Turner leads all NL in wRC+ on August 9th, 2017

♦ August 9, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

You gotta take these snapshots when you can. With Justin Turner rocking two home runs last night he took the lead in the NL for wRC+.  Using smart baseball methodology you could make a case that Justin Turner is the best offensive player in the NL right now.

The Dodgers have four of the top 11 offensive performers in the NL batting 1 – 4. That might be why they are on pace to win over 100 games.

  • Justin Turner is 1st
  • Corey Seager is 8th.
  • Chris Taylor is 9th
  • Cody Bellinger is 11th
  • Puig is 34th – not bad for a guy hitting from the 8th spot

I’ll provide the link to the Fangraphs leaderboard but if you look at it tomorrow it will have changed which is why we supply the snapshot below.

Rank Name wOBA wRC+ WAR
1 Justin Turner 0.425 167 4.7
2 Bryce Harper 0.428 164 5
3 Joey Votto 0.429 164 4.4
4 Paul Goldschmidt 0.425 158 5.2
5 Michael Conforto 0.404 153 3.3
6 Anthony Rendon 0.406 150 5.2
7 Giancarlo Stanton 0.403 150 3.8
8 Corey Seager 0.391 145 4.9
9 Chris Taylor 0.389 144 3.9
10 Daniel Murphy 0.395 142 3
11 Cody Bellinger 0.385 141 3
12 Charlie Blackmon 0.412 138 4.2
13 Andrew McCutchen 0.383 138 3.5
14 Buster Posey 0.379 137 3.9
15 Kris Bryant 0.382 135 3.4
16 Marcell Ozuna 0.381 135 3.2
17 Anthony Rizzo 0.379 133 3.3
18 Ryan Zimmerman 0.378 131 1.7
19 Travis Shaw 0.38 130 3.2
20 Jake Lamb 0.378 127 2.6
21 Nolan Arenado 0.393 125 3.9
22 Matt Carpenter 0.363 124 1.7
23 Eric Thames 0.37 124 1.5
24 Willson Contreras 0.363 122 3.1
34 Yasiel Puig 0.337 110 1.4

Seager and bWAR at age 23

♦ August 9, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

Nineteen shortstops have accumulated at least 10 bWAR by the age of 23. Eight of them went on to become HOF.  Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, and Francisco Lindor are all 23 right now and each are playing in their 3rd year.  Elvis Andrus and Jose Reyes are the other two active shortstops on the list.  Doing the math, you have 19 shortstops, five are active, eight are HOF, leaving only six who didn’t make the HOF that were eligible.

  • They are Alex Rodriguez who we can all agree is a HOF shortstop.
  • Alan Trammel who I think is a HOF shortstop
  • Jim Fregosi who was the face of the original Los Angeles Angels franchise, and was eventually traded for HOF Nolan Ryan.
  • Vern Stephens a slugging SS
  • Garry Templeton who had 600 hits and 50 triples by the age of 23 who was eventually traded for HOF Ozzie Smith.
  • Someone named Donie Bush

Derek Jeter is not on this list. Nor is Nomar Garciaparra.

But Corey Seager is.

Player WAR/pos bWAR/PA Age PA OPS
Arky Vaughan 26.6 0.0107301 20-23 2479 0.924
Cal Ripken 22.4 0.010482 20-23 2137 0.845
Carlos Correa 15 0.0102249 20-22 1467 0.864
Corey Seager 12.6 0.0101043 21-23 1247 0.905
Alex Rodriguez 27.6 0.0097081 18-23 2843 0.914
Jim Fregosi 17.7 0.0082672 19-23 2141 0.767
Francisco Lindor 13 0.0080796 21-23 1609 0.809
Joe Cronin 12.8 0.0077016 19-23 1662 0.82
Travis Jackson 16.6 0.0069954 18-23 2373 0.777
Lou Boudreau 11.4 0.0069301 20-23 1645 0.778
Donie Bush 14.2 0.0069167 20-23 2053 0.672
Joe Tinker 10.3 0.0064902 21-23 1587 0.647
Vern Stephens 11.3 0.006202 20-23 1822 0.813
Garry Templeton 11.8 0.0052679 20-23 2240 0.744
Alan Trammell 11.5 0.0052583 19-23 2187 0.703
Jose Reyes 10.2 0.0052121 20-23 1957 0.749
Rabbit Maranville 10.2 0.0050975 20-23 2001 0.629
Elvis Andrus 12.9 0.0049788 20-23 2591 0.695
Robin Yount 14.7 0.004206 18-23 3495 0.672

