Tag Hanley Ramirez

2009 NL All Star Starters

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Voting for the 2009 MLB All Star game ended last night, but the results won’t be revealed until Sunday. I already looked at who deserved to start for the American League. Here is the NL:

Catcher: Brian McCann

McCann sports a .309 batting average with a .393 OBP and an .898 OPS. His 8 home runs and 33 RBI are both second among NL catchers and his 14 doubles are tied for first. His 5 errors are a lot at catcher, but he has also thrown out 26.7% of runners trying to steal against him. McCann’s statistics aren’t anything special, but the NL has zero superstar catchers so McCann gets the nod as the starter.

First Base: Albert Pujols

Was there any question here? Pujols leads all first basemen with a .335 average and leads all of baseball with 30 home runs, 77 RBI, and a 1.200 OPS. Those stats are by far the best in baseball. Prince Fielder, who may be the second best player in baseball, unfortunately plays the same position in baseball so even though he would start at any other position, he has to play second-fiddle to Prince Albert here.

Second Base: Chase Utley

Utley is the clear choice amongst NL second basemen as he leads all others with 17 home runs, 52 RBIs, 54 runs, a .436 OBP, and a .982 OPS. He’s third with a .300 average and also has seven stolen bases. His .984 fielding percentage is fifth best in the NL and makes him the clear choice to start for the National League. Continue reading “2009 NL All Star Starters” →

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MLB All Star Starters Part 2

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Just about a week ago, I wrote an article about who deserves to start for the American League in the 2008 All Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Now I am choosing who deserves to start for the National League. The AL was actually straightforward for the most part and there were not many difficult decisions. The National League was much more difficult.

Designated Hitter: This one was tough to choose since the National League does not have a DH. The solution I came up with was to choose the best hitter who I did not select to start at any other position and I came up with Albert Pujols. He has the second highest OPS in the National League at 1.121, behind only Lance Berkman who plays the same position as him. Pujols also has hit 16 homers and driven in 43 runs while boasting a .358 batting average. He has been injured for some of the year, but has still put up excellent stats, making him deserving to start as the National League’s DH.

Catcher: This one was extremely difficult, because there are so many catchers having an exceptional years in the National League. Bengie Molina is having an excellent year, batting .313 and driving in 48 runs. Cubs’ catcher Geovany Soto has a .277 average, 12 home runs, and 46 RBI, but the player worthy of starting at catcher is Brian McCann from the Braves. He has a .303 average with 14 home runs and 44 RBI, but he leads all catchers with a .921 OPS, much higher than Molina’s .787 OPS and Soto’s .869 OPS. That’s not to mention the fact that McCann has made only 3 errors all year and has the fewest passed balls in the National League (1) making him the deserving catcher to start for the NL in Yankee Stadium Continue reading “MLB All Star Starters Part 2” →

2007 MLB Mid-Season Report

Danny Vinik Leave a comment

With the Home Run Derby tonight and All Star Game tomorrow night, MLB has reached the middle of its season and it is time to look back at the first half of 2007.

First, the mid-season awards:

AL MVP: This was one of the toughest awards, because there a three candidates all having terrific years, but in the end, Magglio Ordonez deserves the award. The final three candidates for the award were Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels, and Magglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers. Continue reading “2007 MLB Mid-Season Report” →