With another two hits and a homer Thursday, the Cardinals' Matt Carpenter now ranks second among all second basemen in standard Head-to-Head leagues, ahead of consensus first-rounder Robinson Cano. He's batting .446 with a 1.160 OPS during a 15-game hitting streak and .335 with a .908 OPS overall.
If you're the beneficiary in your league, I know what you're thinking: He can't be this good, can he? You may put on a brave face and drop a few I-told-you-sos on the message board, but deep down, you're wondering if now is the time to deal him.
I'd stay the course. True, a .330 batting average is an unreasonable expectation for a player who's never done it before, and no, I don't expect Carpenter to finish the year ahead of Cano. But nothing he's doing is out of character for him. He's not coming off an unprecedented power surge. He doesn't have a disproportionate number of walks or an unrealistic number of stolen bases. He's just taking his pitches, making consistent contact and driving the ball into the gaps. It's what he does.
Whenever you catch a player at the tail end of a hot streak, you can expect his numbers to regress, but Carpenter's won't regress enough that you'll regret holding on to him.