MLB Weekly Power Rankings

Here again is another issue in my weekly MLB Power Rankings. This weeks version will be shorter than previous weeks but will certainly get the job done. In my rankings I take overall record and how well the team has played recently in compiling my Power Rankings. Here goes, starting with the top 5:

Top 5
1 (1) - St. Louis Cardinals (37-26) - What can I say about the Cards, Pujols is back to being Pujols, Matt Holliday coming back from injury soon, pitching has been great. Not much else to say except I'm glad my Giants don't play them again and they are right now, the best team in Baseball.

Gonzalez and Crawford have been red hot for Boston

2 (NR*) - Boston Red Sox (35-26) - Red Sox have won 5 in a row, have beaten the Yanks in New York in back to back games, Carl Crawford has come to his usual form and Adrian Gonzalez has been better than advertised. Also they have the best pitcher in the AL with Josh Beckett.


3 (NR) - Detroit Tigers (33-28)- The hottest team in the Majors. 8-2 over their previous 10 games and have their sights firmly set on taking over the Indians who have come way back down to Earth. This team can hit, and the pitching has improved significantly.

4 (NR) - Texas Rangers (35-28) - They have been getting great pitching recently out of Alexi Ogando, CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis. They have a legit closer in Feliz, and we all know how well this team hits. 7-3 in their last 10. The Rangers are gonna open up a gap at the top of the AL West.

5 (NR) - San Francisco Giants (35-27) - The Giants have been without star catcher Buster Posey for 2 weeks. Giants lost 3 of their first 4 games after the injury, since then they (we) have won 7 of 10 and are eagerly awaiting Pablo Sandovals return to send Tejada to the bench.

Bottom 5
26 (30) Minnesota Twins (23-38) - The Twins have gone 6-2 since last weeks rankings, they are playing better for sure. Hopefully they can get Morneau going and Mauer back soon. Their overall record is what keeps them in the bottom 5. They may not be here next week.


27 (28) Houston Astros (24-38) - They are showing some signs of life, a red hot Cardinals team with Pujols hitting like crazy is tough for any team to stop. Will they trade Hunter Pence in July?


28 (27) Kansas City Royals (26-36) - 3-7 in their last 10 games, a pathetic 6-16 road record. Imagine where they would be without all those walk off wins.


29 (29) Chicago Cubs (24-36) - They have gone 1-5 since last weeks rankings, pitchers can't pitch, problems all over the clubhouse and have such an overrated and overpaid lineup.


30 (NR) Oakland Athletics (27-36) - They have lost 9 in a row, they can't hit and have injuries all over their good pitching staff. Yikes.

         Oakland A's have found Wins hard to come by the last 2 weeks

That concludes this weeks rankings. Be sure to check out the blog daily, give feedback, and tell me what you think of my rankings and where you might make changes. Power Rankings will be back next week. Until then, enjoy the other posts I will be making.

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* NR = Not Ranked Top 5 or Bottom 5 last week

Underrated Starting 9 - National League

The aim of this post is to highlight who I think are the most underrated players in the National League and form a starting team with them. I hope that by reading this, you guys will look at some players you may not have heard of and realize how good some of these guys are. The 1 rule I will use for this: I will keep players to the position they make most of their starts at, (example: No Pujols at 3B). Alright here goes, and let me know what you guys think in the comments section or at my twitter (twitter.com/kalen182)

Pitcher - Ryan Vogelsong, San Francisco Giants - I know I know, you are saying, Ryan who? Well let me enlighten you, Vogelsong was drafted by the Giants, then traded to the Pirates as part of the deal that sent Jason Schmidt to the Giants, injuries and lackluster performance stunted Vogelsong in Pittsburgh. Was essentially out of Baseball, then gets a call from the Angels for their minor league team, then in the offseason the Giants bring in Vogelsong. He had a strong spring training, and Barry Zito going down early in the season opened the door for Vogelsong. And how has he done since? He has pitched 53.2 innings, an ERA of 1.68 and a WHIP of an insane 1.04, with a record of 4-1. I just had to go with Vogelsong because, not only am I a homer, but the odds of him pitching this well was so incredibly unlikely. He truly is one of the better stories in Baseball today.

Ryan Vogelsong of the San Francisco Giants has maybe been the biggest surprise of Baseball.

