Lately we've seen guys who really struggled most of the season step forward. Ryan Lamarre, Billy Hamilton, Ismael Guillon, Juan Duran, Kyle Waldrop, Henry Rodriguez and others are seemingly performing much better in the second half than they were for most of the year.

So, is this a reason for hope or a mirage? I wonder if these guys are just performing against more watered down competition than earlier in the year. Most of the guys making the improvements are guys who have stayed at their level all season. Could it be that the better players who they were struggling against have all advanced to the next level and now they are just faring better against guys making a jump from a level that these guys have already mastered? I tend to view these late season minor league surges in a similar light as I view September numbers in the big leagues. It's good that they've gotten better results, but I take the idea that they've actually improved with a huge grain of salt. It's possible some adjustments have been made to explain the change, but I haven't really heard any discussion of any adjustments that these guys have made.

Anyone know if there is anything that any of these guys have specifically done to lead to the improvement? I'm pretty skeptical and hope that these guys have raised their value a bit and the team cashes a few of them in to help fill holes on the big league roster. I'd wager that most will revert to struggles next year.