Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: Phil Mickelson Outshines Tiger Woods

Most Surprising 1st Half Hitters

With the All-Star Break upon us, now is a good time to look at those players who have completely surprised.  These are players who have been in the majors for a while and have produced at levels not previously seen.  It is not a list of MVP candidates.

To me these are the Top Five Hitting Surprises of the 1st Half and the pertinent production.

1.  2B Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers - 83 R .335 14 HR 23 SB
2.  CF Nate McLouth, Pittsburgh Pirates - 4th in R with 68, .902 OPS, 19 HR, 65 RBI, 10 SB
3.  RF J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox - .303 17 HR 55 RBI
4.  CF Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians - 23 HR, 22 SB 54 RBI
5.  CF David Dejesus, Kansas City Royals - .307 10 HR 51 RBI 7 SB

Honorable Mentions:
CF BJ Upton, Tampa Bay Rays - 61 BB 27 SB.  Coming into 2008, he had an outside shot at 40/40 with the SB being the bigger if.  With 6 HRs, Upton looks like a stretch to go 20/40.
RF Ryan Ludwick, St. Louis Cardinals - 20 HR 64 RBI.  .818 OPS in 2007 vs a .954 in 2008.  Given he has produced somewhat similar power numbers this year as he did in 2007 in the same number of ABs, I didn't put him in the Top 5
1B Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox - .555 SLG 15 HR 63 RBI.  With a career .452 SLG, One wonders if the Semitic God of Walks has establoished a new level.  (Is "Semitic' more fair than "Greek" given Youkilis is Jewish and the proximity of Greece to Asia Minor?)

Comment 5 comments  |  0 recs  | 

Do you like this story?

Comments

Display:

How about Adrian Gonzalez?

22 home runs and 71 RBI (jumping between the top 3 in RBIs for most of the season) isn’t surprising?

How about the fact that he’s doing so in one of the most pitcher friendly parks and on the worst team in baseball with the 2nd worst OBP, 2nd fewest RBIs, 2nd worst average, 2nd fewest RBIs… you get the picture. He’s on the worst offensive team (either them or the Nats) yet he’s competing with the likes of Ryan Howard, David Wright, Lance Berkman and Chase Utley (out hitting several of them).

San Diego? What? Where is that? Adrian who? What are you talking about?

In protest of adulthood

by Bradicus on Jul 15, 2008 5:19 PM EDT reply actions  

Agonz

went 30-100 last year..not really surprising 1st half in my opinion
Here’s another:

Jorge Cantu-18-54-59-.282

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Jul 15, 2008 9:55 PM EDT reply actions  

another 1st half surprise.....

maybe the surprise of the year…Pat Burrell’s 1st half home/away splits:

BA    OBP   SLG    OPS  
Home .246 .371 .455 .826
Away 308 .440 .712 1.153

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Jul 15, 2008 10:04 PM EDT reply actions  

home

here it is:

BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  
Home .246 .371 .455 .826
Away .308 .440 .712 1.153

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Jul 15, 2008 10:07 PM EDT reply actions  

wtf!!!

home

ba obp slg ops
.246 .371 .455 .826

away
ba obp slg ops
.308 .440 .712 1.153

copy paste not working for some reason

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Jul 15, 2008 10:09 PM EDT reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog covering Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Football, Fantasy Hockey, Fantasy Basketball and Fantasy MMA.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Small
Mike Stanton is Overrated
Small
Understanding the "injury prone" roster
Small
Smart Predictions for 2012

Recent FanPosts

Small
Dynasty Leagues
Small
12 Team Dynasty League Start-Up looking for managers
Small
Dynasty Draft Question
Small
MORE keeper help
Small
Rate my Minor League Draft class (so far)
Small
First Daft of the Season
Razor_ramon_small
Pick 2 Pitchers Please
Med_boy_walking_with_belarus_flag_pt_res_thm_small
4 Huge Fantasy Basketball Trades
Small
Sticky Situations
Small
Brand new to competitive fantasy baseball

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >


Managers

Img00006-20101226-1702_small Ray Guilfoyle

Editors

Dsc00490_-_version_2_small Jason Hunt

Matt1_small PostmanMatt

897267_o_small Kenneth Arthur

23-tmb_small dukeallstar

Small eklevine

Beer_small Michael Barr

Markus_fltc_fav30_small Markus Potter

To_crying_small smokeymcpots

5456_556618485132_20100932_33160415_3487226_n_small mahoney1213

Calvin-and-hobbes_small Robert L. Bishop

Image-1_small ZombieMonta

Small MikeGallagher

Coolguy_small stephenkaczmar

Bwhead_small Ben Bauman

Twitter_small JustBlogGuy

Bruce_campbell_army_of_darkness_small Paul Rice

Fixed_small Chris Buckley

Photo_18_small Kevin Boger

2011-03-10_at_13-38-09__1__small Todd McMacken

Small Craig Goldstein

Raptors_small Maxmillien

Twitter_eb_2_small Marc Normandin

Vikingpose_reasonably_small_small bretsayre

Authors

Head_shot1_small Dave Halprin