By Dalton Del Don – Senior Writer
1. Albert Pujols
2. David Ortiz
3. Ryan Howard
4. Prince Fielder
5. Travis Hafner
6. Justin Morneau
7. Derrek Lee
8. Lance Berkman
9. Adrian Gonzalez
10. Nick Swisher
11. Todd Helton
12. Mark Teixeira
13. Carlos Delgado
14. Paul Konerko
15. Casey Kotchman
16. Carlos Pena
17. Dan Johnson
18. Ryan Garko
19. Conor Jackson
20. Richie Sexson
21. Jason Giambi
22. Adam LaRoche
23. Xavier Nady
24. Nomar Garciaparra
25. Lyle Overbay
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Dalton – thoughts on Hafner’s lack of power? And what are the chances of Yo! Adrian potentially being ranked higher come season’s end?
Are you worried about Berkman’s slow start?
Prince for MVP?
Considering that I picked Hafner for MVP this year, his lack of power is def. concerning. The rest of the numbers are there – best BB/K rate of his career, normal contact rate, and he actually has a BABIP about .30 points lower than his career norm. But obviously, it’s the slugging that’s the problem. You summarize it best on your blog – he’s getting 1.65 GB per FB, which is the main culprit. He’s especially struggling against lefties. I’m chalking it up as a fluky 200 at-bats and still expect him to be huge from here on out.
Pretty much the same goes for Berkman, who is suffering a similar power outage. The disappointing 8 home runs wouldn’t be a big deal if he also had 20 doubles, but he has just six of those as well. He’s on pace for a 34 XBH season! He’s 31, so he may have peaked already, but I highly doubt this is the beginning of a precipitous decline. Hopefully he’s not hiding an injury – and he is striking out much more than usual – but like Hafner, I expect a big second half from Berkman. I mean, it’s already happening – he has as many XBHs (7) in 44 at-bats during June than he did in the first two months of the season combined.
Adrian Gonzalez could easily be ranked higher come season’s end. I was closer to ranking him fifth than I was 10th, it’s just that the eight above him are all pretty much studs. Petco does limit his upside, and the rest of the offense hurts his runs scored totals, but there’s a lot to like here. He just turned 25, so this is likely the beginning of a big power spike. Even while playing in that park, I think Gonzalez will be a legitimate 40-homer threat in 2008-2009. He strikes out too much to be much more than a .285 hitter, but it looks like he’ll get about 120 RBI as soon as this season. I like him a lot.
Prince for MVP.
Dmitri Young has been one of the best 1B in the last month, he had a stretch of games where he went 40 for 80. I wonder what happens to him when Nick Johnson returns.
You’re right, Young’s numbers so far are definitely better than some listed above. If he keeps it up even somewhat, the Nats will have to find a way to keep both bats in the lineup when Nick the Stick returns. Then again, that’s assuming Johnson ever does get back on the field. Young can play the outfield.
Garko over laroach? Laroache hit 32 homers last year, and did you notice his second half?
LaRoche has proven to be a poor hitter in April throughout his career, so I do expect a bounce back this season after his slow start. However, I wouldn’t base my opinion on LaRoche on 229 at-bats, when the other 1,300 career at-bats suggests last year’s second half was an aberration. He can’t hit lefties and strikes out a lot, while also playing in a poor lineup and in a ballpark that is very tough on left-handed hitters.
He’s solid, and I can see the Garko complaint (he’s been slumping), but I wouldn’t move LaRoche above any of the other names on there.
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