During an interview on Thursday’s Fantasy Baseball Today, MLB Network’s Brian Kenny said he’s not buying James Loney at this level: “Plate selection – you can take the plate selection with you … and it’s not there for him yet.”

Loney has always been a good contact hitter, but over the last five seasons, that hasn't amounted to extra-base power or a .300-plus batting average. This season, he's been aided by a .342 batting average on grounders and a 31 percent line drive rate. Both marks would be highly unusual for any player and especially for Loney.

While this streak has had some staying power, it's unlikely to go on for much longer. Loney is playing at a level far beyond what he has established, and there haven't been any trends pointing towards accelerated improvement of the kind we have seen over the past month. While Loney is still gaining some credibility among Fantasy owners, now is the time to deal him, before discouragement sets in when the streak starts to fade.

Loney, who homered again Sunday and had two more hits to raise his average to .376, has provided a huge lift to the Tampa Bay offense in his first year with the club.

"He's been our hottest hitter," third baseman Evan Longoria told MLB.com. "Really, it's no surprise to me."

Loney has been on a tear since late April. Including Sunday's game, he's batting .431 (28 for 65) with two home runs, six doubles and 11 RBI in his last 18 games (15 starts).

"He's shown me some things that I think this guy is way more competitive than people realize," manager Joe Maddon said. "But then again, he's able to process things well, so that's why I think he can hit."

The veteran infielder had his five-game hitting streak halted Thursday against Toronto but did reach base on three walks. He has also posted five multi-hit outings in his past eight games.

You don't need me to tell you that there's no way Loney is going to keep this up. You look at his career numbers -- even in the minors -- and he's not this good of a hitter over long stretches. In stops where he played more than 100 games in the minors -- three times -- Loney's best slash line was .284/.357/.419/776 as a 21-year-old in Double-A.

Nothing in Loney's plate-discipline numbers, per FanGraphs.com, point to a huge anomaly, but he has been making a little more contact to start the season than his career average. This is just one of those cases Fantasy owners need to ride the hot streak and be ready to cut bait when the tide starts to turn.