The American League West is once again owned by two teams; The Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels. These two teams have provided drama and entertainment down the stretch the last few seasons, and this season looks no different. Here are your American League West notes:
performance that may be even more unprecedented. Our friends at Seedlings to Stars took a look at Trout’s year so far, and Andrew Orlebeke thinks his year could be the best ever. Orlebeke is basing his assessment on Trout’s WAR so far this year and projections for future performance this season. Trout is currently hitting .341/.401/.541 with six home run and 16 stolen bases. His WAR (Baseball Reference) is sitting at 3.1 already – and climbing.
According to the AP, Justin Grimmwill be called up from Double-A Frisco to start Saturday’s game for the Rangers. The righty was just named to the Texas League All-Star team, but now he will be making his Major League debut sooner than he or anyone else ever thought.Stephen Hawkins of the Associated Press reported that the Rangers will purchase Grimm’s contract and give him the start this Saturday in the wake of a slew of injuries to the team’s pitchers. Grim was 8-3 with a 1.87 ERA in 13 starts for the Frisco RoughRiders.
In related news, Koji Uehara will hit the disabled list. He will join Derek Holland, Alexi Ogando, and Neftali Feliz on the DL. According to Drew Davison of the Star-Telegram, Uehara was injured last Saturday while pitching against the San Francisco Giants. He’s being placed on the DL now to make room for Justin Grimm. Uehara has a 2.11 ERA this year in 21 1/3 innings. He’s sticking out 11 batters for every walk he issues. The loss will be another big blow to the Rangers bullpen.
The Seattle Post Intelligencertalked about the Seattle Mariners differences at home and on the road. The Mariners are hitting below .200 at home, but they are hitting .257 on the road. Seattle is eight games under .500 at home and only three games under on the road.“Offensively, we’ve just gotta figure this out here at home. It’s no secret,” manager Eric Wedge said after Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to the San Diego Padres. “We’ve shown what we’re capable of doing on the road. And we’ve just gotta work to help these guys get over the hump here at home, to where we can go out there and be the offensive team that we’ve shown to be very capable of being.”
In other Mariners news, Steven Hensley was promoted to Triple-A. Andrew Pearson of Citizen-Times reported that Hensley would join the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate and is now one step closer to fulfilling his dream of cracking the Major League roster. Hensley was 2-2 with a 3.24 ERA at Double-A this season.
