Biggest MLB Duds of Week 21, Position by Position
A trip to the corner store to see the candyman might find someone walking out with a pack of Milk Duds. A trip to Citi Field to see the Grandyman (Curtis Granderson) is likely to find fans of the New York Mets walking out having seen an expensive dud.
The veteran slugger leads the way on this week's All-Dud team, filling right field on a 10-player roster—one per position, including a designated hitter and starting pitcher—that put together disastrous performances over the past seven days.
Besides Granderson, who is coming off a week to forget? Let's take a look.
Catcher: Wilson Ramos, Washington Nationals
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Putting a team on your back can be exhausting and catch up with a player. Such is life for the Washington Nationals' Wilson Ramos, who found himself out of the team's lineup late in Week 21.
"Big Ramos is fine," Nationals manager Dusty Baker told the Washington Post's Jorge Castillo about his decision to hold Ramos out Thursday and Friday. "I just wanted to give him another day. Some days one day isn't enough to clear your head, and sometimes you need a couple days to sit and then to watch other guys. Because he's been carrying this team, him and [Daniel] Murphy, for quite a while. That's a lot of work for him, offensively and defensively."
That Ramos was unproductive when he did play, going just 2-for-20 with five strikeouts over five games, certainly made Baker's decision easier.
Dishonorable Mention
J.T. Realmuto (MIA): .150 BA, .477 OPS, 2 XBH (0 HR), 0 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K
First Base: Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals
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Unlike Ramos, who has been on fire for much of the season in Washington, Ryan Zimmerman continued to suffer through the worst season of his 12-year career.
After going 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI against the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 20, his first game back from a left wrist injury that cost him nearly three weeks, the former face of the franchise went just 4-for-29 with a double, walk and six strikeouts over seven games.
Dishonorable Mention
Mike Napoli (CLE): .182 BA, .390 OPS, 0 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI, 0 BB, 8 K
Second Base: Jose Altuve, Houston Astros
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Jose Altuve's excellence this season almost got him a pass for his Week 21 woes—almost.
But it's hard to ignore when Altuve—who leads baseball with a .356 batting average and is on pace for his third consecutive 200-hit season—posts a .167/.160/.208 triple-slash line with four strikeouts over six games.
Even with that bump in the road, Altuve is still hitting a robust .356 with 14 extra-base hits, 23 RBI and a .928 OPS over two dozen August games.
Dishonorable Mention
Jason Kipnis (CLE): .179 BA, .429 OPS, 2 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI, 0 BB, 7 K
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Third Base: Eduardo Nunez, San Francisco Giants
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While he's had his moments, Eduardo Nunez hasn't lived up to the expectations the San Francisco Giants had when they traded pitching prospect Adalberto Mejia to the Minnesota Twins for the 29-year-old All-Star right before the non-waiver trade deadline.
"I think I haven't played the way I want to play," Nunez told the San Francisco Examiner's Karl Buscheck last week. "We're struggling, but I think we're going to be better, and you have to step up.
"I don't let the pressure get to me. I'm just struggling at the wrong time."
Neither Nunez nor the Giants played well in Week 21, with Nunez hitting .105 with a .255 OPS in five games and failing on two of his three stolen-base attempts, while San Francisco went just 2-4 in its six games.
Dishonorable Mention
Yangervis Solarte (SD): .105 BA, .301 OPS, 1 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K
Shortstop: J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles
5 of 10
On Aug. 10, J.J. Hardy told the Baltimore Sun's Eduardo A. Encina that it'd been nearly 20 years since he felt so good.
"I would say it's the best I've felt since about 1999," Hardy said. "No joke. I really feel like my body hasn't felt this good since my sophomore year of high school."
Problem is, Hardy looked like a high school sophomore trying to hit big league pitching last week. OK, maybe that's a stretch, but you get the idea: Hardy was terrible. He mustered just two hits in 21 at-bats, finishing the week hitting .095 with one RBI, two walks, five strikeouts and a .310 OPS—the third-lowest mark in the American League.
