Welcome to the twelfth week of our ongoing series highlighting the previous weeks best hitting and pitching performances.
BEST HITTER: Nolan Arenando, 3B, Rockies
It’s been a while since home runs dominated this space but that’s a big part of why Nolan Arenado is here. He led baseball with an impressive 7 home runs this past week. But he wasn’t just hitting for power. He slashed 391/440/1348. Even without the staggering slugging percentage that’s a good week. He pair his bat with his glove to lead position players in fWAR as well. Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez aren’t the superstars they once were, but the Rockies still have one in the young Arenando.
Honorable Mention: The Mets are falling out of contention fast due to their team-wide lack of offense. However, Curtis Granderson seems to be regaining form. This week he was second in wRC+ (330) hitting 4 home runs and slashing 458/552/1042. Obviously he can’t keep that pace up (no one could). But if he can continue being a productive hitter it would go, not all the way but, a long way towards keeping the Mets afloat.
MLB Leader:
AVG – Wilin Rosario (.579)
OBP – Brett Gardner (.581)
SLG – Nolan Arenado (1.348)
wOBA – Nolan Arenado (.731)
wRC+ – Nolan Arenado (367)
HR – Nolan Arenado (7)
SB – Billy Hamilton (5)
fWAR – Nolan Arenado (1.0)
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – JUNE 24: Marco Estrada #25 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during the first inning of a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 24, 2015 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
BEST PITCHER: Marco Estrada, Blue Jays
I live near Milwaukee so the Brewers are the team I grew up rooting for and have watched the most in recent years which means I got to see a lot of Marco Estrada. I always felt he was an under-appreciated pitcher. He was never truly dominant and given his age when he started his relative breakout he was never going to have a huge career. But by some numbers he really was like a pocket-ace for the Brewers prior to last year’s home run derby of a season.
I became quite the fan of his and so when the Brewers traded him I made sure to keep an eye on his season with Toronto. Last week he made arguably the best start of his career and no one outside of Canada was happier for him than me. He was perfect through 8.1 innings against the Rays. In the end, he went 8.2 scoreless innings, allowed 2 hits, struck out 10 batters, and walked none. Pretty good for a guy that was widely panned as a non-tender candidate.
Honorable Mention: The Astros surprised everyone with how competitive they’ve been this year. A lot of it has been due to their offense while their pitching has lagged behind a bit. Collin McHugh has had an uneven season thus far but he was very good this past week. In 8 innings against the Angels he only allowed 2 runs. He limited the Yankees to just 1 run in 8 innings. The two teams combined for 11 hits, 3 walks, 14 strike outs, and 3 runs in 16 innings against McHugh. More weeks like that and the Astros should have no trouble holding on to first place.
MLB Leaders:
K% – Chris Sale (53.9%)
BB% – 10 players tied (0.0%)
AVG – Max Scherzer (0.000)
WHIP – Max Scherzer (0.00)
ERA – 13 players tied (0.00)
FIP – Chris Sale (-0.40)
xFIP – Chris Sale (-0.05)
fWAR – Chris Sale (0.7)
Statistics courtesy of FanGraphs
