Some surprising and interesting stats so far this MLB season
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by user Wizardman
Now, some of these stats I have found about league leaders, in good and bad stats, have surprised me a bit.
1. Curtis Granderson leads the league with 15 triples. 15 already! The season leaders at the end of the past few seasons have had totals in the 15-17 range, and he looks to blow this way out of the park. Plus, he's 7 triples away from the AL's second place person.
2. Grady Sizemore is considered one of the better all-around players in the league. Well, he leads AL in strikeouts with 89. You'd expect Adam Dunn to have a big number (over 100, he of course leads the league), Grady not so much.
3. Alex Gordon leads the AL in being hit by pitches, with 12. This means that he is already on pace to break Biggio's record somewhere down the line. Here's the one painful stat though. Last year's AL winner in HBP, Reed Johnson, has played 8 games only.
4. Derek Jeter leads the AL in being caught stealing, currently 7 times. He hasn't failed to steal 7 times since 1999. His trying shows how desperate the Yankees really are.
5. Paul Byrd has more victories (7) than walks (6). His BB/9IP? 0.58.
6. Who leads the AL in saves? J.J. Putz (ERA 0.90), Francisco Rodriguez (ERA 2.45), or Joe Borowski (ERA 5.51)? Borowski is the right answer, with 25. This means that either ERA for closers means nothing or that saves mean little.
7. Justin Verlander, a good rising star pitcher, leads the AL in wild pitches with 10. Yes, with Pudge behind the plate. And he leads the league in hit batsmen with 12. So, apparently Verlander technically sucks, and it he does, then that means when he really gets good, he's gonna be scary! Easily a 20+ game winner. (Note Verlander doesn't suck, but see waht I mean?)
8. Who has the highest slugging percentage in the NL? Barry Bonds, Chipper Jones, or Prince Fielder? If you guessed Jones (.606), you're right.
9. Dan Uggla could be the next Adam Dunn. 17 HR's, .249 AVG, and second only to Dunn in strikeouts.
10. Jose Reyes already has 43 stolen bases! Sheesh. A 24 year old with 200 stolen bases, Rickey Henderson may want to watch out.
11. The always physical Chase Utley leads the league in HBP. That's not the surprise. The surprise is who's second, someone with no more than 10 before in a season. Of all people, Aaron Boone. I guess he's still useful in a way...
12. Carlos Lee has 13 sacrifice flies. That's 6 more than the second pace person. Last year's league leader had 11. I me, i know the Astros can't score runs properly, but does Lee have to do that many just so you guys will score?
13. Cole Hamels is a deserving all-star candidate, I mean, just look at his league-leading 20 home runs... allowed. Wait, that's bad. Maybe he isn't ready yet. Only Ervin Santana has more, only he's not even lcose to an all-star berth.
14. Kip Wells is averaging $1.33 million per Win in his 1-year contract.
15. Aaron Harang is an underrated pitcher to me. I mean, he only threw an NL-leading 9 wild pitches this season. Carlos Zambrano is no longer angry at Barrett either, as evident by his NL-leading 8 hit batsmen. Yup, sarcasm.
16. Last, but not least, Julio Franco is aging.
