Welcome to the fourteenth week of our ongoing series highlighting the best hitters and pitchers from the previous week. This week we feature two superstars in the making. We also feature a hitter that was once among the best in baseball.
BEST HITTER: Mike Trout, OF, Angels
I expected to see a lot more of Mike Trout in doing this series. He’s easily one of the best players in baseball. So far this season his 5.6 fWAR is second only to Bryce Harper (5.7). That just goes to show that you don’t have to be the best in and out every week to accumulate the most value. He’s just been consistently performing at a high level every week.
This week he was the top performer with a 1.0 fWAR. His 367 wRC+ was over 100 points more than his closest competition. He also led baseball with 5 home runs.
Honorable Mention: There was a time I would have expected to see Victor Martinez more often as well. Age catches up with everyone and to his credit it’s take much longer to slow Martinez down. This past week however he was on top of his game. He hit 478/433/828 with 3 home runs. Before this week he only had 2 home runs the entire season.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Charlie Blackmon (.481)
OBP – Mike Trout (.556)
SLG – Mike Trout (1.130)
wOBA – Mike Trout (.689)
wRC+ – Mike Trout (367)
HR – Mike Trout (5)
SB – Jose Reyes/Dee Gordon (4)
fWAR -Mike Trout (1.0)
LOS ANGELES, CA – JULY 8: Pitcher Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws a pitch in the ninth inning against Philadelphia Phillies on July 8, 2015 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Kershaw pitched a complete game shutout to defeat the Phillies 5-0. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
BEST PITCHER: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Somehow Clayton Kershaw wasn’t originally on the All-Star roster. That’s insane. He’s been added as a replacement since then but that doesn’t change the fact that arguably the best pitcher of this current era was originally slated to sit out an All-Star game.
He had a rough start to the season but he’s been really good since. This past week he threw a complete game shut out against the Phillies with 13 strike outs, 0 walks, and just 8 hits. Sure it was baseball’s worst team, but that’s not an easy feat regardless.
Honorable Mention: Jon Lester is another ace who had a rough go of things early on. He’s also bounced back and had an excellent week. He made two starts (White Sox, Cardinals) where he went 7 innings and struck out 8 batters. He held the Cardinals scoreless but did give up 4 runs to the Sox. However in that start he only allowed 5 hits and no walks. To give up 4 runs that way is just tough luck (or poor defense).
MLB Leaders:
K% – Noah Syndergaard (43.3%)
BB% – 15 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Zack Greinke (.040)
WHIP – Zack Greinke (0.13)
ERA – 14 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Jose Fernandez (0.51)
xFIP – Clayton Kershaw (1.45)
fWAR – Jon Lester (0.7)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
