0 Chris Volstad, SP, Florida 27% 2.72
Unlucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Unlucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
John Baker, C, Florida 16% 2.8 J.J. Putz, RP, Seattle 39% 5.42
Jonny Gomes, OF, Tampa Bay 20% 4.7 Clay Buchholz, SP, Boston 37% 5.73
Jeff Clement, C, Seattle 21% 2.9 Jorge De La Rosa, SP, Colorado 36% 5.43
Kenji Johjima, C, Seattle 22% 2.2 Matt Lindstrom, RP, Florida 36% 4.20
Troy Tulowitzki, SS, Colorado 23% 2.7 Brian Wilson, RP, San Francisco 35% 4.57
Juan Rivera, OF, L.A. Angels 24% 4.1 Rafael Betancourt, RP, Cleveland 35% 4.91
Ronnie Belliard, 2B, Washington 24% 5.2 Bronson Arroyo, SP, Cincinnati 34% 5.68
Eugenio Velez, 2B, San Francisco 25% 2.3 Nate Robertson, SP, Detroit 34% 5.41
Mark Ellis, 2B, Oakland 25% 4.5 Arthur Rhodes, RP, Seattle 34% 2.35
Austin Kearns, OF, Washington 25% 3.3 Darrell Rasner, SP, N.Y. Yankees 34% 4.91
Good stats, good skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Good stats, good skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Matt Joyce, OF, Detroit 28% 8.3 Derek Lowe, SP, L.A. Dodgers 29% 3.06
J.D. Drew, OF, Boston 32% 7.9 Jair Jurrjens, SP, Atlanta 29% 3.15
Mike Fontenot, 2B, Chicago Cubs 31% 7.5 James Shields, SP, Tampa Bay 29% 3.21
Rick Ankiel, OF, St. Louis 31% 6.8 Kyle Lohse, SP, St. Louis 29% 3.28
Edwin Encarnacion, 3B, Cincinnati 27% 6.2 Matt Garza, SP, Tampa Bay 27% 3.53
Poor stats, poor skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Poor stats, poor skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Freddy Sanchez, 2B, Pittsburgh 26% 2.8 Ryan Franklin, RP, St. Louis 31% 5.48
Felipe Lopez, SS, Washington 28% 3.0 Kyle Kendrick, SP, Philadelphia 30% 5.38
Jason Varitek, C, Boston 27% 3.2 C.J. Wilson, RP, Texas 29% 5.21
Carlos Gomez, OF, Minnesota 32% 3.3 R.A. Dickey, SP, Seattle 31% 5.08
Mark Kotsay, OF, Atlanta 26% 4.6 Braden Looper, SP, St. Louis 29% 5.22
Glossary
Runs Created per 27 Outs (RC/27) -- An estimate of how many runs a lineup would produce per 27 outs if a particular player occupied each spot in the order; ex. the RC/27 for Miguel Cabrera would predict the productivity of a lineup where Cabrera (or his statistical equal) batted in all nine spots; created by Bill James
Component ERA (ERC) -- An estimate of a what a pitcher's ERA would be if it were based solely on actual pitching performance; created by Bill James
Base Hits per Balls in Play (H/BIP) -- The percentage of balls in play (at bats minus strikeouts and home runs) that are base hits; research by Voros McCracken and others has established that this rate is largely random and has a norm of approximately 30%
Isolated Power -- The difference between slugging percentage and batting average; created by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth
Walk Rate -- Walks / (at bats + walks)
Whiff Rate -- Strikeouts / at bats

Al Melchior was recently a Fantasy columnist and data analyst for Baseball HQ and will be providing advice columns for CBSSports.com. Click here to send him a question. Please put "Melchior" in the subject field.