Welcome to Week 8 of our ongoing series that recaps the best hitters and pitchers from the previous week. This week’s offense is all about third basemen. Between the pitchers it was nearly a tie between 2 single game performances, one in the National League, the other in the American League.
BEST HITTER: Todd Frazier, 3B, Reds
When people talk about the best active third basemen I feel like Todd Frazier is often overlooked. That’s no longer a mistake I will be making. He’s already at 3.0 fWAR this year and this past week was one of his best. He slashed 500/560/1.227 and led baseball with a 374 wRC+. He’s on an MVP pace right now, though I’d be surprised if he kept it up all year if only because that’s hard for any player to do.
Honorable Mention: Keeping in line with the theme, Canada’s only professional third baseman had himself quite the week. Josh Donaldson slashed 440/483/1.240 and led baseball with 6 home runs. It may not matter quite as much since the team isn’t doing so well, but the Blue Jays definitely won the Donaldson/Lawrie deal. At least so far.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Todd Frazier (.500)
OBP – Paul Goldschmidt (.606)
SLG – Josh Donaldson (1.240)
wOBA – Todd Frazier (.727)
wRC+ – Todd Frazier (374)
HR – Josh Donaldson (6)
SB – Billy Hamilton (4)
fWAR – Josh Donaldson (1.1)
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: Chris Archer, Rays
This one was so close between Archer and Scherzer. Ultimately I decided to go with Archer because he only had 1 fewer strike out, but pitched one more inning and didn’t walk a single batter. He kept the Mariners to just 2 hits in 8 innings while not allowing a run and striking out 12 batters.
That’s really impressive isn’t it? Guess what? Chris Archer didn’t get a win in this outing. Felix Hernandez held the Rays scoreless for nine innings. The Rays bullpen allowed a run. So as far as his win-loss record is concerned, Chris Archer’s excellent start didn’t exist. Please people, ignore pitcher wins. They’re a garbage stat.
Honorable Mention: Max Sherzer allowed 5 hits and one walk to the Cubs. He struck out 13 batters in 7 innings and didn’t allow a run. He led the majors this week with a NEGATIVE 0.19 FIP. If you’re curious, Max Scherzer did get a win.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Max Scherzer (48.2%)
BB% – 20 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Alex Wilson (0.43)
WHIP – 3 players tied (0.25)
ERA – 17 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Max Scherzer (-0.19)
xFIP – Clayton Kershaw (1.04)
fWAR – Chris Archer (0.6)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