 

 

Dicking around with LAD bWAR

♦ August 9, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

With so many Dodgers having great seasons, while premature I thought it would be fun to check in on the all-time bWAR infield leaders for the Dodgers and see how the new brood is matching up.

I used > 5 bWAR as the criteria

Since bWAR is an accumulation stat the more you play the more you will add to your bWAR.  To add a little color to the table I created a column that divides the bWAR by the number of plate appearances.

HOF Mike Piazza clocked in with a WAR/PA of over .010. As did current Dodgers Cory Seager and Justin Turner.  The only other Dodgers to have a WAR/PA over .007 were Hanley Ramirez at .0085 and Ron Cey at .0077. To put that in perspective a WAR/PA of over .010 is a historical rate.  Only four NL HOF players have a .010 rate in baseball since 1958. Mike Piazza as a Dodger is .01057 but overall he drops to .07999. The longer you play the game the harder it is to keep that rate above .010.

The lowest WAR/PA Dodger infielder with at least 5 bWAR is Eric Karros at 0.001721 and it is not even close.

They consider catchers part of the infield so we will start with the catchers.

Piazza had the most accumulated bWAR and the highest WAR/PA by far.  This plays out as expected, with Grandal now on the list.  The Dodgers have had a long history of good catchers starting with John Roseboro and ending with Grandal. Rarely has the team had an ineffective catcher for any length of time.

Player bWAR WAR/PA Age PA OPS
Mike Piazza 31.9 0.01057 23-29 3017 0.966
Mike Scioscia 26.2 0.00518 21-33 5057 0.700
John Roseboro 22.3 0.00495 25-34 4505 0.713
Steve Yeager 17.7 0.00457 23-36 3869 0.657
Russell Martin 15.9 0.00586 23-27 2713 0.761
Paul Lo Duca 13.8 0.00584 26-32 2361 0.771
Tom Haller 10.2 0.00623 31-34 1637 0.737
A.J. Ellis 7.4 0.00385 27-35 1922 0.688
Yasmani Grandal 6.1 0.00498 26-28 1225 0.789

At 1st base:

Garv leads in both categories with Wes and Adrian giving him a run for WAR/PA.  Yeah, James Loney was bad, but Eric Karros was worse.

Player bWAR WAR/PA Age PA OPS
Steve Garvey 36.4 0.00518 20-33 7027 0.796
Wes Parker 22.9 0.00474 24-32 4835 0.726
Adrian Gonzalez 13.8 0.00473 30-35 2916 0.797
Eric Karros 11.4 0.00172 23-34 6624 0.782
James Loney 8.6 0.00255 22-28 3378 0.764
Eddie Murray 8.3 0.00419 33-41 1983 0.798
Greg Brock 5.9 0.00340 25-29 1737 0.739

At 2nd Base:

Davey Lopes takes both categories. Sax and Kent must have been punished for defense. 1969 ROY Ted Sizemore does surprisingly well. Mark Ellis had an excellent 944 plate appearances as a 2nd baseman.

