Streaking in the Park: Heyward, A-Gon, Lee, Teixiera and More
By Brian Phair
1B Adrian Gonzalez, SD
With the San Diego Padres struggles over the past few years, all the chatter last year and this offseason has been around the potential trade of first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Being a Red Sox fan and blogger there has been even more attention placed on the young slugger because of the rumors he was on his way to Boston and would be there last trade deadline. This season however, has been much different than expected with the Padres at the top of the NL West thanks in part to Gonzalez’s impressive hitting.
Disclaimer: All stats used are prior to games on Tuesday, June 8th.
This past week, Gonzo hit a whopping .440 and crushed 4 long balls in 6 games. In 25 at-bats, Gonzo had 11 hits, including 2 doubles and 4 runs scored, leaving him with an on base percentage of .464 and a crazy 1.000 slugging percentage. When you add his weekly stats to his season totals, Gonzo now has 13 home runs and 38 RBIs to lead the ball club. Thanks to the team’s success, Gonzo will be a Padre until at least the end of this campaign.
What makes Gonzo special is his ability to hit for power at such a young age (27). As a left-handed hitter, Gonzo is even more valuable because he is a tough match-up for his opponents and can hit for a strong average year-in and year-out. Keep an eye out for Gonzo the rest of this campaign and this off-season to see where he ends up next.
SP Cliff Lee, SEA
Since his re-emergence with Cleveland a few years ago, Cliff Lee has been one of the most dominate pitchers in baseball. This year in Seattle has been no exception for the lefty, despite getting little run support. This past week Lee brought his era down on the season with a 1.59 era in 2 starts and 15 strikeouts in 17 innings. Lee only allowed 3 earned runs and 1 walk during that stretch and had a 1-0 record. On the season, Lee is 4-2 with a 2.77 era.
CF Cody Rasmus, STL
Cody Rasmus is in elite company after the incredible week he had for St. Louis these past 5 games. Rasmus hit .500 in 18 at-bats and crushed 3 home runs and drove in 8 rbis. It is rare to find a slugging percentage over 1.000 for a week, but Rasmus achieved that with a 1.056. Thanks to drawing 3 walks as well, Rasmus had a .571 on base percentage and even tallied a stolen base for good measure. Rasmus now has 10 home runs on the season and has hit .293, over .040 percentage points higher than last year.
Honorable Mention
C Victor Martinez, BOS
1B Miguel Cabrera, DET
Weekly Player Spotlight
RF Jason Heyward, ATL
One of the biggest stories entering the 2010 season, was a young talented outfielder who would be roaming the outfield in Atlanta and making little girls cry with his impressive power. He was touted as a 5-tool player and the future of the Braves franchise and was sitting on many fantasy league benches before swinging a bat in major league competition. This man of course is Jayson Heyward and has electrified the Braves on the field.
Jason Heyward has not disappointed this season for the most part, but has struggled this past week or so at the dish. Heyward hit .111 in 7 games this week and struck out a tough 11 times in 27 at-bats, which appears to be a big weakness this early in his career. Despite having some speed, Heyward hasn’t been great on the base-paths, having 1 stolen base and one 1 caught stealing this past week and 4 stolen bases and 3 caught stealing on the season.
With all the pressure on this young kid, I am not surprised he is slumping a bit. He was expected to be a star day 1 and proved he belonged with a home run in his debut, but it will take him some time to really settle into his role in the bigs and become one of the best power hitters in the National League. With 10 home runs and 3 triples thus far in 2010, Heyward has a comfortable spot in the lineup for the foreseeable future.
SP Mark Buehrle, CWS
This past week has not been kind to one of the 20 pitchers who has pitched a perfect game in his career, Mark Buehrle. In his 2 starts, Buehrle lasted a total of 8.1 innings and allowed 12 earned runs, 6 in each game. He tallied just 6 strikeouts and walked 4 batters and had incredibly high pitch counts early in each game, not allowing him the chance to settle in. Any pitcher that allows over 2 hits per inning pitched is going to struggle and that is exactly what happened to Buehrle this week.
1B Mark Teixeira, NYY
The beginning of the 2010 campaign has been a struggle for the powerful Mark Teixeira. As a notorious slow starter, no one expected much from him in April, but the Yankees certainly expected more from Teixeira since then. This past week, Teixeira struck out 8 times and walked twice, while hitting a poor .125. The number that is staggering for Teixeira is his .363 season slugging percentage, which is well below his career slugging percentage of .535. If the Yankees are going to be a force and repeat as champs this season, Teixeira needs to pick up his power numbers.
Honorable Mention
LF Adam Lind, TOR
1B David Ortiz, BOS