Welcome to the first in what will be a season long series highlighting the best hitters and pitchers of the previous week. Every Monday we’ll pick one hitter and one pitcher for top honors. We’re going to keep a running tally as well to see who comes out on top at the end of the year. We’re also going to highlight some honorable mentions as well the week’s MLB leader in certain categories.
BEST HITTER: Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, Dodgers
This week’s choice was not difficult. Adrian Gonzalez hit 609/667/1.391 (.838 wOBA, 478 wRC+) with 5 home runs. He accumulated an impressive 1.3 fWAR in one week’s time. Wins Above Replacement is cumulative so it can rise and fall but it’s impressive to see such a number in one week. There are players that won’t be worth that much in a whole season of play. The next closest were Miguel Cabrera and Salvador Perez with 0.8 fWAR. Five players were tied with 3 home runs.
Honorable Mention: Billy Hamilton
I chose Billy Hamilton for his stolen bases. He lapped the rest of the field with 7 SB. The next closest was Dee Gordon with 3. No one else had more than 2. In 28 plate appearances Hamilton had a great 14.8 BB% which allowed him to produce a .357 OBP. This is not a skill he’s known for and so it’s unlikely to be repeated often throughout the year. But you see here what getting on-base does for the speedy young outfielder.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Adrian Gonzalez (.609)
OBP – Adrian Gonzalez (.667)
SLG – Adrian Gonzalez (1.391)
wOBA – Adrian Gonzalez (.838)
wRC+ – Adrian Gonzalez (478)
HR – Adrian Gonzalez (5)
SB – Billy Hamilton (7)
fWAR – Adrian Gonzalez (1.3)
HOUSTON, TX – APRIL 08: Carlos Carrasco #59 of the Cleveland Indians pitches in th first inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on April 8, 2015 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
BEST PITCHER: Carlos Carrasco
This one was a lot tougher than the hitters. If you just went by Wins Above Replacement you’d have to go with Max Scherzer. Admittedly he did quite well. But he had two starts to Carrasco’s one and that isn’t his fault. I went with Carrasco because he had the best single game performance.
In his start against Houston he didn’t give up a run, allowed just 3 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 10 batters in 6.1 innings. That’s very impressive, though we should acknowledge that the Astros are a team that will strikeout quite a lot. So some credit lies with the batters. Carrasco earned 0.4 fWAR from this start.
Honorable Mentions: Max Scherzer/Trevor Bauer
I already mentioned Scherzer led baseball in the first week with a 0.7 fWAR. He made two starts. One against the Mets and the other the Phillies. He pitched 13.2 innings allowing just 1 run, 4 walks, and issuing 16 strike outs. That’s also very impressive. If you think he earned top honors last week I wouldn’t blame you.
Trevor Bauer gets a tip of the cap for being the only starter to not allow a base hit. He threw 6 innings against the Astros, didn’t allow a run, and struck out 11 batters. He would have gotten top honors except that he also walked 5 batters.
MLB Leader:
K% – Trevor Bauer (47.8%)
BB% – 12 Players Tied (0.0%)
AVG – Trevor Bauer (0.00)
WHIP – Ubaldo Jimenez & Drew Pomeranz (0.29)
ERA – 20 Player Tie (0.00)
FIP – Carlos Carrasco (0.32)
xFIP – Carlos Carrasco (1.14)
fWAR – Max Scherzer (0.7)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