Player bWAR WAR/PA Age PA OPS
Davey Lopes 32 0.00603 27-36 5308 0.729
Steve Sax 15.8 0.00333 21-28 4745 0.696
Jeff Kent 6.6 0.00308 37-40 2146 0.847
Ted Sizemore 6 0.00455 24-31 1318 0.659
Charlie Neal 5.8 0.00269 27-30 2159 0.738
Mark Ellis 5.5 0.00583 35-36 944 0.685

At ShortStop:

Maury Wills barely nosed out Bill Russell in bWAR but with 1300 less PA he easily wins the bWAR/PA category.  At catcher, 1st, and 2nd base the top bWAR player was also the top bWAR/PA player but not at SS.  The two top bWAR earners are the two worst WAR/PA performers.  Seager is playing at a HOF rate but Hanley Ramirez did some great offensive work for the Dodgers at SS during his stay here. You could have made an argument that Rafael Furcal was the best LAD SS when he finished his LAD career but not anymore.

Player bWAR WAR/PA Age PA OPS
Maury Wills 31.9 0.00473 26-39 6745 0.663
Bill Russell 31.4 0.00391 20-37 8021 0.648
Rafael Furcal 15.4 0.00549 28-33 2803 0.757
Corey Seager 12.6 0.01010 21-23 1247 0.905
Hanley Ramirez 9.6 0.00857 28-30 1120 0.874

At 3rd base:

Kind of loaded. You have Ron Cey and future HOF Adrian Beltre both being crushed by Justin Turner on the WAR/PA category.  In only 1745 PA Justin Turner can make a real claim about being the best LAD 3rd baseman ever.

Player bWAR WAR/PA Age PA OPS
Ron Cey 47.4 0.00776 23-34 6108 0.804
Adrian Beltre 23.3 0.00610 19-25 3818 0.794
Justin Turner 17.7 0.01014 29-32 1745 0.887
Casey Blake 9.1 0.00566 34-37 1608 0.768
Juan Uribe 7.5 0.00539 32-36 1391 0.687

Dodgers still undefeated against B-Z since July 4th

♦ August 9, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

The Dodgers lost last night but should we have been surprised? They were, after all, playing a team whose name starts with an “A”.  Since July 4th the Dodgers have now only lost to the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks going 23 – 4 in that span.

When you are on a pace to win over 110 games you have to be really nit picky to find any fault with Dave Roberts but since he has been mostly infallible in 2017 when you find something you might as well run with it.

While watching the game last night, the Dodgers seemed to be in the driver’s seat. They had a 3 – 2 lead, they had Brandon Morrow on the mound, and they had Kenley Jansen waiting in the wings.

Sure Morrow gave up up a single but he had just struck out Ketel Marte very easily. A left handed pinch hitter was being inserted into the game and Joe Davis had just mentioned how only one left hander all year had a hit off of Morrow so it seemed like a no-brainer that Morrow would face Chris Herrmann. 

Split    PA  H  OPS
vs RHB   58 14 .579
vs LHB   38  1 .134

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/9/2017.

Dave Roberts had other ideas and elected to bring in newly acquired Tony Watson. Arizona countered with a right-hand pinch hitter putting Watson at a disadvantage. With one one move, the Dodgers went from having the advantage of a lefty killer Morrow facing a lefty to our own left-hand pitcher having to face a right-hand hitter.  Watson hit Rosales and would eventually give up the grand slam to Jake Lamb. A lucky grand slam, but still a grand slam.

I’m just curious if Brandon Morrow continues to get left-hand hitters out, if Roberts come crunch time is still going to pull him in these kinds of situations come October.

Dodger record without Kershaw is insane

♦ August 8, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

In 2016, Clayton Kershaw the best pitcher during the regular season in the universe went on the DL after making a start on June 26th. The Dodger record was 41-36. When Clayton Kershaw made his next start on Sept 9th,2016 the Dodger record was 79-60.

The Dodger record without Clayton Kershaw in 2016 was 38-14.

In 2017, Clayton Kershaw the best pitcher during the regular season in the universe went on the DL after making his last start on July 23rd. Clayton would go two innings, the Dodgers would win putting their record at 68 – 31. They have gone 11 – 1 since that game for a record of 79 – 32.

The Dodger record without Clayton Kershaw so far in 2017 is 11 – 1

Overall, the Dodgers are 49 – 15 with out Clayton Kershaw over the past two years.

