Welcome to the fifth installment in our ongoing coverage of the best hitters and pitchers of the week. This week we feature two young players in the prime of their careers. One of them isn’t even close to reaching his peak physical prime. The future is bright people!
BEST HITTER: Bryce Harper, OF, Nationals
No contest this week. It’s Bryce Harper by a mile, which coincidentally is how long his six home runs traveled if you put them back-to-back. That may or may not be an exaggeration. He didn’t just hit for power over this week period either. He hit for average (.455) and got on base (.520). His 16.0 K% and 12.0 BB% is impressive even in a short sample. I also get a kick out of his .864 ISO. At 22 years old Harper has a career slash line of 274/358/480 and 11.5 career fWAR. Let me reiterate: HE’S JUST 22! How anyone can consider this kid overrated or over-hyped is beyond me.
Honorable Mention: Khris Davis finally started to turn things around for the Brewers. In two games he logged 7 hits included one 4 hit day where he slugged 1 home run, 2 doubles, and a single.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Chris Colabello (.556)
OBP – Brandon Belt (.586)
SLG – Bryce Harper (1.318)
wOBA – Bryce Harper (.743)
wRC+ – Bryce Harper (378)
HR – Bryce Harper (6)
SB – Justin Upton (4)
fWAR – Bryce Harper (0.9)
BOSTON, MA – APRIL 23: Michael Pineda #35 of the New York Yankees pitches against the Boston Red Sox in the first inning during the game at Fenway Park on April 23, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
BEST PITCHER: Michael Pineda, Yankess
Remember when everyone would argue over whether the Yankees or the Mariners won the Michael Pineda/Jesus Montero deal? Poor Mariners fans. Okay to be fair it did take Pineda a long time to get to this level of effectiveness and Montero is hitting .333…in AAA. But at least Seattle still has Hector Noesi. Oh wait, I’m being told they traded him to the White Sox for cash considerations. Ahem, anyway.
Michael Pineda was really good this past week. He went 15 innings in two starts and only allowed 1 run in total. His first start against the Blue Jays was pretty good. He went eight scoreless innings allowing five hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. But his next start against the Orioles was brilliant. He went seven innings and did allow one run off six hits, one of which was a home run, but it’s the strikeout to walk ratio that impresses. He struck out 16 of the 27 batters he faced and walked none. That’s a 59.2 K%. Wow.
Honorable Mention: Jered Weaver, Angels
Jered Weaver’s career has been on the downward slope for a while now but that didn’t matter on Friday when he took on the Houston Astros. He pitched a complete game shutout against them. He was able to spread 6 hits to go along with 6 strikeouts and no walks.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Danny Salazar (40.8%)
BB% – 18 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Zack Greinke (.080)
WHIP – Chris Young (0.36)
ERA – 10 players tied (0.00)
FIP – John Lackey (0.94)
xFIP – Danny Salazar (1.49)
fWAR – Michael Pineda (0.8)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