Catcher - Ramon Hernandez, Cincinnati Reds - There are some great catchers in the National League (Yadier Molina, Brian McCann, Buster Posey), there are some great hitters for the Reds (Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Brandon Philips), what do these 2 lists have in common? They are both missing the name Ramon Hernandez. You will be shocked when I tell you his numbers; .320 AVG, .385 OBP, 7 HR, 17 RBI and a crazy .541 Slugging. He has 60 less AB's then most of the other top catchers, which is why his RBI numbers are lower. He is a 13 year veteran and knows all the ins and outs of the position. Having Votto and Bruce in the lineup helps, but don't discount how good Hernandez has been this year.

1st Base - Gaby Sanchez, Florida Marlins - Where do the Marlins keep coming up with these guys? Miguel Cabrera a few years ago, Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton and now Gaby Sanchez. This year Gaby has exploded on to the scene and is destined for a trip to the All Star game, if not this year then soon. .321 AVG, .394 OBP with 10 Homers and 38 RBI. He provides unexpected power and can hit the long ball off the best pitchers in the game. He along with Stanton have really picked up the slack, while Hanley Ramirez has been struggling early this season.

Florida Marlins 1B Gaby Sanchez is just another hitter to come up from the Marlins Farm System

2nd Base - Freddy Sanchez, San Francisco Giants - The Giants have had an unfair amount of injuries to key hitters (Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval), since these guys have gone down hurt, Sanchez has been the most consistent hitter. In an offense that really lacks....good hitters, Freddy has provided the spark to get the key hits to win close games. So far with almost no help in the lineup Freddy has batted a very respectable - .294 AVG, 3 HR, 23 RBI and a .335 OBP. One of the things that most often gets overlooked with Freddy is his defense, he plays great defense, it doesn't always look good but he gets the job done.

Short Stop - Ryan Theriot, St. Louis Cardinals - One of the better lead off men in the game, he spent 5 years with the bad luck Cubs, now with St. Louis he has exploded. Batting .300 and playing very underrated defense. Theriot has come up with clutch hits when the Cardinals need it most, which they have since Pujols started out slow and Holliday being injured.

3rd Base - Ryan Roberts, Arizona Diamondbacks - The D-Backs, have been one of the biggest surprises this season, and one of the reasons for this has been the play of Roberts. It was a tough decision between Roberts and Chase Headley of the Padres, but Roberts has just slightly lower AVG and OBP, but hits for much more power (8 HR's for Roberts and 1 for Headley) and strikes out less too (30 for RR and 41 for CH). The D-Backs will need him to keep playing well if they wanna compete with the SF Giants going forward in this season.

Left Field - Martin Prado, Atlanta Braves - Prado is a guy who gets overlooked way too regularly, one of the better defensive outfielders in the game and has been hitting for surprising power this season. If you project his current numbers to 162 games, he would hit for 22 HR's and 89 RBI. Not bad from a guy who gets forgotten so often, that is until your team plays the Braves.

Center Field - Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates - Although he is about the only guy people know from the Pirates, a lot of people barely know the Pirates exist. 18 straight losing seasons will do that to a team. However the Pirates have been hovering around .500 and that has largely been down to the play of McCutchen. While the Pirates have been pitching better (Kevin Correia and Charlie Morton), McCutchen is the spark plug to the hitting. Of any of the consistent starters, he (McCutchen) has the highest AVG, OBP, HR's and Hits. Only Neil Walker has more RBI. Pretty impressive.

With the weight of a struggling franchise on his shoulders, Andrew McCutchen has been a 'hit' in Pittsburgh becoming the face of the franchise.

Right Field - Hunter Pence, Houston Astros - The fact that Pence plays for the bottom feeder Houston Astros is why he doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Pence is quietly having a great season, batting: .310 AVG, 8 HR, 44 RBI and .353 OBP. Not only this but Pence is extremely athletic and has great baseball instincts, which makes him an excellent fielder and baserunner. Any team would be lucky to have a guy like Pence manning RF.

Random Facts I discovered after picking all the players: 3 players are named Ryan, 2 have the last name Sanchez and all of them (yes ALL of them) bat right handed. None of them are even switch hitters.

I didn't make this team to be an effective lineup, just the players at each position who I feel are the most underrated. Of course this is just my opinion, and I look forward to hearing all your guys' thoughts on my starting 9 and who you guys would go with.

American League Version coming soon.