Dishonorable Mention
Chris Owings (ARI): .148 BA, .429 OPS, 1 XBH (0 HR), 2 RBI, 0 BB, 4 K, 2-of-2 SB
Left Field: Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates
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Starling Marte's power numbers might be down this season, but the 27-year-old has still given the Pittsburgh Pirates consistent production at the plate. That wasn't the case in Week 21.
While he did drive in three runs and swipe a pair of bases in two tries, giving him a career-high 43 steals on the season, he hit just .148 with six strikeouts and a .370 OPS and was one of 12 players who failed to crack the .400 OPS plateau for the week.
Dishonorable Mention
Nick Buss (LAA): .174 BA, .556 OPS, 2 XBH (1 HR), 2 RBI, 1 BB, 5 K, 1-of-1 SB
Center Field: Jackie Bradley Jr., Boston Red Sox
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Jackie Bradley Jr. didn't snap out of his monthlong slump in Week 21, going just 4-for-25 with a .392 OPS and 13 strikeouts over seven games.
Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell assessed Bradley's struggles Saturday, per MassLive.com's Christopher Smith:
"He's been in a stretch here where's probably gotten a little bit more pull oriented. That's maybe contributed to some of the swing-and-miss that's been there. And just trying to get him back to the middle of the field, staying inside the baseball a little bit more consistently than probably the last three or four weeks that he's gone through here.
"
Farrell is right. Take a look at Bradley's August spray chart, courtesy of Brooks Baseball, and compare it to his spray chart from May, when he hit .381 with a 1.175 OPS. That goes a long way toward explaining his putrid .181/.245/.340 triple-slash line in August.
Dishonorable Mention
Marcell Ozuna (MIA): .208 BA, .492 OPS, 2 XBH (0 HR), 3 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K
Right Field: Curtis Granderson, New York Mets
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The good news for Granderson is that he's not entering the final month of his walk year. For if the Grandyman were headed to free agency after the season, he'd find a market that wasn't too high on his long-term future.
"Grandy has not had a great season and certainly in recent weeks, recent days, has not performed to his expectations," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson told Mike Puma of the New York Post on Friday, adding that the team was confident he'd soon return to his status as a productive member of the lineup.
But that might be more wishful thinking than anything else. Granderson has hit just .174 with a .560 OPS since the All-Star break, including a 2-for-18 stretch with a pair of doubles in Week 21. Of the 218 players who have made at least 100 second-half plate appearances, only seven have posted a lower OPS.
Dishonorable Mention
George Springer (HOU): .167 BA, .426 OPS, 0 XBH (0 HR), 0 RBI, 3 BB, 6 K, 1-of-1 SB
Designated Hitter: Carlos Beltran, Texas Rangers
9 of 10
After nearly two decades in the big leagues, you'd think Carlos Beltran had seen it all. But the 39-year-old carried a career-worst 0-for-32 slump into Saturday's game against the Cleveland Indians, having last recorded a base hit for the Texas Rangers on Aug. 16. Two singles later, he busted the slump.
"I believe he's been somewhat unlucky," Rangers manager Jeff Banister told the Star-Telegram's Stefan Stevenson. "... I don’t think he woke up and his hitting ability was no longer there."
Beltran, who could teach many of his teammates a thing or two about hitting, finished the week hitting just .083 (2-for-24) and with baseball's lowest OPS (.167).
Dishonorable Mention
Miguel Sano (MIN): .208 BA, .500 OPS, 2 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI, 0 BB, 8 K
Pitcher: Zack Godley, Arizona Diamondbacks
10 of 10
After giving up nine earned runs to the Cincinnati Reds over two innings Saturday, Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Godley pinpointed his problem.
"Every pitch I threw, they hit," he said, via Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro.
We could use that same quote to describe Godley's first start of the week, a five-inning affair against Atlanta in which the Braves put seven earned runs on the board. Over seven innings of work last week, Godley allowed 18 hits, including five home runs, and 16 earned runs while walking three and striking out four. His ERA: 20.57. His WHIP: 3.00.
Dishonorable Mention
Martin Perez (TEX): 0-2, 9.26 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 11.2 IP, 15 H (1 HR), 12 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of MLB.com and accurate through games of Aug. 27.
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