Torii Hunter | The Baseball Zealot

Slow Starts, AL edition

I’ve noticed that there have been a more than a few players in both leagues who have really not been pulling their weight. Some are players who are hitting below their potential. Some are just plain not hitting for any player relative to a full-time status they have.

I’m including pitchers who are off to a stinky start as well.

This is my AL list in no particular order. Stats as of 4/25.

Jacoby Ellsbury, Bos	.219, 21 K	I may be a little too gleeful about putting Ellsbury on this list. I dropped him in my APBA league before our 2011 season. Perhaps I should temper my glee. He’s tied for the lead the Sox in homers. Do I have the right Ellsbury??
John Lackey, Bos	2-2, 6.35 ERA	Lackey just pitched a solid game yesterday (eight shutout innings) putting him at 2-2. It may take a long time to get that ERA at a respectable level but he may be on his way.
Nick Markakis, Bal	.208, .279 OBA	A very untypical low OBA for the OF with the good eye.
Shin-Soo Choo, Cle	.207, 2 HR	The Indians can bat a .207 hitter #3 for only so long.
Torii Hunter, Ana	.200, .255 OBA
Vernon Wells, Ana	.169, 1 HR, 4 rbi	my Angel fan friend, DonS has plenty of frustrations with this guy
Ervin Santana, Ana	0-3, 5.51 ERA	I’m not too down on Santana for two reasons. Just 8 BB in 32+ innings plus he has 28 Ks in that same amount of time. I’d give him time.
Francisco Liriano, Min	1-3, 7.40 ERA,6.1 BB/9IP	Last year was vindication for the Twins. But can FL follow up?
Jack Cust, Sea	.171, 0 HR, 7 rbi	Maybe no one expected much of Cust but he’s got 20 games and 70 at bats so far for Seattle. My thoughts? Seattle is devoid of power and Cust’s potential for the long ball is the only thing keeping him in the lineup

The Yankees’ Jorge Posada almost made this based on his .153 batting average but when six of your nine hits are homeruns, you get extra credit.

Thoughts on the 2009 Gold Glove Awards

The 2009 Gold Gloves were presented the other day. Generally speaking, what struck me was this. With an award that used to be awarded so traditionally, only two winners have more four to their credit. Outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter both have nine Gold Glove Awards on their mantle. In case you’re wondering, they’re 6th on the all-time list for outfielders (they have six more to go to catch Roberto Clemente).

Some thoughts on a few of the Gold Glove award winners:

Ryan Zimmerman finally got his Gold Glove. The cynic in me says that he finally hit well enough to deserve the award. He hit better than David Wright who somehow got it the past two years. Zim led the NL in assists and was 2nd in putouts.

While Jimmy Rollins won the Gold glove for shortstop, my vote would have gone to Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo was in the top two in the league in fielding percentage, putouts, zone rating, total chances, and assists. Rollins had the advantage of leading the NL in fielding percentage, an overrated stat, in my opinion.

I’m a big Orlando Hudson fan. Let’s get that out of the way. But I was a bit surprised when he got the award this year. It was his fourth one of his career but last year, due to his injuries, Brandon Phillips took it away from him. Baseball is such a game of tradition. Despite his deserving it, I wasn’t sure if the coaches would give it back to him.

I’ve been critical of Derek Jeter’s glove work in the past but word has it his fielding has really taken a turn for the better. That and a slightly weak (Orlando Cabrera excluded) competition, Jeter deserved it this time.

Outfielder and Pitcher Gold Gloves… almost irrelevant in most cases. in the cases they are relevant, they get ignored for those who are good with the stick.

NL Gold Glove Award winners

AL Gold Glove Award winners

2009 American League All Stars

derek-jeter The Sporting News has announced the American League All Stars as selected by a panel of 31 major league general managers and GMs. Joe Mauer received votes from all 17 AL executives who participated.

C Joe Mauer appeared in 138 games for the Twins, 109 behind the plate, leading the league with a .365 batting average (he also topped the league in average the year before with a .328 mark), while getting beat up at catcher. Joe hit 28 homers, 30 doubles, and drove in 96, leading Minnesota to the postseason as Central Division champs.

1B Mark Teixeira powered the Yankees offense leading the league in homers (39) & RBIs 122, while batting .292, with 43 doubles, scoring 103 times, he also topped the Junior Circuit in total bases with 344.

2B Aaron Hill came back after suffering a concussion, which allowed him to only play 55 games the previous season, to have his best year ever. Aaron batted .286 with 36 home runs & 37 doubles, driving in 108 & scoring 103 times.

3B Evan Longoria was the Rookie of the Year who was one of the leaders of the Rays who made it to the World Series last year, now he’s the best player at the hot corner. He batted .281, with 33 longballs, 44 two base hits, drove in 113 & scored 100 times.

SS Derek Jeter is the captain & leader of the New York Yankees. Jeter batted .334 with an OBP of .406, it was his job to get on for the big bats, steling 30 bases at the ripe old age of 35, he ripped 18 homers to go along with 27 doubles.

OF Ichiro Suzuki is known simply as Ichiro. Since coming to the States all he’s done is hit, a lifetime batting average of .333, over 200 hits every season (9 years), and leading the league in hits the last four years. This year Ichiro batted .352 with 225 hits, 31 doubles, 11 homers, and 26 steals.

OF Torii Hunter just missed batting .300, finishing the season with a .299 batting average, 22 homers, 90 RBIs, despite missing significant time due to injury.

OF Jason Bay has quickly found his Fenway Park stroke since coming over to the Red Sox, socking 36 homers, driving in 119, while scoring 103 runs.

DH Hideki Matsui joins three other Yankees on this year’s all star squad. Due to injuries Matsui took over the team’s fulltime DH duties to keep him healthy and to keep his potent bat in the lineup. It worked as Hideki hit 28 home runs & drove in 90 for the Bronx Bombers.

SP Zack Greinke seems to have it altogether for the Royals, being named Pitcher of the Year. 16-8 with a league best 2.16 ERA and 242 strikeouts in 229′ innings, doesn’t begin to tell the story of this youngster’s dominance, with any kind of run support at all he certainly would’ve been a twenty game winner.

RP Mariano Rivera There are closers, then there is Mariano Rivera. He is that good, he is a step above every other closer in the game, and like a fine wine, he just keeps getting better with age. He has this cutter, a gift from God, the hitters know it’s coming, but can’t do anything to hit it. He has taught his famous cutter to a few pitchers throughout the league, to the chagrin of many hitters. This year Mo, at the age of 39, had 44 saves to go along with a 1.76 ERA, ho-hum.