MLB Weekly Power Rankings

This is the 2nd week of my Baseball Power Rankings. Just like the first week I will do the top 5 and bottom 5 teams in my opinion. There will be quite a few changes to this week's rankings, especially at the top. My Rankings are based on overall record and how well the teams have done from one week to the next. Lets get this started.

Top 5

1 (2) - St. Louis Cardinals (33-23) - This team has been hot as of late (7-3 in last 10 games), the Cards have an excellent road record (18-13) and they have played 6 more games on the road than at home. The Cards SP has been much better than expected, Salas has stabilized the 9th inning woes and they are tied with the 2nd most runs in the Majors, and with Albert Pujols struggling.
My question is, how will you stop the Cards offense when (not if) Pujols starts hitting .320 with power, and you also got Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman, Colby Rasmus and clutch hitter Yadier Molina to worry about? Yikes. People talk about the Brewers being the best team in the Central? Really?

It's only a matter of time before Pujols (see above) finds his swing again. Watch out Baseball, here come the Cards.

2 (1)- Cleveland Indians (32-20) - They have definitely cooled off as of late, however, the Indians still have the best winning percentage (.615) in the Majors. While we knew they would come back down to Earth, it appears that this Indians team is for real and if they can continue to get good all around production, they should be in my top 5 for quite some time.

3 - Arizona Diamondbacks (30-25) - This team has resembled the weather in Arizona and been extremely hot lately. They have won 13 of their last 15 games, taken a lead in the NL West from the now Buster Posey-less Giants and appear like a legit contender in that division. The last 2 weeks they have had an outburst of offensive production, scoring 15, 11, 9, 8 and 7 in games, while also showing the ability to win the close low scoring games too. They will cool down, but they have a realistic shot in the wide open NL West.

4 - New York Yankees (31-23) - The Yankees have won 4 in a row, while rival Boston has lost 4 in a row. The Yankees have the best run differential in the Majors (+67) and all this with A-Rod and Mark Teixeira not hitting what we know they can. Both Bartolo Colon (3-3 3.26 ERA) and Freddy Garcia (4-4 3.34 ERA) have been pleasant surprises for the Yanks.

5 (3) - Philadelphia Phillies (34-22) - The Phillies do have the best winning percentage in the National League (.607) but just edged out the surging Brewers. They also have allowed the 3rd fewest runs in the Majors even with Cliff Lee having a few rough outings. The Phillies would be higher but losing to the Nationals in 2 straight games when you roll out Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt to the mound doesn't impress me too much. The offense needs to become more consistent.

Bottom 5
26 (28) San Diego Padres (24-31) - The Padres have a bottom 5 winning percentage in the Majors with a meager .436, add to this they are tied for scoring the fewest runs too. It's hard to win consistently when you don't score runs. There is a positive, the Padres have won 4 in a row and are only 6 games behind in a winnable NL West. If they can get some offense going, then they cannot be counted out yet.

27 (27) Kansas City Royals (24-30) - The one thing you gotta like is that they have been pretty decent at home, posting a respectable 18-14 record. That is basically where the good ends for this team, 6-16 on the road, played 10 more home games than road games, and they are 2-8 in their last 10 games. Said it before and will say it again, lets check back with the Royals in 2012 or 2013.

   Rookie 1B Eric Hosmer will be a big piece in Kansas City's Puzzle moving forward

28 (29) Houston Astros (22-34) - The Astros have a dreadful .393 winning percentage, with only the Twins having a worse percentage. Allowing the 2nd most runs is gonna spell disaster for any team, however they are showing some signs of life having just swept the Cubs in Wrigley. Hunter Pence has been extremely productive this year and could be a huge trade asset as we get closer to July.

29 Chicago Cubs (23-31) - This team is slumping bad. They just got swept by the aforementioned Houston Astros at Wrigley Field. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games, they have an awful record at home (12-19) and have allowed the 3rd most runs in the Majors. To add insult to injury their only power hitter Alfonso Soriano is now on the DL. Pray for the Cubbies.

30 (30) Minnesota Twins (17-36) - This team is just awful right now. They are 2-8 in their last 10 games and have by far the worst run differential (-91) and winning percentage (.321) in the Majors. Nothing more to be said here.

Some things to note, had I done a full 30 team power rankings, my San Francisco Giants would have fallen quite a bit from their 4th place last week. Losing Buster Posey and going 4-6 in our last 10 would have a lot to do with that. Also just missing out on the top 5 are the Milwaukee Brewers and Florida Marlins.

