Biggest MLB Duds of Week 20, Position by Position
One of the great baseball scenes ever put to film comes courtesy of the Leslie Nielsen classic The Naked Gun, with Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." providing the background music.
Apparently, Josh Reddick isn't in agreement with that sentiment, as the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder and soon-to-be free agent is one of the headliners on this week's All-Dud team.
We've picked 10 players—one per position, including a designated hitter and starting pitcher—who put together disastrous performances over the past seven days. Spoiler alert: Reddick isn't the only player who changed teams at the non-waiver trade deadline to make the cut.
Who else, besides Reddick, is coming off a week to forget? Let's take a look.
Catcher: Derek Norris, San Diego Padres
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The good news: Tuesday saw Derek Norris score San Diego's only run against Tampa Bay.
The bad news: That was Norris' Week 20 highlight—and the Padres lost that game by a score of 15-1.
It's been that kind of a season for Norris, whose 2-for-18 showing last week is the kind of performance the Padres have come to expect from the 27-year-old former All-Star. Norris heads into Week 21 with a miserable .186/.255/.334 triple-slash line on the season.
Dishonorable Mention
Salvador Perez (KC): .167 BA, .533 OPS, 2 XBH (1 HR), 4 RBI
First Base: Wil Myers, San Diego Padres
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Last week saw Wil Myers return to Tropicana Field for the first time since Tampa Bay traded him to San Diego in December 2014, and the occasion found Rays third baseman Evan Longoria singing the praises of his former teammate.
"I always would tell everybody, he's one of the most talented hitters, definitely hitters, I had ever played with," he told the Tampa Bay Times' Roger Mooney.
Problem is, Myers didn't do much hitting in Week 20, striking out 16 times in 29 trips to the plate—including five whiffs in his last nine plate appearances. He finished the week just 4-for-28 with one RBI, one walk and a .343 OPS.
Dishonorable Mention
Miguel Cabrera (DET): .150 BA, .527 OPS, 1 XBH (1 HR), 2 RBI
Second Base: Scooter Gennett, Milwaukee Brewers
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Scooter Gennett headed into Week 20 on a tear, hitting .349 with a .870 OPS over a three-week stretch that saw him reach base safely in 19-of-21 games. Milwaukee posted an 11-10 record.
It's no surprise then that, as Gennett's bat cooled, so did the Brewers chances of winning.
Last week, the scrappy 26-year-old second baseman reached base safely in just three of the seven games in which he played, hitting .077 with a .265 OPS. His lack of production certainly played a part in the Brewers winning just one of those games, and they are heading into Week 21 on a six-game losing streak.
Dishonorable Mention
Ian Kinsler (DET): .080 BA, .407 OPS, 1 XBH (1 HR), 1 RBI
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Third Base: Jake Lamb, Arizona Diamondbacks
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Strikeouts are always going to be a part of Jake Lamb's game—they're an issue for most sluggers—so it wasn't all that surprising to see the 25-year-old go down on strikes nine times last week, recording at least one strikeout in each of the five games in which he played.
But when you're a slugger who is not only striking out but also putting the ball on the ground, as Lamb did seven times in Week 20; well, that's a recipe for disaster. That helps to explain why Lamb mustered only two hits in 19 at-bats, finishing the week hitting .105 with a .323 OPS.
Dishonorable Mention
Todd Frazier (CHW): .136 BA, .356 OPS, 1 XBH (0 HR), 2 RBI
Shortstop: Andrelton Simmons
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It's a good thing that Andrelton Simmons remains one of the premier defensive shortstops in baseball, for were it not for his glove, it'd be hard for a team—even a terrible one like the Los Angeles Angels—to justify giving him a roster spot.
Simmons posted baseball's lowest OPS (.232) in Week 20, with an embarrassingly low .095/.136/.095 triple-slash line. The 26-year-old managed just two singles in 21 at-bats, driving in one run while striking out twice.