Amazing

Possible NLDS Preview

♦ August 8, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

The Dodgers are in Phoenix facing the team they most likely will face in the NLDS.  The Diamondbacks reached their potential one year too late to save the job of Dave Stewart but they are now playing at the level expected in 2016.

This is a good team with great balance between the hitting and pitching.  Fangraphs has them ranked 6th in the NL in hitting.  They have a legit MVP candidate in Paul Goldschmidt,  a decent robin in Jake Lamb,  a johnny come lately in JD Martinez, and some pesky minions in Peralta and Pollock.

They have suffered several injuries, one that ended the season for shortstop Chris Owings, utility infielder Nick Ahmed is out until late August,  and the other to Yazmani Tomas who will be out until late August.

The replacement for Chris Owings was Ketal Marte who might be better anyway.

JD Martinez was the big deadline acquisition replacing Tomas in the outfield. ESPN made a point of saying that JD Martinez may have been added simply to beat the Dodgers in a short series. At one time it looked like the Dodgers would throw only left handed starters in the postseason but the acquisition of Yu Darvish changes all of that up.  Sure JD Martinez is crushing LHP in 2017. He is eating them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner but he only has 50 PA against them in 2017. In 2016 his OPS against LHP was only .861 in over 100 PA. I don’t say .861 lightly. That is good, but that isn’t someone who destroys LHP. His career OPS against LHP is .896.   Again that is good but heck, Kiké Hernadez has an OPS against LHP of .962 in 2017.  And………..Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Alex Wood, and Ryu are not the normal left-hand pitchers he would have been beating up in the AL.

JD Martinez was a good addition for the Diamondbacks but he is no Chris Taylor.

Fangraphs:

Name wOBA wRC+ WAR
Paul Goldschmidt 0.426 159 5.2
Jake Lamb 0.373 124 2.4
David Peralta 0.349 109 1.9
A.J. Pollock 0.344 105 1.2
Brandon Drury 0.326 94 1.1
Chris Iannetta 0.328 94 0.8
Ketel Marte 0.348 108 0.5
Chris Owings 0.313 85 0.5
J.D. Martinez 0.383 131 0.4
Nick Ahmed 0.3 76 0.3
Yasmany Tomas 0.319 89 0.3
Gregor Blanco 0.318 88 0.3
Daniel Descalso 0.321 90 0.3
Jeff Mathis 0.27 57 0
Rey Fuentes 0.27 57 -0.1
Chris Herrmann 0.256 47 -1.1

The pitching has been great, 2nd best only to the Dodgers in the NL. The rotation is second best only to the Dodgers in the NL.  The bullpen is second best only to the Dodgers in the NL.

Robbie Ray is a strikeout machine but he took a ball off the noggin the other day and won’t pitch in the Dodger series.  The Dodgers will face the two Zack’s and Walker. It will be the three best pitchers the Dodgers have faced in weeks.  For the first time since July 4th-6th they will be facing a competitive team. In case you forgot, the Dodgers swept the Diamondbacks, winning each game by one run.

Going into the season I felt the back end of the bullpen would be their undoing unless they fixed it but Fernando Rodney continues to generate save after save.  Strangely he has only pitched six innings in the last 30 days.  Archie Bradley has been the main savior for the bullpen, he has pitched in 41 games and only been scored upon in seven of them.  The only help they got was re-acquiring David Hernandez. The numbers say they don’t need any help, but I still can’t bet on a team leaning this heavily on Fernando Rodney in the postseason.  If the Diamondbacks fail to make the NLDS I’m going to bet that Fernando had something to do with it in the play-in game against the Rockies.

