10 Red-Hot Hitters Poised to Shine Under 2014 MLB Postseason Pressure
There is certainly some truth to the idea that pitching wins championships, but a top-flight offense can go a long way in helping a team get that far. Without some offensive firepower, it's awfully hard to reach October to begin with.
With the 10-team postseason field set and things set to kick off Tuesday night with the American League Wild Card Game between the Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals, postseason baseball has officially arrived here in 2014.
What follows is a look at 10 hitters, one from each playoff-bound club, who finished out the regular season on a tear at the plate.
Based on their September numbers and the key spot they occupy in their respective team's lineup, these 10 players look poised to shine in the bright lights of October.
1B Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
1 of 10
September Stats
26 G, 103 AB, .379/.409/.709, 10 2B, 8 HR, 18 RBI, 19 R
Overview
A year ago, Miguel Cabrera essentially limped through the entire month of September, hitting .278/.395/.333 with just one home run and seven RBI while dealing with a nagging groin injury.
While he still turned in a good enough regular season to capture AL MVP honors, he was far from 100 percent in October: He hit .262/.311/.405 with two home runs in 42 at-bats during the postseason.
This time around, he's rolling heading into the playoffs. With Victor Martinez and J.D. Martinez still raking behind him, he should see some pitches to hit in the team's American League Division Series matchup against the Baltimore Orioles.
It's also worth noting that he was 10-for-25 with a double, two home runs and nine RBI in six games against the Orioles this season.
CF Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City Royals
2 of 10
September Stats
25 G, 89 AB, .315/.344/.449, 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 12 R, 5 SB
Overview
It's been a breakout season for Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain, but outside of Kansas City, the 28-year-old is far from a household name. He'll have a chance to change that this postseason, though.
Originally acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 2011 season in the Zack Greinke deal, Cain saw his first extended action a year ago. He wound up hitting .251/.310/.348 with 14 stolen bases over 442 plate appearances and posted a 3.1 WAR thanks in large part to his terrific defense in center field.
The defense is certainly still there, but his offensive game has taken a big step forward this year. Those triple-slash numbers improved to .301/.339/.412 in 502 plate appearances, and his WAR jumped up to an impressive 5.0.
Looking to shake up a stagnant offense, manager Ned Yost moved Cain up to the No. 3 spot in the lineup on Sept. 13, and he responded by hitting .321/.367/.429 the rest of the way. Chances are he'll be slotted there again this October, and he'll no doubt find himself in some key situations as a result.
DH Nelson Cruz, Baltimore Orioles
3 of 10
September Stats
26 G, 106 AB, .349/.384/.604, 8 2B, 2 3B, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 13 R
Overview
Nelson Cruz already has plenty of postseason experience from his time with the Texas Rangers.
In 34 career playoff games, he has posted a 1.018 OPS with nine doubles, 14 home runs and 27 RBI. A lot of that production came in the 2011 American League Championship Series, when he went 8-for-22 with six home runs and 13 RBI to win MVP honors.
By all accounts, it was a wildly successful first season in Baltimore for the slugger after he signed a one-year, $8 million deal in the offseason. He led the majors with 40 home runs and set new career highs with 108 RBI and 87 runs scored.
After hitting just .213/.283/.416 in July and August combined, he picked things back up over the final month of the season. He again looks like one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball as the Orioles begin what they hope will be a lengthy postseason run.
LF Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals
4 of 10
September Stats
24 G, 88 AB, .295/.380/.489, 5 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 11 R
Overview
The St. Louis Cardinals wrapped up the regular season averaging just 3.82 runs per game, good for 23rd in MLB and last among the 10 postseason teams by a wide margin.
They picked it up when it mattered most, though, as that number improved to 4.11 over the final two months of the season. A surging Matt Holliday was at the center of it all.
Holliday was hitting .265/.370/.411 with 10 home runs and 55 RBI heading into the month of August but seemingly flipped a switch from there, batting .284/.371/.497 with 10 home runs and 35 RBI over the final two months.
He has no shortage of postseason experience, and his 33 career postseason RBI are tied with Ryan Howard and Robinson Cano for eighth-most among active players. With Carlos Beltran no longer in the mix, he'll be counted on to lead the way and deliver some big hits for the Cardinals this October.
RF Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
5 of 10
September Stats
24 G, 90 AB, .322/.347/.700, 7 2B, 9 HR, 25 RBI, 21 R
Overview
After he missed a combined 145 games the past two seasons while dealing with myriad injuries, there were legitimate questions as to whether Matt Kemp could again be an impact bat in the middle of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup.
His season started relatively slowly, but since the beginning of June he has been one of the team's most consistent producers, hitting .303/.363/.545 with 25 doubles and 20 home runs over the final four months of the season.
