Welcome to week three of our ongoing catalog of the best hitters and pitchers of the week. Last week Nelson Cruz cruised to the top offensive spot. Get it? Cruz, cruised. I’m so sorry. Please don’t leave. On the pitching side, Andrew Cashner logged 14 strikeouts in 12 innings to get his nod. Today we’ll be highlighting two new players who provided us with the most impressive performances in week three of the season.
BEST HITTER: Mark Teixeira, 1B, Yankees
This week was the most difficult so far. There were five players that were reasonable choices. I decided to take the easy way out and simply award the spot to the player with the highest wOBA which was Mark Teixeira. He slashed .333/.429/1.000 (585 wOBA, 280 wRC+) with 5 home runs. This marks the third week in a row a player has earned this spot with 5+ home runs.
Honorable Mention: I have to put Adeiny Hechavarria here because it could very well be the only time he warrants mentioning for his offense. He lead baseball last week in batting average (along with Evan Longoria) and tied 2 other players for fWAR (which does include defense). He also came in fifth for wOBA and wRC+. Not to shabby for a glove first short stop.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Adeiny Hechavarria/Evan Longoria (.500)
OBP – Anthony Rizzo (.571)
SLG – Mark Teixeira (1.000)
wOBA – Mark Teixeira (.585)
wRC+ – Mark Teixeira (280)
HR – Mark Teixeira (5)
SB – Billy Hamilton (5)
fWAR – Three players tied (0.7)
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – APRIL 19: Chris Archer #22 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches during the second inning of a game against the New York Yankees on April 19, 2014 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
Best Pitcher of the Week: Chris Archer, Rays
Strikeouts are always impressive and Archer notched 16 in 12.2 innings. He also only gave up 9 hits and 2 walks all without allowing a single run. That makes four straight starts without a run for the Rays young pitcher. After trading David Price last year one had to wonder if the Rays were going to be able to compete this year or if they were intentionally taking a step back. So far, with Archer leading the way, the former seems to be the case.
Honorable Mentions: Felix Hernandez, Mariners
Complete games seem to be fewer and farther between in the new era of the bullpen. King Felix is no stranger to them. He has 24 in his career including his most recent start against the Twins. Nine innings, five hits, nine strikeouts, zero walks, zero runs. That’s impressive even if it was the Twins.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Clayton Kershaw (42.9%)
BB% – 14 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Dallas Keuchel (.071)
WHIP – Aaron Harang (0.38)
ERA – 13 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Jon Lester (0.22)
xFIP – Jon Lester (0.89)
fWAR – Chris ARcher (0.7)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
