Berkman's struggles

Lance Berkman provided a solo homer in a 4-1 Astros win over the Reds Monday night. His home run total is up to five on the year, but he's still struggling mightily at the plate with a .174 batting average.

Berkman is not just making outs, he's striking out at an alarming rate. For his career, Berkman has struck out in exactly 20 percent of his at bats. Last season he whiffed 19.5 percent of the time. In his sub-par 2007, the worst batting average year of his career, Berkman struck out 22 percet of the time. In 2009, he's going down on strikes in a whopping 33 percent of his at bats.

Fantasy Impact: These numbers are unprecedented over the course of Berkman's career. Looking back to 2004, Berkman's worst strikeout rate for a stand-alone month of a season is 27 percent (22 in 81 at bats) back in 2004. That season, when Berkman was just 28 years old, he made corrections and ended up with one of the best stat lines of his career. Now 33, he still has the ability to correct his 2009 season, but career highs in strikeouts often signal the beginning of the end. Owners will have to hope this is just a career-low april for the otherwise slugging first baseman, because you're not going to get fair compensation by trading him away now.