"I'm just trying to finish up strong and help my team in any way I can to lead us into the postseason and further into the postseason than we went last season," Kemp told Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles. "I'll do whatever it takes to help them out and see how far this takes us."
His big second half included a monster month of September in which he led all of baseball with nine home runs and tied teammate Adrian Gonzalez with 25 RBI. He heads into October as hot as any hitter in the National League.
2B Howie Kendrick, Los Angeles Angels
6 of 10
September Stats
24 G, 88 AB, .386/.426/.591, 8 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 19 RBI, 14 R
Overview
The postseason has not been kind to Los Angeles Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick to this point, as he is just 9-for-46 (.196 BA) in 13 career playoff games, but there is reason to believe this year will be different.
Mike Trout gets the bulk of the attention for the Angels' league-best offense, and understandably so, but it's under-the-radar guys like Kendrick who really made a difference this season.
With Josh Hamilton sidelined with a handful of different injuries for most of September, Kendrick moved into the cleanup spot in the lineup and responded with his best month of the season.
His 75 RBI this year tied a career high, and 19 of those came in the final month. With just seven home runs, he's not your prototypical slugger in the middle of the lineup, but he's more than capable of driving in some big runs if he keeps hitting like he has of late.
CF Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates
7 of 10
September Stats
26 G, 95 AB, .347/.452/.589, 6 2B, 1 3B, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 19 R
Overview
A year ago, Andrew McCutchen essentially locked up NL MVP honors when he hit .318/.453/.541 in September to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to their first postseason berth since 1992.
His numbers over the final month of the season this year were actually better across the board, but with Josh Harrison, Neil Walker and a handful of others producing alongside him this time around, he was not forced to be a one-man wrecking crew.
That being said, the postseason is an entirely different animal, and McCutchen is the kind of player who is capable of putting a team on his back and leading it through a playoff series.
There were some legitimate questions as to how effective he would be for the stretch run after suffering a fractured rib in the middle of August on a hit-by-pitch and missing 14 games. A big final month put those concerns to rest, though, and he's poised for a big postseason.
C Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants
8 of 10
September Stats
23 G, 84 AB, .393/.436/.607, 6 2B, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 13 R
Overview
After a ho-hum first half of the season in which he hit .277/.333/.423 with 10 home runs and 46 RBI, Buster Posey led NL regulars with a .354 batting average in the second half. That included 13 doubles, 12 home runs and 43 RBI in just 62 games.
Posey played as big a role as anyone in helping the San Francisco Giants get back on track after a rough patch at midseason had them in position to miss the playoff altogether.
For as much exposure as he's gotten in the playoffs so far in his career, Posey has not exactly shined on the biggest stage, hitting .244/.323/.370 with four home runs and 14 RBI in 31 career postseason games.
With a questionable rotation behind Madison Bumgarner and Jake Peavy, the offense will be asked to do more than it did during the team's 2010 and 2012 World Series runs, and Posey will be at the center of it all.
RF Josh Reddick, Oakland Athletics
9 of 10
September Stats
20 G, 68 AB, .324/.360/.544, 5 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 11 R
Overview
The Oakland Athletics were nothing short of a disaster over the final month of the season, as they hit just .228/.302/.316 while averaging 3.50 runs per game during a 10-16 month of September.
Josh Reddick was really the lone bright spot during a stretch run that took them until the final day of the season to finally clinch a playoff spot. Without his production, the team's second-half swoon may very well have ended in elimination.
Funny thing is, Reddick was one of the few guys not hitting when the team was rolling early on this season. He batted just .229/.296/.358 in the first half and found himself losing playing time heading into the break.
Now he's as important as any player on the roster, and while the A's lineup will likely be shuffled on a game-by-game basis if they can advance beyond the Wild Card Game, expect him to feature prominently throughout the postseason.
RF Jayson Werth, Washington Nationals
10 of 10
September Stats
21 G, 71 AB, .324/.478/.479, 6 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 13 R
Overview
A handful of guys could be featured here, as the Washington Nationals are as hot as any team heading into the postseason.
Anthony Rendon (.337 BA, .935 OPS), Denard Span (.321 BA, 11 R) and Adam LaRoche (.892 OPS, 22 RBI) all had fine months in their own right, but we'll go with the team's veteran leader, Jayson Werth.
After hitting just .232 with a .718 OPS back in 2011—the first year of a massive seven-year, $126 million deal with the team—it looked as though he would be a huge flop in Washington.
However, in the three years since, he's hit a combined .303/.394/.479 and been good for 9.6 WAR. A strong finish to the season, coupled with the 49 games of postseason experience he has to his credit, makes him arguably the most important hitter in a deep Nationals lineup once October rolls around.
Unless otherwise noted, all individual and team stats are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and accurate through the end of the 2014 regular season.
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