It has been just a little over a month since the 2013 MLB
season started and there have been several storylines thus far. Here are the
ones that stood out to me:
Justin Upton’s numbers are not as good as
they seem.
After the first month of the
season, lots of baseball fans think that Atlanta Braves OF Justin Upton would
win the NL MVP if the season were to end today. Yes, Upton had a great first
month of the season with his major league leading 12 home runs, but he doesn’t
have the numbers to win the MVP right now. Of his 12 home runs, only one has
been with a runner on base. Yes that it is not is fault but Upton only has 21
RBIs right now. Upton is batting .178 with runners on base this season and .190
with runners in scoring position. Upton
has almost twice as many strikeouts, 41, than RBIs. His .269 batting average
this season is close to his career .278 average and if Upton wants to become an
MVP recipient, he will have to lower his strikeouts and improve his average
with runners on. By the way, Upton returns to face his old team the Arizona
Diamondbacks tonight in Phoenix.
Miguel Cabrera can accomplish the AL Triple
Crown for a second straight year.
During his 2012 AL MVP season,
Detroit Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera became the first AL player to hit for the
Triple Crown since Boston Red Sox LF Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. After watching him accomplish it last year, I already
knew that he could do it this year. Cabrera is apart of one of the major’s most
dangerous lineups and with newly acquired OF Tori Hunter in front of him and
the powerful 1B Prince Fielder behind him allowing him to easily lead the AL in
RBIs. He is currently first in the AL with 40. Miguel Cabrera also does not
strikeout. Cabrera is the opposite of Upton as he currently has twice as many
RBIs as he has strikeouts. He also leads the AL in batting average with .376.
There is no doubt that Cabrera is the game’s best hitter buts it’s how he does
it that makes him so dangerous. He can hit the ball to anywhere in the field and
is batting .521 with runners in scoring position. It will not surprise me if at
the end of the 2013 MLB season, Cabrera leads the AL in batting average, home
runs, and RBIs.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are in
deep trouble.
Currently sitting in fourth
place in the AL West and 10 games behind the Texas Rangers are the Angels.
Entering this season, I knew that Angels were going to have trouble with their
rotation because they didn’t really have one. Although the signing of CF Josh
Hamilton highlighted the 2012 offseason, I still believe that their offseason
was a disappointment because they didn’t address any of their pitching needs.
They lost three of their starting pitchers from last year as Dan Haren, Ervin
Santana, and Zach Greinke all found new homes this season. After Jered Weaver
went on the 15-day DL with a broken left elbow in April, the Angels were left
with one of the worst starting pitching staffs in baseball. The Angels are
currently 27th in the MLB with a team era of 4.59. Tommy Hanson has
the team’s lowest era and it is just under four runs per game. Bottom line is
that the Angels are headed for a long, disappointing season if they don’t make
any trades and pick up some quality pitchers. Oh, and their big offseason
acquisition Hamilton is batting a horrendous .203 so far this season.
images were used from bleacherreport.com and usatoday.com
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