MLBRT 6/13/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) Since Around April 23 when he began to finally turn his season around and broken out of his beginning of the season slump Aaron Judge has been one of the arguably best and most productive hitters in MLB. Since that point Judge has raised his batting average from sub .200 to a very respectable .305. On Sunday (6/9) Aaron Judge hit his MLB leading 24^th HR. He also leads MLB in slugging average (.703), OBP (.436), second in doubles (21) and RBIs (59) and third in runs scored.

Only one player in MLB history has ever had a 50 HR and 50 doubles season… Albert Belle in 1995.   

Can Aaron Judge become the second player in MLB history to achieve having a 50 HR and 50 doubles season? Why or why not?

Considering that as I write this that Judge has 25  HRs through the Yankees first 71 games which puts him on pace to hit 57 for the season I think it’s a fair assumption (as long as he doesn’t sustain an injury) that he gets to 50 HRs for the season.

So the question becomes…

Can he also add those 50 doubles?

And that part of the equation is a little more dicey at this point…

Right now he has 21 doubles which puts him on pace to get to 47 for the season. Now… I expect him to eventually slow down from the torrid pace that he has been slugging the baseball around sooner or later , meaning those extra base hits he has been accumulating in bunches since April will hit a lull for at least a week or so. However as I hinted at above I think he has enough wiggle room he gets to at least 50 HRs with no trouble but getting to 50 doubles could be a bit more troublesome.

I’ll go out on a limb and say he doesn’t hit any prolonged slumps like the way he started the season, and he ends the seson on a hot tear and gets to the 50 mark in both categories making him only the second MLB player t over hit 50 HRs and 50 doubles in a single season.

2) At this point in the season who is MLB’s best closer? Why?

Oakland’s Mason Miller has an outstanding 55 strikeouts in only 30 innings that he has pitched with just 11 walks. Now as noted he pitches for the Athletics which means he doesn’t get a whole lot of save opportunities but still he does have 12. Only problem with selecting him as the top closer at this point is I just don’t like the fact that he has given up 3 HRs and his ERA is sitting around 2.40.

I also considered the Yankees’ Clay Holmes who has a MLB second-best 19 saves with a nice 1.23 Era and 1.27 WHIP BUT…

Ultimately I’m going with the Cleveland Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase…

He leads the majors with 20 saves, has 34 strikeouts to only 3 walks and his ERA and WHIP are both at sub 1.00 levels. I think that merits his selection as the best closer at this point in the 2024 season.

Voting for the MLB All-Star game (July 16 in Texas) is underway…

3) Which under the radar player is your top choice to win a starting spot on this year’s AL All-Star team? Why?  

He may not have the best numbers for a DH this year, but this is all about under the radar picks and it’s not like his stats are that bad either…

279/.368/.553 (166 OPS+) with 12 homers and 39 RBI…

So I’m taking the Athletics’ Brent Rooker as the AL’s starting DH in this year’s All-Star game.

4) Which under the radar player is your top choice to win a starting spot on this year’s NL All-Star team? Why? 

Joe: I’m going to go with the Marlins outfielder Jazz Chisholm…

His stats are not terrible and I’m taking him for two reasons…

In my opinion he is as under the radar as a pick can get…

And it satisfies the MLB requirement that each team have at least one All-Star rep.  

5) As of Sunday evening the Cleveland Guardians led the AL Central by 5 games with an AL second best record (tied with Baltimore) at 42-22.

Is this level of play sustainable for the Guardians throughout the remainder of the season? Why or why not?  

So far this session the Guardians hitting has been middle of the pack, not great but not terrible either. So what’s behind their current level of play (43-23/.652) that has them sitting atop the AL Central by 5 games?

Pitching, pitching and more pitching…

Their team 3.43 ERA is the 6^th best in the majors and 4^th best in the AL and their 1.17 WHIP is 7^th best in the majors and 5^th best in the AL.  And their pitching has limited the opposing batters to just .229 BA which is 6^th best in the majors while it’s 4^th best in the AL.  

Then there is their bullpen…  

The Guardians’ bullpen has a 2.38 ERA, by far the best in baseball this season. Cleveland relievers have 19 wins, second-most in the majors behind only the Milwaukee Brewers (25).

As long as they can get just enough hitting to score just enough runs… with the level their pitching is at they should be able to keep things on an even keel throughout the remainder of the season and keep winning games..

They win the AL Central and are an east playoff team that could give the so-called favorites some problems down the road.

Extra Innings…