Welcome to Week 16 in our ongoing series highlighting the best hitters and pitchers from the previous week. This week features an interesting mix. We have one hitter and one pitcher that each belong to different clubs that made some of the biggest acquisitions at the traded deadline helping their clubs to the postseason. We also have a hitter and pitcher that belong to teams heading towards the gutter.
BEST HITTER: Lucas Duda, 1B, Mets
It was a big week for the Mets. They acquired Tyler Clippard from the Oakland A’s. Oh, and they also acquired Carlos Gomez before not acquiring Carlos Gomez before acquiring Yoenis Cespedes for real. For about 24 hours they were the embarrassment of baseball before ending up one of the deadline “winners” and a much improved club.
It was a big week for their first baseman too. Lucas Duda smashed his way to .474/.524/1.623 (.865 wOBA, 485 wRC+) with a MLB leading 7 home runs. His 1.623 slugging percentage is the highest I’ve seen in a single week this year. I have seen fWAR figures higher than his 1.0 though. Remember kiddos, defense and position matter. Regardless of that, it was an incredible offensive week for Duda who helped his club tie the NL East favorite Nationals atop their division.
Honorable Mention: In most other weeks Wellington Castillo would have hit well enough to win top honors. Instead his .421/.500/1.158 (.272 wOBA, 485 wRC+) and 4 home runs come in a distant second to Duda. Still, for a guy the Cubs got rid of and the Mariners decided they didn’t want to keep it must have been a validating week.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Adam Eaton (.517)
OBP – Joey Votto (.630)
SLG – Lucas Duda (1.632)
wOBA – Lucas Duda (.865)
wRC+ – Lucas Duda (485)
HR – Lucas Duda (7)
SB – Billy Hamilton (5)
fWAR – Lucas Duda (1.0)
CINCINNATI, OH – JUNE 22: R.A. Dickey #43 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the third inning of the game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on June 22, 2014 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
BEST PITCHER: R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays
Much like Lucas Duda, R.A. Dickey’s club made some pretty big acquisitions last week. Troy Tulowitzki and David Price were the headliners but they got some nice role players too. They increased their playoffs odds significantly via trades. Dickey did his best to make sure those moves won’t be in vain.
Dickey made 2 starts last week and didn’t give up a single run. Well, it would be more accurate to say he didn’t give up a single earned run. He went 8 innings against the Phillies who did score 2 unearned runs. Then he faced the much more potent Royals going 7 innings and allow no runs of any variety. He also struck out 6 and allowed just 2 walks and 2 hits. In total he pitched 15 innings allowing 7 hits, 3 walks, and 10 strikeouts.
Honorable Mention: Over the years I’ve seen a lot of people look at a pitcher standing around 6’0 and immediately label him a reliever because of his height regardless of his ability. There were more than a couple teams that passed on 5’11 Sonny Gray in the 2011 draft for that very reason. Either he’s the exception that proves the rule or the best example of why that’s an overly flippant bias.
This past week Gray faced two teams pitching a total of 16 innings (including a complete game shutout against the Dodgers). He allowed 1 run (Indians) on 7 hits while striking out 16 and walking 5.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Jon Lester (50.0%)
BB% – 16 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Taijuan Walker (.034)
WHIP – Taijuan Walker (0.22)
ERA – 14 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Chris Archer (-0.06)
xFIP – Jon Lester (0.66)
fWAR – R.A. Dickey/Sonny Gray (0.6)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
