Around the MLB Ballparks

Wilson Contreras is still a youngster, he doesn’t play a full 162 games a year as Victor Caratini has squeezed in for 48 games this year but, I’m not saying Vic is bad, but ya know, Contreras: An arm that the government classified as a weapon, 25+ homer power. Vic: Has an arm, but doesn’t have a homer yet. He has a tool that most catchers don’t have: speed, he could steal five or six a year and hit one or two triples. (At least the ones who stand at 6’1” 210 lb. and has a lot of muscle, he’s fast) He was an All-Star this year, didn’t do much at the game but it was his first All-Star selection. He has a prosperous future ahead of him and the Cubs have so many good sluggers in Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, Contreras is a very nice surprise and could lead them to the World Series, but, that prediction is a longshot, but they have a shot.

Matt Carpenter is a beast all of a sudden, he could launch missiles for homers and he’s a wait, leadoff man? Yeah, he’s a leadoff man, and he’s leading the NL in homers with 33. He has the occasional burst of speed but the Cards need a good dependable player at every position and that’s where Carpenter comes in. He is an old-school guy who loves slapping the ball the other way for doubles and he adores the long ball. I think he should have gotten the All-Star selection that was a HUGE snub, the second worst snub was Brandon Nimmo. Right now, he is leading the NL in SLG%, OPS, OPS+ and Total Bases. He is on pace for about a career-high, 5.2 WAR and he’s going for a career season. I think he might be in the mix for MVP. He should be ranked higher if the people who did this had a mid season one too.

Lance Lynn is a lost player and he somehow got onto the Twins. He started with the Twins as a guy who could get the job done, even becoming an All-Star in 2012. But, he always allowed a lot of hits but could get some easy outs, bu-u-ut, he would get pulled from games kind of early. Never being the guy to give the bullpen an off day. He was a back of the rotation guy though he was drafted in the first round. He was majorly setback due to Tommy John surgery in 2016 that took away the only heat that he had. He’s made about 30 starts each of his years in the bigs. He is one of those pitchers like Steven Matz that he keeps allowing heaps of runs and no one really talked about him, until he took the mound, you forgot that he’s even there. He never finished with an ERA more than 3.97, but in all of this, the Mets could use him and they could gladly fire Vargas. The Yanks picked him up though and gave him second life, but he is still good enough to get placed in the Top 100.

David Price has been the pitcher the Red Sox traded for three years ago. He has been on fire over his last seven start with a 1.50 ERA with 48 Ks and only allowed eight runs. He always had that wicked slider but his legendary pitch is the fastball to get easy outs such as groundouts or to throw strike three to an unsuspecting batter. Now that Sale is on the DL, he has gotta lead this rotation. His walks is at a normal number but his Ks are up. He likes to pitch up and in to lefties and up and away to rights at a slower speed. He led the Sox to their 90th win. His career has shown the way to the Hall of Fame, but the last year or so really slowed his performance down, now as he’s picking it up, he might have a chance to make a go for a late-in-the-career Cy Young and maybe even into the Hall of Fame.  

J.T. Realmuto is a piece that everyone wanted, he’s statistically the fastest catcher in the game and has added a lot of pop to his resume and that helps because the Marlins officially have no power whatsoever, they traded Justin Bour away to the Phillies and that’s all. He’s gotten 16 homers and 62 RBIs. He had 17 homers all last year and he’s already gotten 16. He was an All-Star this year and he is on pace for a career year in walks, homers, RBIs, runs and double. J.T. already has career highs in SLG, OBP and OPS. He is, I would say one of the best framers in baseball. He is also on pace to a career low in double plays. His WAR should finish around 5.2, as he is leading the Marlins. He should have a higher spot, but, strangely enough, I don’t blame the writers who wrote this mess, because, looking at his number the past few years, he deserves that spot.

The Phillies are aquiring like nuts, I mean, like NUTS!!!!!!! They’ve got Wilson Ramos, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jose Bautista and Justin Bour, that’s 63 round-trippers just this season. Add that to Odubel Herrera, Maikel Franco, Carlos Santana and Rhys Hoskins and you get 151 homers, and you’ve got yourself 8 men who could rip the seaming off the balls, plus the pitcher, and you have a lineup. Aaron Judge is now recovering slowly from his injury after he got hit in the hand but has still not begun swinging a bat but is practicing base running drills. It’s official, the MLB has hit the most walk-offs in a single year with 81, after Tyler White’s walk-off homer, we broke the record set in 2004. Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor were the only the second duo on the left side of the infield to have 20 homers and 20 bags in his pocket since Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Speaking of Derek Jeter, I was looking through his Baseball Reference page, I saw that he was second in MVP voting. I thought, “Who could have won when Jeter had such a phenomenal year? It was some guy named Justin Morneau, he had a nice year, slugging 34 dingers, driving in 130 steaks, with a .321 average. Captain America will join the Mets in San Francisco but will still continue rehab for few days. Maybe the Mets could go for a late miracle run to the Wild Card and Wright will be a godsend. There was a kid at the Dodgers-Rangers game who caught (more like dived for) Cody Bellinger’s and Manny Machado’s dingers, wow, what a day, that kid had his eyes on the prize(s). Amed Rosario has been a leadoff hitter as good a Whit Meffifield, and Whit may not be a realllllly good player, but he’s up there on the best leadoff men in the game. His breakout has been the best surprise of the Mets’ 2018 season (besides the 11-1 start) He is already the best pure hitter of the Mets in my book, the fastest runner by 0.9 ft/sec with second being Brandon Nimmo. Justus Sheffield will be in the Arizona Fall League joined by Andres Gimenez and Peter Alonso. If you want to know what prospects from you’re team are in, visit https://www.mlb.com/news/2018-arizona-fall-league-rosters-revealed/c-292592546 and if you want full coverage of the AFL, visit, http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/afl/index.jsp. Player’s Weekend was amazing from Wild Horse, to the first emoji nickname, to Outlaw, to Jer-ry, jer-ry, jer-ry, to ShoTime. Todd Frazier went with the Godfather cleats with the Sopranos on them too. My personal favorite was Joey Gallo as Pico de Gallo. Congratulations to Hawaii for bringing down South Korea in the Little League World Series. And too top it off, the Arizona Diamondbacks are the best defensive team, I think, ever. Every player is in the top 5 in his position. The Rockies are also really good defensively but the Diamondbacks have like chips in their hand and in their gloves too that lead the hand to the ball, crazy good.  

