Yes, it’s early. The 2015 MLB season hasn’t even completed its first week yet. As of this writing, no team has played more than three games.
But if MVP awards were handed out before teams have finished their opening series of the year, Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez would probably hoard all the votes. In his first 13 plate appearances of the very young season, Gonzalez has 10 hits, making for a .769 average. After hitting three home runs (batting 4-for-4) in the Dodgers’ 7-4 win over the Padres Wednesday night, he has five for the season, which is a historic level of performance.
Adrian Gonzalez: 1st player in MLB history to hit 5 HR in team’s first 3 games (Elias).
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) April 9, 2015
My pocket calculator says Gonzalez is on pace to hit 270 home runs. I think we can safely project he won’t reach that total. Nonetheless, Gonzalez’s scorching start is eye-popping. With two doubles to go with those five homers, his current slugging percentage is 2.077 (resulting in a 2.846 OPS). Baseball-Reference almost doesn’t have a bold font strong enough to emphasize that number.
Gonzalez has always had one of the sweetest-looking home run swings in baseball. (Granted, left-handed swings tend to look more picturesque on TV.) When he connects, it’s a thing of beauty to behold. Fortunately for the Dodgers, that swing is producing like the team needs.
Last season, Gonzalez led the Dodgers with 27 home runs and was tops in MLB with 116 RBI. With Matt Kemp traded to San Diego and Howie Kendrick (who’s never hit 20 homers in a season) batting cleanup, Gonzalez is the primary thunder in the middle of the lineup. So far, he’s been swinging Thor’s hammer.
Can this be attributed to anything in particular? Gonzalez’s spring training numbers didn’t point to this. In Cactus League play, he batted .222 in 63 at-bats with two home runs and .365 slugging percentage. Of course, we know better than to read too much into spring training performance. For one thing, hitters may be working on things such as looking for pitches on a particular side of the plate, trying to hit to the opposite field and blah blah blah.
:LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 08: Adrian Gonzalez #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits his third home run of the game, a solo shot in the fifth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on April 8, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
ESPN Los Angeles’ Mark Saxon wrote about Gonzalez dedicating himself to offseason conditioning, which certainly could have made a difference. But more importantly, the team’s front office overhaul may have put a little fear into veteran hitters like Gonzalez.
He even referenced it himself in Andrew Friedman’s introductory news conference when he asked the team’s new president of baseball operations if he was looking for a younger, faster, stronger first baseman.
Maybe Gonzalez was referring to himself and what he envisioned after offseason workouts. But a first baseman set to turn 33 with $85 million remaining on the final four years of his contract could have been viewed as a trade candidate for a team president and general manager looking to streamline the payroll and create a more efficient, flexible payroll. Cranking a home run every three plate appearances tends to improve the perceived value of a hitter.
Naturally, match-ups can also play a significant factor in how a batter performs. As Saxon also pointed out, Padres pitcher Andrew Cashner was stubborn — some might say less-than-smart — about how he approached Gonzalez, insisting on pitching him low and inside. Typically, that’s where left-handed hitters like to see the ball. Cashner attributed the home run balls to poor location on his part.
“I felt I had a great game plan against him, but I just didn’t execute,” Cashner told the San Diego Union Tribune‘s Dennis Lin. “Three mistakes to the same spot. I’ve got to be better than that, mix in some more off-speed, especially when I’m not locating my fastball.”
MLB Gameday seems to confirm Cashner’s assessment. If the idea was to pitch Gonzalez low and inside, he really didn’t get the ball low enough or inside enough.
A belt-high fastball, even at 94 mph, will usually get crushed — especially by a hitter like Gonzalez. The 12-year veteran may insist he’s no home run hitter, but if an opposing pitcher tees up a fastball like that, “trying to hit a ball hard and on line” is going to put a baseball over the fence. If there was any doubt about what Gonzalez can still do with pitches in that location, he addressed those questions. Other pitchers, coaches and scouts will surely take note and adjust their game plans accordingly. Consequently, Gonzalez might not find such generous offerings from here on out.
It would be absurd to project someone as a MVP front-runner three games into the season. (Trust me, I once wrote for an outlet that asked its lead baseball writers to do just that.) And it’s highly likely that no one, outside of the most diehard Dodgers or Adrian Gonzalez fan, picked Gonzalez to win those honors this season.
Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson are the new hotness in Chavez Ravine. But the not-quite-old man is showing that he still has plenty left and could be a major reason why the Dodgers beat out the Padres and Giants in the NL West, and finally fulfill the World Series ambitions this team has been carrying since its roster was overhauled with the trade that brought Gonzalez to Los Angeles in 2012.
