Brett Lawrie has been everything that was expected from him as a top prospect and more, as he hit his 7th homer of the season yesterday against the Orioles. With 3 hits yesterday, Lawrie is now hitting a robust ..340/.392/.713 with 7 home runs, 20 runs batted in, and also 4 stolen bases. He will definitely be a top-10 3B for next season,and could conceivably break into the top 5. If he keeps up this performance, he may force his way into the discussion for Rookie of the Year.
Gotta love this down year from Albert Pujols. He hit 2 more home runs yesterday, bringing him to 34 on the season. It's a bit of a down year from the normal Albert season, but he's still hitting .292/.364/.553 with 84 RBI. It hasn't quite been everything his owners expected, but it has still been a very solid year.
With just under a month to go, Ryan Howard hit his 30th home run of the season, and now has 104 RBI on the year as well. I honestly would not be surprised if he got to 37 HR and 125 RBI, despite the .250 batting average he is sporting.
Ian Kinsler homered twice in the Rangers' victory yesterday, and now has 23 on the season. He also stole his 23rd base of the season, but is hitting just .243 on the season. He does have a shot at 30-30 again this season, which would be the 2nd time he's done that in his career.
Magglio Ordonez surprised everyone yesterday as he recorded a stolen base to go with his home run and 3 runs batted in. He's had a bit of a rough season, but I think depending on where he ends up playing in 2012, he could be a deep-league sleeper.
Jemile Weeks stole his 21st base of the season yesterday, despite not being called up until June. I'm not entirely sure about this speed, as he never stole more than 16 in a full season prior to this year. That said, 2B is extremely shallow it seems, and Weeks will probably be a top 10 2B despite not hitting for any power. In a full season, I could see him giving a .300 batting average and 30-35 stolen bases if he can keep this up.
Craig Kimbrel recorded his 42nd save of the season last night. Another 3 strikeouts for him as well, and he's now up to 110 on the season. I would be really, really surprised if he didn't win the Rookie of the Year award. He is definitely going to be my #1 closer coming into next year as well.