The Rockies have a solid infield with DJ Lemahieu, Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story. Their outfield missiles in Carlos Gonzalez’ arm and Gerardo Parra and Charlie Blackman could catch anything. They’re both in the NL West, and I can’t wait to see Arizona’s defense in the playoffs.

My MLB Predictions

NL East Winner: Atlanta Braves

NL Central Winner: Chicago Cubs

NL West Winner: Los Angeles Angels

AL East Winner: Boston Red Sox

AL Central Winner: Cleveland Indians

AL West Winner: Houston Astros

NL Wild Card Winner: Milwaukee Brewers vs St. Louis Cardinals Winner: Milwaukee Brewers

AL Wild Card Winner: Oakland Athletics vs New York Yankees Winner: New York Yankees

NLDS: Chicago Cubs vs Milwaukee Brewers Winner: Chicago Cubs

NLDS: Atlanta Braves vs Arizona Diamondbacks Winner: Atlanta Braves

ALDS: Boston Red Sox vs Cleveland Indians Winner: Boston Red Sox

ALDS: New York Yankees vs Houston Astros Winner: New York Yankees

NLCS: Chicago Cubs vs Atlanta Braves Winner: Chicago Cubs

ALCS: Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees: Boston Red Sox

World Series: Boston Red Sox vs. Chicago Cubs: Boston Red Sox

Awards:

Batting Average:

NL: Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers

AL: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

Hits:

NL: Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves

AL: Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians

HRs:

NL: Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

AL: J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox

Runs:

NL: Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies

AL: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

RBIs:

NL: Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs

AL: J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox

Walks:

NL: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

AL: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

 Stolen Bases:

NL: Trea Turner, Washington Nationals

AL: Dee Gordon, Seattle Mariners

Pitching:

Wins:

NL: Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals

AL: Luis Severino, New York Yankees

ERA:

NL: Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets

AL: Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox

Innings Pitched:

NL: Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets

AL: Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians

Strikeouts:

NL: Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals

AL: Gerrit Cole, Houston Astros

Homeruns:

NL: Chase Anderson, Milwaukee Brewers

AL: Dylan Bundy, Baltimore Orioles

Walks:

NL: Tyler Chatwood, Chicago Cubs

AL: Lucas Giolito, Chicago White Sox

Awards:

Gold Glove Award Winners:

NL:

P: Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondbacks

1B: Paul Goldscmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks

2B: DJ Lemahieu, Colorado Rockies

3B: Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies

SS: Nick Ahmed, Arizona Diamondbacks

LF: Corey Dickerson, Pittsburgh Pirates

CF: Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies

RF: Gregory Polanco, Pittsburgh Pirates

C: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals

AL:

P: Trevor Bauer, Cleveland Indians

1B: Justin Smoak, Toronto Blue Jays

2B: Jed Lowrie, Oakland Athletics

3B: Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians

SS: Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians

LF: Michael Brantley, Cleveland Indians

CF: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

RF: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

C: Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals

Silver Slugger Award

NL:

P: Michael Lorenzen, Cincinatti Reds

1B: Jesus Aguilar, Milwaukee Brewers

2B: Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs

3B: Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies

SS: Trevor Story, Colorado Rockies

LF: Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia Phillies

CF: Charlie Blackmon, Colorado Rockies

RF: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals

C: Yasmani Grandal, Los Angeles Dodgers

AL:

1B: Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox

2B: Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

3B: Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Indians

SS: Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians
LF: Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees

CF: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

RF: Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

C: Evan Gattis, Houston Astros

Guys, I spent like 30 mins thinking on this sooooooooooooooooo,

DH: Khris Davis, Oakland Athletics

Rookie of The Year:

NL: Juan Soto, Washington Nationals

AL: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels (Sorry about Andujar or Torres, Yankees Fans, Nothing personal, Just Business)

Cy Young:

NL: Jacob DeGrom, New York Mets

AL: Justin Verlander, Houston Astros

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Moment you’ve all been waiting for, the MVP’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MVP:

NL: Javier Baez, Chicago Cubs

AL: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

What do you say? Am I right or am I wrong?