Martin Prado's turnaround not all it seems

Martin Prado is one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now, batting .417 (15 for 36) with three home runs and six doubles in his last nine games. The good news is a high number of his Fantasy owners have benefited from it since he's been labeled a "start" in the Start and Sit Hitters column the last two weeks. The bad news is he's only gotten that label because of favorable matchups.

It's a chicken-and-egg scenario. Has Prado legitimately turned the corner, or is he just taking advantage of favorable matchups?.

You tell me. For the season, he's batting .351 with a .991 OPS against lefties compared to .253 and .640 against righties. The Yankees have faced five left-handed starting pitchers in their last nine games, and two of Prado's three home runs during that stretch have come against lefties. The other came against James Shields, who clearly didn't have his A-game Monday night.

In those nine games, Prado has struck out seven times in 36 at-bats, about once every five at-bats. That's even worse than his season rate, which is already a career worst. He hasn't walked even once.

Enjoy it while it lasts, but I'm thinking once the left-handers thin out, so does Prado's production.