Fangraphs:

Name WAR GS IP K/9 BB/9 ERA FIP xFIP
Zack Greinke 3.6 22 142.1 9.93 1.71 3.1 3.24 3.19
Zack Godley 2.6 15 94.1 9.16 2.77 2.86 2.98 3.21
Robbie Ray 2.1 20 118.2 11.45 4.4 3.11 3.89 3.88
Taijuan Walker 1.9 18 105 8.4 3.09 3.6 3.84 4.22
Patrick Corbin 1.6 23 128.2 8.74 2.73 4.76 4.38 3.88
Archie Bradley 1.6 0 49.2 10.33 1.81 1.45 2.29 2.87
Randall Delgado 1.2 5 62.2 8.62 2.01 3.59 3.14 3.52
Fernando Rodney 0.9 0 36.2 11.29 4.91 4.66 3.06 3.86
Andrew Chafin 0.7 0 38.1 11.03 3.29 2.58 2.8 2.76
Jake Barrett 0.2 0 12.2 9.95 3.55 0.71 3.14 4.08
Anthony Banda 0.2 2 11.2 9.26 3.09 3.86 3.48 4.66
David Hernandez 0.2 0 2.1 7.71 0 0 1.43 2.95
T.J. McFarland 0 0 39.1 4.81 2.52 3.66 4.39 4.24
J.J. Hoover 0 0 28 12.86 6.11 4.82 4.75 4.33
Braden Shipley 0 2 11.1 7.15 7.94 6.35 5.35 6.71
Daniel Descalso 0 0 1 0 0 0 3.14 8.48
Jorge de la Rosa -0.1 0 41 7.24 3.73 4.17 4.75 4.76
Silvino Bracho -0.1 0 10.1 9.58 2.61 5.23 5.66 4.81
Rubby de la Rosa -0.1 0 7.2 14.09 4.7 4.7 4.97 3.2

The Wild Card race in the NL is strangely non-competitive.  Headed into the season most would have bet on a team coming out of the East (Mets?) and a team coming out of the Central (Cardinals) or possibly one team coming out of the West (Giants?).

No one would have bet on two teams cruising to the wild card from the West, and those two teams being the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.  They had lost 93 and 87 games respectively in 2016.

In a season that has seen everything go right for the Dodgers, even the NL wild card race plays into their hands. With both teams cruising neither will be forced to use their best pitcher during the season ending weekend which means that the ace for both teams will be primed to pitch the play – in game leaving them available for only one start in the NLDS. At best two on short days rest if the series goes five games.

Which means the Dodgers if they have to face the Diamondbacks, would only have to face Greinke one time. You could argue that Robbie Ray is just as good as Grienke but I would not make that argument yet.  Zack Godley has been as big a surprise in the Diamondback rotation as Chris Taylor has been to the Dodger lineup but I’m not ready to crown him until I see him finish the season which still has seven weeks to run. Just as I was not ready to crown Alex Wood in the same way.

The Diamondbacks do have four good pitchers, but one is clearly heads and tails above the rest and if you only have to face him one time, that bodes well for the Dodgers.

The Rockies best pitcher missed most of the season but I would think by seasons end Jon Gray would get the nod in the play-in game. Leaving Chad Bettis if he comes back, German Marquez, Jeff Hoffman or Kyle Freeland. If the Dodgers can’t beat the Rockies facing that rotation, then this really was just a regular season marvel once again.

FFA Week of July 31st – Aug 6th

♦ August 7, 2017 ♦ 3 Comments

The contenders are:

Willie Calhoun who hit four home runs.

Alex Verdugo is hitting .179 over his last ten games with only two walks.

Walker Buehler pitched his first game in relief and gave up three runs while getting four outs.

Oops, I’m doing this wrong.

Henry Ramos – AAA/OKC – Ramos was promoted to AAA last week and continued to hit going eight for seventeen, two home runs, and a robust 1.382 OPS for the week.  Ramos was signed as a minor league free agent on Nov 28th, 2016 after spending multiple years in the Red Sox organization. Ramos never had an OPS above .820 in his seven years in the minor leagues prior to joining the Dodger organization.  At AA for the Dodgers, he had an OPS of 1.117 and won the Farm Factory award for the week of July 3rd – July 9th. He’s been playing RF so far.  Might be time to find out just who is Henry Ramos and Dennis Schlossman of Think Blue did just that back on March 1st.

