Can Stanton lead Marlins into the postseason?

Phil Gurnee ♦ August 28, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

Giancarlo Stanton for me epitomises what an MVP player is. He is taking a team that has no business having any postseason aspirations and placed them on his shoulders as he tries to carry a load that no mere mortal could handle.

Split          PA HR RBI  OBP   SLG   OPS
April/March   100  7  16 .350  .529  .879
May           115  7  21 .348  .579  .927
June          112  7  13 .357  .516  .873
July          113 12  23 .407  .731 1.138
August        110 17  35 .482 1.000 1.482

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/28/2017.

Don Mattingly was trying to give credit to other members of the team such as Dee Gordon.

Gordon’s ability to reach has put teams in a tough spot, because it makes it more difficult to pitch around the slugger.

“Dee is the key to that,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Dee getting on base changes things. You have to pay a little bit of attention to him. G’s been able to take advantage of that.”

and for a second I bought into that. Until I checked the splits for Gordon for August. That OBP of .303 isn’t doing much setting up.  But I will say the just about every time Dee does manage to get on on-base, he is scoring. Dee has reached base thirty times in August and scored twenty-three runs.  For context, Chris Taylor has reached base thirty-six times in August and scored 50% of the time with eighteen runs.

Don Mattingly moved Stanton to the number two hole and the results speak for themselves.

Split          PA HR RBI  OBP  SLG   OPS
Batting 2nd   364 39  78 .420 .751 1.171
Batting 4th   155 11  29 .335 .565  .901
Batting 5th    28  0   1 .321 .346  .668

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/28/2017.

Batting order may not mean much but for Giancarlo Stanton, they mean the difference between being an MVP and simply being great.  For this move alone you could consider giving Don Mattingly the Manager of the Year award if the Marlins make the postseason.

Speaking about the postseason, at the break the Marlins were 41 – 46 and lost five of the first six after the break to put them at 42-50.  Since that time they are 24 – 13 and with 66 wins are now 4.5 games back of the Rockies for the 2nd wild card. That is still a ways to go but they do have a soft schedule coming up. Still, the odds are high they will not make the postseason but for the first time in a long time, I would have no problem giving my MVP vote to a player on a team who did not make the postseason.

It isn’t just Stanton, but he is the biggest part of the Marlin resurgence. The Marlin outfield is playing like the best outfield in baseball. And when Dee Gordon does run, he has learned to pick his spots. Dee is 8 of 9 in SB in August and 46/10 for the season. Ex-Dodger AJ Ellis is having a nice August as All-Star Realmuto struggles, and Miguel Rojas has been the starting SS for most of the month.

Player               Split Year HR  PA  OBP   SLG   OPS
Giancarlo Stanton   August 2017 17 110 .482 1.000 1.482
Christian Yelich    August 2017  3 105 .381  .478  .859
Marcell Ozuna       August 2017  7 103 .408  .575  .982
Dee Gordon          August 2017  0 100 .303  .316  .619
J.T. Realmuto       August 2017  4  96 .208  .360  .568
Derek Dietrich      August 2017  3  95 .400  .506  .906
Miguel Rojas        August 2017  0  88 .295  .278  .574
Tomas Telis         August 2017  0  55 .273  .314  .586
Tyler Moore         August 2017  0  49 .229  .267  .496
Mike Aviles         August 2017  0  36 .353  .355  .708
A.J. Ellis          August 2017  2  28 .357  .429  .786
Ichiro Suzuki       August 2017  1  23 .391  .500  .891

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/28/2017.

Other crazy baseball notes.

The  Indians held the KC Royals scoreless this past weekend. The Royals have not scored in thirty-four innings which is a club record.

Rhys Hoskins is eclipsing all of the records that Cody Bellinger set earlier in the year. Hoskins hit his 11th home run yesterday, in just his 18th game. For good measure, he started a triple play yesterday.

Hoskins has homered in eight of his last nine games. The only game in which he didn’t hit a home run came in the nightcap of a doubleheader, so he’s actually hit a home run in eight straight days that the Phillies have played a game.

And now this:

For the rest of us under the age of 50, it may simply be enough to know that even if we’re having a particularly bad day, statistically speaking things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

Evidently, my happiness is supposed to be on the upswing.