What About These Guys AL Edition
Trust me when I say this. Albert Pujols, Chris Shelton, Barry Bonds, and Jim Thome are not the only players who play baseball. They're the ones we've been hearing about after the first couple of weeks of ball, they're the ones we've been focusing on, they're the ones we haven't been able to take our eyes off of. Granted all have compelling stories. (I just watched Pujols absolutely crush his 10th home run. He's the best hitter I've ever seen and I'm a Giants fan. At this rate he's on pace to hit 115 home runs.) I can think of no reason why they shouldn't get attention for their accomplishments (or lack thereof in Bonds' case). But other players have been excelling as well. "These guys" from each team have been flying under the radar so far this season.
American League
Baltimore Orioles
Ramon Hernandez, C- He's batting .488 which leads the majors and no one says a word. He's a career .265 hitter so we'll see how long this lasts. But he looks good so far.
Boston Red Sox
Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett, P- They're a combined 6-0 with a 1.47 ERA and 28 strikeouts through 43 innings. With all the pub going towards hitters these first few weeks it's nice to see a couple of talented pitchers. If they keep this up this could look like a Koufax-Drysdale season.
Chicago White Sox
Paul Konerko, 1B- Right now he's playing in the shadow of the big Jim Thome. But he's having a darn good season so far. Batting .380 with 5 HRs and 16 RBIs is nothing to be ashamed of.
Cleveland Indians
Casey Blake, OF- If you've got Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez tearing it up for you then it's easy to forget about someone like Blake. But good ol' Casey is hitting .419 and he's got an OBP of .510. Remember Sean Casey in his prime? This guy reminds me of him so far.
Detroit Tigers
Mike Maroth, P- With Chris Shelton providing all the offense a couple of pitchers will have to step up for Detroit this season. Maroth has done that so far in his first two starts. He's 2-0 with an 0.73 ERA over his first two games started. The only run he's given up was a solo shot to Michael Young. Not too shabby.
Kansas City Royals
Elmer Dessens, RP- Let's just say this about KC. They can't hit and they can't pitch. That being said, their best performer has really been Dessens. In five games he's pitched 7.2 innings, has struck out 10, has a meager 1.17 ERA to go along with 2 holds.
Los Angeles Angels
J.C. Romero, Brenden Donnelly, Scot Shields, and Hector Carrasco, RP- These four guys out of the bullpen have been superb for the Halos. Here's the combined numbers: 26.2 IP, 5 earned runs, only 17 hits allowed, 20 strikeouts, a 1.69 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP, and 5 holds. Good job fellas.
Minnesota Twins
Joe Nathan, Juan Rincon, Francisco Liriano, and Willie Eyre, RP- More excellent relief pitchers. The combined numbers: 22 IP, 1 earned run, 19 hits allowed, 24 strikeouts, a 0.41 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP, 2 saves, and 2 Holds. Simply stunning.
New York Yankees
Derek Jeter, SS- Just because I hate the guy doesn't mean I don't respect him during those times he plays well. He's been captain in every sense of the word for the Yanks so far. He's batting .340, leads NY in RBIs with 12. In "close & late" situations he's batting .400 with 5 RBIs.
Oakland Athletics
Joe Kennedy, Justin Duchscherer, and Kiko Calero, RP- Yes, some more bullpen people. The starting pitching has been bad in its best times so the bullpen has got plenty of work. These guys have definitely shut the door. Some more numbers: 16 IP, 0 runs allowed which translates to a 0.00 ERA, 9 hits allowed, 17 strikeouts, a 0.88 WHIP, and 5 holds. It's hard to get any better than that.
Seattle Mariners
Kenji Johjima, C- He was a highly touted player before he came over from Japan and he has definitely lived up to the hype so far. With a .364 average that's almost twice as high as Ichiro's Johjima has made a quick impression. He also touts a .997 OPS with 2 HRs and 10 RBIs.
Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Ty Wiggington, 3B and Jonny Gomes, RF- While they don't have jaw-dropping numbers they still have solid numbers and a team that is filled with mediocre players. They each have 5 HRs and both of their OPS are hovering around 1.100.
Texas Rangers
Mark Teixeira, 1B- No, he hasn't been going yard as much as people thought he would have by now. But he's seeing the ball well and hitting the ball hard. He's batting .333 and has only struck out twice so far. His OPS is a pretty good .970 as well.
Toronto Blue Jays
Vernon Wells, OF- He's a very solid player with a tremendous upside. It was just a matter of time before he had "that" season. This is definitely a good start. He's batting .420 with 5 HRs and 12 RBIs to go along with a 1.213 OPS and 2 stolen bases. There's nothing he can't do. By the time the season is over we might be comparing his stats with Pujols'.
posted by Fonda at 4:42 PM
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