For those unfamiliar with Ramos, the switch-hitting prospect was signed by the Dodgers as a minor league free agent last November. Originally drafted by the Red Sox in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, he had ties to current Dodgers vice president of international and amateur scouting David Finley, as Finley was in Boston’s scouting and player personnel departments at the time that Ramos was selected. At one point last year, he was ranked as high as No. 16 on the Red Sox Top 30 Prospects list, but ultimately fell out of high regards when his vital stats gradually fizzled by season’s end.

Tim Locastro – AAA/OKC – The 25-year-old infielder was also promoted to AAA when Willie Calhoun was traded.  Tim went six for seventeen as he tries to make a career as a possible major league utility player. He didn’t really have a good enough week to be considered for the FFA but I did want to mention him since he’s now at AAA.

Yaisel Sierra – AAA/OKC – Sierra pitched two games in relief going three and two innings respectively. He is being worked hard as a setup man getting at least six outs in his last nine outings. Five of those nine times he has gotten nine outs, and one time ten outs.  Sierra is still having some control issues as he has walked eight in fourteen AAA innings but he is keeping runs off the board.

Jacob Scavuzzo – AA/Tulsa – Scavuzzo has had a tough year repeating AA but things started to click for him this past week. Jacob went nine for nineteen with two home runs. Over his past ten games, Jacob is hitting .356 with five home runs.

Keibert Ruiz – A+/Rancho – didn’t think we could let a week slide without talking about the Keibert, did you? They increased his workload this week, as he played in six games, and once again hit in every game. The pace of his hits had slowed down to one a game but yesterday he stroked three hits. The only concern right now is that the great plate discipline he showed with the Loons is not showing up right now but that might be because he’s simply seeing so many hittable pitches.  Ruiz was promoted to Rancho on July 10th and has had a hit in every game that he’s had an at bat except one and that was way back on July 13th.

Caleb Ferguson – A+/Rancho – Might not be a hotter pitcher right now than Caleb Ferguson. Caleb got two starts last week and struck out twenty-one hitters in only thirteen innings. Over his last three starts, 19 innings, 19 hits, four earned runs, six walks, 31 strikeouts.

Ibandel Isabel – A+/Rancho – Ibandel played seven games last week and collected a hit in every game.  Overall he went nine for twenty-four, with two home runs, five walks, and six strikeouts. We mention the walks because he has 140 strikeouts to only 35 walks, so when he has a hot hitting week in conjunction with five walks, that is good news. Ibandel leads the California league in home runs with 24.

Zach Reks – A+/Rancho – Zach was just drafted in June in the 10th round and he is already at Rancho making him the only player drafted in June at this level. Zach must have deserved the promotion because he collected three hits, three times last week. Someone to keep an eye on.  He is already twenty-three and will be turning twenty-four in November so he should be at this level, but still it is good to see him hit the ground running.

Cody Thomas – A-/Loons – Cody hit the three home runs in one game last week while collecting nine hits for the week.  He now has eighteen home runs which is 2nd in the league behind Fernando Tatis Junior.  Overall his OPS is only .723 and he is twenty-two but we knew he was raw, and this is a very tough league on hitters.

Edwin Uceta – Rookie/Raptors – We don’t normally go to the rookie leagues, and I don’t think I’ve ever gone here for a pitcher but Uceta did something fairly unique. Uceta pitched a perfect game for six innings and left with the perfect game intact.  Uceta had just made an adjustment and it paid off big.

“His arm slot and where he throws from was kind of blocking his delivery a little bit,” Cuellar said. “As soon as he saw it, he worked on it and started adjusting to it — not be so blocked off on his landing foot and his arm slot started repeating and his pitches started coming back.”

Against the Mustangs, Uceta threw 37 of 64 pitches for strikes to retire all 18 batters he faced. He recorded six outs on the ground and seven through the air, with Cuellar saying he displayed brilliant execution of a three-pitch mix that consisted of a fastball, changeup and curve.

And the winner of the Farm Factory Award for the week of July 31st – August 6th is…..

Have to go with Edwin Uceta. Normally a three home run game or the two great games by Caleb Ferguson would do the trick but Ferguson won the FFA award a month ago so I want to spread it around.

