*These rankings are a combination of the players previous performance and some projections on how they’ll continue to perform for the next month.
This picture is a tribute to the two months Sam Fuld was able to hit MLB pitching.
#1 Ryan Braun, LF, Milwaukee Brewers: Braun is still mashing the balll, but unsurprisingly was unable to keep his slugging percentage in the .700’s. In fact his line has fallen to 309 .402 .564, which is still tremendous and, more importantly, good enough to keep at the #1 spot.
#2 Kevin Youkilis, 3B, Boston Red Sox: When we last left Youk he was being slammed by Sox fans for his slow start despite his .392 on-base percentage and a .487 slugging percentage. Mainly they were looking at his .218 batting average which was as ugly as…well Youk himself. Now that average has climbed to more eye pleasing .259, while his OBP and SLG dipped a bit to 386 .482.
#3 Jason Marquis, SP, Washington Nationals: He’s still pitching well for the Nationals as part of their surprisingly effective rotation. He’s now 6 and 2 with a 3.84 ERA. He’s still giving up hits and walks while not striking very many people, so I’d still expect some further regression, but for now he still has an impressive record and shiny sub-4 ERA.
#4 Ian Kinsler, 2B, Texas Rangers: After a hot start which saw him slam 5 homers in the first month, he’s hit just two homers this month and has a season line of .230 .351 .405. His average is still poor, but is keeping his OBP up and hitting for decent power for a second basemen. I’d expect this line to be pretty close to what he ends the season at.
#5 Craig Breslow, RP, Oakland Athletics: He’s still plugging along as the A’s most reliable lefty option out of the bullpen since Brian Fuentes lost his damned mind. Though he was recently criticized by a Red Sox fan at a game I went to for not having gone to Yale instead of MIT. So there’s that.
#6 John Grabow, RP, Chicago Cubs: Through magic, luck and probably some deal with the devil, Grabow lowered his ERA to 3.75. He still walks a ton of guys and doesn’t strike many out, so I still think he’s due for a month where he just gets lit up every time he hits the field. But if his magic continues next month he’ll have to move up these rankings.
#7 Danny Valencia, 3B, Minnesota Twins: The Twins’ season is already over and a lineup-wide cold-spell is the culprit. While an injury to Mauer could easily be blamed, the lineup as a whole is having an off year. Valencia continues to struggle, hitting just.219/.282/.335. I’d say he might be headed to the bench soon, but the only Twins’ regulars who are hitting now are Thome, Kubel and Span…and you can’t bench everyone.
#8 Ike Davis, 1B, New York Mets: Davis now has an amazingly similar batting line to what he had last month: .302/.383.543 versus .337/.414/.600. Unfortunately that’s because he’s been hurt all month and is supposed to be out for all of June as well, which means down the rankings he goes.
#9 Sam Fuld, OF, Tampa Bay Rays: Last month I said “I’ve seen too many hot Aprils followed by months of struggles to fully commit to Fuld, but the ride will be nice however long it lasts.” Well, the ride is officially over as he’s batting line has absolutely plummeted to .227/.279/.340, and is now one of the worst hitters in the majors. He still hustles and plays great defense, which may be enough for him to stick around as a fourth outfielder.
#10 Scott Feldman, SP, Texas Rangers: Nothing new to report here, so I’ll just repeat what I said last month: Still out with a knee injury, still hasn’t pitched yet this season and I still almost put him ahead of Grabow.
#11 Ryan Kalish, OF, Boston Red Sox: He’s only played in fourteen games down in Pawtucket after hurting his shoulder diving for a ball in the outfield. So now we can’t even enjoy our boy down in AAA, let alone up in the majors.
