Welcome to week 22 of our ongoing series highlighting the best hitting and pitching performances from the previous week. If last week’s installment was an all playoff bound edition, this week’s is about the complete opposite. We feature two hitters from teams with zero chance of playing past the regular season. With the pitchers, only one has even a remote chance of playing in the postseason.
BEST HITTER: David Ortiz, DH, Red Sox
The Red Sox won the World Series in 2013 and returned to baseball last year with similar expectations only to end up dismantling their team half way through the season. Over the winter they made even more changes and big signings with the hopes of a return to playoff baseball. The results were similar to last year and now they’re struggling to figure out what to do about it.
One player not struggling is David Ortiz. He’s hit .275/.361/.556 on the season with 34 home runs. This past week was one of his best this year. He hit .444/.545/1.111. Something I always like to see is more walks than strikeouts. Ortiz had an 18.2 BB% vs just a 13.6 K%. He didn’t lead the league in home runs, but he did hit his career 500th. The Red Sox aren’t going anywhere this year but such a performance from Ortiz has to feel nice for them considering they’ve signed him through 2017 (team options).
Honorable Mention: It was just a couple of weeks ago that it looked like the Orioles might make a play for one of the Wild Card spots. Now they’re 6.0 games back and things look pretty much over for them. They’re 12.5 games back of the division leaders so that’s not an option.
None of this is the fault of Chris Davis though. After a dismal 2014 season he has rebounded in a big way hitting .263/.358/.562 with 42 home runs. This past week he finished second in wRC+ (318) to David Ortiz. On the season he’s sporting a 148 wRC+ which is a big step up from his 2014 mark of 94. In stepping up Davis has almost certainly and significantly raised the paycheck he’ll receive this winter which is his first foray into free agency.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Corey Seager (.474)
OBP – Chris Davis (.679)
SLG – David Ortiz (1.111)
wOBA – David Ortiz (.655)
wRC+ – David Ortiz (330)
HR – Yoenis Cespedes/C.J. Cron (4)
SB – Jean Segura (4)
fWAR – Chris Davis (0.8)
CINCINNATI, OH – SEPTEMBER 07: Anthony DeSclafani #28 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches during the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park on September 7, 2015 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati defeated Pittsburgh 3-1. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
BEST PITCHER: Anthony DeSclafani, Reds
Anthony DeSclafani went up against the two best teams in baseball last week – the Cardinals and Pirates – and he held them to one run each. Against the Pirates he went 7.1 IP, allowing 7 hits, no walks, and striking out 6. Against the Cardinals he went 6 IP, allowing 4 hits, 1 walk, and striking out 10. The Reds are in rebuilding mode and after trading Johnny Cueto there is a lot of flux in the rotation. DeSclafani has gone a long way towards securing his spot for next year.
Honorable Mention: Masahiro Tanaka performed a similar feat this week, holding back the offenses of the Blue Jays and Orioles. Against Baltimore, he went 8 innings allowing 4 hits, a walk, and a run while striking out 10 batters. Proving once again the stat is ridiculous, he did not get a win. However, he did get one against the Blue Jays. He went 7 innings against them, allowing 4 hits, no walks, no runs, and 7 strikeouts. The Yankees are hanging on to their playoff hopes by a thread. But even if they don’t make it, after suffering a serious elbow injury earlier this year it’s nice for them to see him rebounding later in the season.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Stephen Strasburg (46.4%)
BB% – 10 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Madison Bumgarner (.036)
WHIP – Madison Bumgarner (0.11)
ERA – 11 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Anthony DeSclafani (0.97)
xFIP – Anthony DeSclafani (1.63)
fWAR – Anthony DeSclafani/Masahiro Tanaka (0.7)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