Other minor league notes:

Starling Heredia was just announced as one of the July Minor League Players of the Month by MLB for the Pioneer League. Starling was recently promoted to the full season Midwest League with the Loons.

Ogden Raptors (Dodgers) outfielder Starling Heredia led the Pioneer Baseball League in average (.427), doubles (11), slugging (.732) and OPS (1.221) while finishing second in extra-base hits (16) and total bases (60). His 35 hits and .489 on-base percentage were good for third in the league. Heredia, 18, was signed as a non-drafted free agent by Los Angeles in 2016 out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ryu Rules Sunday Nights

♦ August 7, 2017 ♦ 3 Comments

Hyun-Jin Ryu once again dominated on a nationally televised game on Sunday night pitching seven shutout innings for the second Sunday in a row.  The pitcher who no one was counting on in March has now thrown fifteen scoreless innings in a row and has thrown a monkey wrench into the Dodger future rotation.

Ever since Clayton Kershaw went down every single Dodger starter has stepped up their game except Brandon McCarthy who decided to sit this competition out.

The Dodgers have five legitimate starters with Yu, Hill, Wood, Kenta, and Ryu, with the ace on the DL, and Brandon McCarthy getting healthy as well.

Ryu is looking as good as the numbers say.  This is as good as I’ve ever seen him, he’s looking just like if not better than the  Ryu of 2013.

The Dodgers went out and acquired two LHP relief pitchers at the deadline for October. The best one might have been on the roster all along.  As great as Ryu has looked he would have to continue to pitch at this same level to knock off Hill or Wood from the postseason rotation, but he could be the ace in the hole for the bullpen.

Other Dodger notes.

They are incredible.  Never seen any thing like this. Ever.  Steamrolling.

I keep waiting for the inevitable team slump to hit for a few weeks, a malady every team has to deal with over 162 game season.  It hasn’t happened yet, it may never happen.

 

Cody Bellinger passes Ted Williams

♦ August 7, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

With his 32nd home run last night, Cody Bellinger blew past HOF Ted Williams who had hit 31 home runs in his rookie campaign. Cody also passed Angel great Tim Salmon who hit his 31 home runs back in 1993.  Jim Ray Hart who had one of the great names in baseball history hit 31 home runs back in 1964. Hart was only 22 at the time and was part of a studded San Francisco Giant team that included  HOF Willie Mays, HOF Willie McCovey, HOF Orlando Cepeda, and the famous Alou brothers. Things looked bleak for the rest of the NL but the Baby Bull Orlando Cepeda would get hurt and miss most of 1965, and get traded to the Cardinals in the middle of 1966. Cepeda would then lead the 1967 Cardinals to the World Championship, earning MVP honors along the way.

Jim Ray Hart was quite the slugger who had 139 home runs by the age of 26.  Very few 3rd baseman in the history of the game has hit as many as 139 home runs by the age of 26. Jim Ray would only hit 31 more home runs the rest of his career.

Player           HR From   To   Age  OPS
Eddie Mathews   253 1952 1958 20-26 .923
Ron Santo       167 1960 1966 20-26 .841
Adrian Beltre   166 1998 2005 19-26 .783
Troy Glaus      164 1998 2003 21-26 .849
Eric Chavez     163 1998 2004 20-26 .856
Bob Horner      161 1978 1984 20-26 .858
David Wright    140 2004 2009 21-26 .907
Jim Ray Hart    139 1963 1968 21-26 .837
Nolan Arenado   136 2013 2017 22-26 .869

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/7/2017.

Cody now sits alone with the most home runs by rookie left handed hitter in the NL with his 32.

Hal Trosky has the major league rookie record for home runs by left handed hitter with 35.