And there we have it for this week folks. Let me know what you guys think, agree or disagree with my rankings? Let me know in the comments section.

MLB Power Rankings - Top 5 & Bottom 5

Each week I plan to update the top 5 and the bottom 5 teams in Baseball. Doing all 30 teams is just too time consuming and do you really care who is 13th or 17th or 23rd? Thought not. So lets get this going and we shall start with the teams playing the best Baseball right now.

        Cleveland Indians are all smiles with how their 2011 season is going.

Top 5
1 - Cleveland Indians 30-16 - Cleveland needed this, they needed something, anything to root for. Lebron bolts for Miami, the Browns are well...the Browns. I'm glad for the city of Cleveland that the Indians are playing lights out Baseball. They have the best run differential in Baseball (+65), the only knock I can make on them is that they are 11-11 on the road, but even that is not bad considering the way they play at home.

2 - St. Louis Cardinals 30-20 - The hottest team in Baseball, scoring a bunch of runs, starting pitching has been excellent. They have been this good and take in to account that no doubt Pujols is gonna hit a lot better than .267 and they don't have Adam Wainwright. Question marks in the bullpen and closer but I expect them to make a serious play for Heath Bell at the trade deadline.

3 - Philadelphia Phillies 29-19 - They have had their struggles on the offensive front, however, getting Chase Utley back is huge, and they will soon be getting Shane Victorino back too. These 2 guys fuel the Phillies offense, we know Ryan Howard will hit, but Utley and Victorino get this team moving. Pitching on this team will carry them despite offensive struggles.

4 - San Francisco Giants 27-20 - I may have to switch up the Giants and Marlins after the series they are currently playing. However, the Giants have been racking up the W's lately, they are now 7 games above .500. Keep in mind this is without their best hitter in Pablo Sandoval and Aubrey Huff, Buster Posey, Miguel Tejada and Pat Burrell all underachieving so far at the plate. When they start to hit, watch out!

5 - Florida Marlins 27-19 - They have just been winning, and getting key hits when needed. They have an excellent road record so far (13-7). Will have to check back in on them in a week or two, with their ace and Cy Young candidate Josh Johnson on the DL. One thing to note is that Hanley Ramirez WILL hit better than he has been. This team will challenge Philly all through the season.


Bottom 5
26 - Washington Nationals 21-27 - They have lost 4 in a row and have lost 7 of their last 10 games. Big Money Free Agent Jayson Werth hasn't lived up to the money yet, .247 AVG 8 HR's with only 18 RBI. I do like the Nationals going forward though. Next year or so when they get Strasburg back, and Bryce Harper will be ready to take on Major League pitching. Harper, Zimmerman and Werth projects to be a nice trio of hitters.

27 - Kansas City Royals - 22-25 - As a whole their season hasn't been awful, but they are 2-8 in their last 10 games, Royals Pitcher Vin Mazzaro's 14 Earned Run performance has summed up how they've been playing lately. While the Home Record is solid, their road record of 5-12 leaves a lot to be desired. Royals do have a bright future with some stars moving through the Minor Leagues.

28 - San Diego Padres 19-30 - Was last year just an blip on the radar? Certainly looks like it, trading away Adrian Gonzalez and the pitching struggling this team has gone from borderline playoff team to bottom feeder. I hope Padre fans soaked in last year cause they won't be getting that close to playoffs for a while.

29 - Houston Astros 18-31 - This team just doesn't have much talent, they need to trade Hunter Pence and try and trade Carlos Lee, build through the farm system. Once they have some promising prospects, they have the money to spend in Free Agency. Honestly I don't expect much from this team in the next 3-5 years.

30 - Minnesota Twins 16-31 - Yikes, what happened? Worst run differential BY FAR (-85), just awful at home (5-12) and their star hitters Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer have a combined 2 HR's 17 RBI and just a pathetic .230 AVG and .288 OBP. They better turn it around.

 

Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has a lot to be upset about with how their season has gone

Check back next week while I update my Top 5 and Bottom 5 Teams in MLB. Lots of action today, my games to watch are:
AL - Red Sox @ Indians (Lester 6-1, 3.68 ERA vs Talbot 1-0, 1.46 ERA) 9:05AM Pacific Time
NL - Cardinals @ Padres (Carpenter 1-4, 4.88 ERA vs Latos 1-6, 4.60 ERA) 3:35PM Pacific Time


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