Dishonorable Mention
Orlando Arcia (MIL): .105 BA, .333 OPS, 0 XBH, 1 RBI
Left Field: Robbie Grossman, Minnesota Twins
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Robbie Grossman has been getting fairly regular playing time in Minnesota since signing with the Twins in mid-May and put together a productive season—including a career-best .799 OPS—that has largely flown under the radar.
But Grossman was anything but productive for the Twins last week, going 2-for-17 with one RBI, seven strikeouts and a .328 OPS that was the lowest among all qualified outfielders. That continues a downward trend that began at the beginning of August, with the 26-year-old hitting just .200 with three extra-base hits (two home runs) and a .606 OPS for the month.
Dishonorable Mention
Michael Saunders (TOR): .158 BA, .449 OPS, 1 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI
Center Field: Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees
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San Diego's Jake Smolinski might have worse weekly numbers than New York's Jacoby Ellsbury, but the veteran gets the nod for the starting spot on our All-Dud team for two reasons.
First, expectations are far higher for Ellsbury than they are for Smolinski, given the team he plays for and the $153 million contract he's failed to live up to. More importantly, most of Ellsbury's offense came against Los Angeles' Jered Weaver, who has been doing a poor impersonation of a big league pitcher all year.
Two of Ellsbury's four hits on the week, including his fifth home run of the season, came against Weaver and his 84 mph fastball (per Brooks Baseball). That's not a typo—Weaver's heat passes for a changeup for some pitchers.
Ellsbury finished the week hitting .190 with a .571 OPS.
Dishonorable Mention
Jake Smolinksi (SD): .158 BA, .516 OPS, 1 XBH (1 HR), 1 RBI
Right Field: Josh Reddick, Los Angeles Dodgers
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The Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Josh Reddick at the non-waiver trade deadline with the expectation that he'd provide the club with a productive bat in the middle of the lineup and solid defense in right field. So far, it looks like Reddick left his bat in Oakland.
“He’s pressing a little bit,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday night on SportsNet LA about his plans to give Reddick Saturday off, via True Blue LA. “We’ll give him a chance to watch a Major League Baseball game and reset.”
Reddick wound up entering the game as a pinch-hitter against Cincinnati on Saturday, striking out in his only at-bat. It was his third consecutive game with at least one strikeout, and it was a fitting end to a week that saw him go 4-for-21 with a .530 OPS. Since joining the Dodgers, he's hit just .161 with a .401 OPS.
Dishonorable Mention
Max Kepler (MIN): .200 BA, .533 OPS, 0 XBH, 1 RBI
Designated Hitter: Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Angels
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Congratulations are due for Albert Pujols, who tied known-cheat Mark McGwire for 10th on baseball's all-time home run list with the 583rd bomb of his career on Saturday night.
Unfortunately for Pujols and the Los Angeles Angels, his display of power wasn't nearly enough to lead his team to victory over the New York Yankees—or make his performance over the past week any more palatable.
While he went deep twice and drove in seven runs, Pujols hit .185 with a .686 OPS, both the lowest marks among qualified designated hitters last week.
Dishonorable Mention
Kendrys Morales (KC): .222 BA, .730 OPS, 3 XBH (1 HR), 2 RBI
Pitcher: Hector Santiago, Minnesota Twins
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As David Brown recently wrote for the Pioneer Press, Hector Santiago's career as a member of the Minnesota Twins has gotten off to an absolutely horrendous start.
"Since coming over from the Angels in a trade for right-hander Ricky Nolasco," Brown wrote, "Santiago has allowed 23 runs in 19 innings over four starts. He posted a 1.78 earned-run average in six July starts before the non-waiver trading deadline. He’s trying to stay positive."
Staying positive is hard to do when you allow 15 earned runs and 20 hits (four home runs) over only 8.2 innings of work, as Santiago did in a pair of Week 20 starts for the Twins.
Dishonorable Mention
Tyrell Jenkins (ATL): 2 GS, 0-2, 18.00 ERA, 2.38 WHIP, 8 IP, 14 H (4 HR), 16 ER, 5 BB, 4 K
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of MLB.com and are current through games on Aug. 20.
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