Trosky had an interesting career. When you look at his baseball reference page you see a player who started with a bang but stopped playing at age 28 in 1941. I thought the war interrupted his career but the baseball sabr bio says it was migraines.

his career reached its apex in 1936, when he led the American League in runs batted in with 162, yet he has largely been consigned to historical obscurity. This anonymity is not only due to the reality that his career overlapped a triumvirate of Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg, and Lou Gehrig, a triumvirate of future Hall of Fame first basemen who held a virtual lock on the position on the American League All Star teams of the mid-’30s, but also because, at what should have been the peak of his career, Trosky was sidelined with two years of severe migraine headaches, pain so debilitating that he became unable to take the field for days in a row.

From age 21 – 28 Trosky hit 215 home runs. He tried to come back in 1944 and 1946 but it didn’t work out and he ended his career with only 5748 plate appearances and 228 home runs with an OPS+ of 130. He had a short but brilliant career. The man once hit 42 home runs, drove in 162 runs, had an OPS of 146, led the league in TB with 405 and finished 10th in MVP voting.

Player                        HR Year Age  Tm Lg  PA
Mark McGwire (RoY-1st)        49 1987  23 OAK AL 641
Frank Robinson (RoY-1st)      38 1956  20 CIN NL 667
Albert Pujols (RoY-1st)       37 2001  21 STL NL 676
Al Rosen                      37 1950  26 CLE AL 668
Jose Abreu (RoY-1st)          36 2014  27 CHW AL 622
Mike Piazza (RoY-1st)         35 1993  24 LAD NL 602
Ron Kittle (RoY-1st)          35 1983  25 CHW AL 570
Rudy York                     35 1937  23 DET AL 417
Hal Trosky                    35 1934  21 CLE AL 685
Aaron Judge                   35 2017  25 NYY AL 460
Ryan Braun (RoY-1st)          34 2007  23 MIL NL 492
Walt Dropo (RoY-1st)          34 1950  27 BOS AL 609
Jose Canseco (RoY-1st)        33 1986  21 OAK AL 682
Earl Williams (RoY-1st)       33 1971  22 ATL NL 550
Jimmie Hall (RoY-3rd)         33 1963  25 MIN AL 571
Cody Bellinger                32 2017  21 LAD NL 380
Chris Young (RoY-4th)         32 2007  23 ARI NL 624
Matt Nokes (RoY-3rd)          32 1987  23 DET AL 508
Tony Oliva (RoY-1st)          32 1964  25 MIN AL 719

Tim Salmon (RoY-1st)          31 1993  24 CAL AL 610
Jim Ray Hart (RoY-2nd)        31 1964  22 SFG NL 625
Ted Williams                  31 1939  20 BOS AL 675
Mike Trout (RoY-1st)          30 2012  20 LAA AL 639
Nomar Garciaparra (RoY-1st)   30 1997  23 BOS AL 734
Pete Incaviglia               30 1986  22 TEX AL 606
Willie Montanez (RoY-2nd)     30 1971  23 PHI NL 683
Bob Allison (RoY-1st)         30 1959  24 WSH AL 638

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/3/2017.

Chasing Piazza/Robinson/Green/McGwire on Aug 7th

♦ August 7, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

Cody Bellinger rocked his 32nd home run last night giving him four home runs for the week and putting him well ahead of the pace of NL Rookie HR champion Frank Robinson who only had 25 on this date on his way to 38.  Frank Robinson would pick up the pace and club ten home runs between now and August 31st.

While Cody is chasing Robinson, Aaron Judge is chasing Mark McGwire who holds the major league Rookie home run record of 49. Judge has slowed down quite a bit in the 2nd half so far but if he catches a second wind, watch out.  Right now he is only two home runs behind the torrid McGwire pace.

Player PA HR HR/PA Aug 7th Total Leader Year
Mike Piazza 567 32 17.72 22 35 LAD Rookie HR 1993
Frank Robinson 525 32 16.41 25 38 NL Rookie HR 1956
Mark McGwire 330 32 10.31 37 49 AL Rookie HR 1987
Shawn Green 501 32 15.66 31 49 LAD Alltime HR 2001
Cody Bellinger 380 32 11.88 32 ??? Chasing 2017
Aaron Judge 462 35 13.20 35 ??? Chasing 2017