MLB Power Rankings Week 23: Aroldis Chapman And His Fastball Have Arrived
Another wacky week of baseball. The ever-annoying Nyjer Morgan decided to slam into the Marlins catcher one too many times.
After being thrown at, Morgan decided to charge the mound and MLB's second brawl of the season occurred.
More violent than Reds vs. Cardinals, Morgan got in a few head shots before getting knocked down by the entire Marlins team.
Aroldis Chapman of the Reds made his major league debut this week. He arrived in a blaze of glory, hitting 103 on the radar gun multiple times.
He already owns the two fastest pitches in MLB since '06. He has thrown three scoreless innings in a middle relief role. It will be interesting to watch how Chapman will be used down the stretch.
In other news, the Padres are in the midst of a predictable collapse, losers of 10 in a row.
The Yankees continue to stomp the AL while the Rays follow their lead. the Reds are still rolling as the Cardinals fade to black.
The Phillies are breathing down the Braves neck and the NL Wild Card is still up for grabs.
The '10 baseball season has been fun, but the stretch run should provide even more excitement.
30. Pittsburgh Pirates
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Jeff Clement's season could be finished. He pulled his left oblique muscle on a rehab assignment in AAA. It's the same injury that kept Clement for part of the '09 season.
The first baseman batted .201 with seven home runs and 12 RBI in 54 games with the Pirates.
John Bowker made his first start in right field. Bowker was called up Wednesday, and manager John Russell wants to get a closer look at him for the rest of the season.
"He did well in Indianapolis (AAA), and he made the Opening Day roster in San Francisco," Russell said. "We'll give him a look."
29. Baltimore Orioles
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Kevin Millwood fell to 3-15 on the season as the Rays beat the O's on Friday night.
According to Elias, Millwood is the second Orioles pitcher since the franchise moved to Baltimore in 1954 to reach 15 losses with as few as three wins in a season.
The other was Don Larsen in 1954 (three wins at time of 15th loss).
28. Seattle Mariners
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Luke French is the latest pitcher to knock on the door of a no-hitter. He held the Indians hitless in 7.1 innings on Friday before allowing a single.
In typical Mariners fashion, they only put up one run on the board for French.
Speaking of the Mariners offense, woof. They are dead last in baseball in average, runs, RBI, home runs.
Franklin Gutierrez leads the team with a measly 53 RBI. By far the worst offense in baseball in '10.
Thanks for nothing, Milton Bradley, Chone Figgins and Russell Branyan.
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27. Cleveland Indians
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Shelley Duncan hit a single in the seventh inning to end Seattle's Luke French's no-hitter on Friday night.
That marked the third time this season that Cleveland has not registered a hit through the first six innings of a game.
The Indians were no-hit for 6.2 innings by Toronto's Brett Cecil on May 3rd and were on the receiving end of Armando Galarraga's should of been perfect game on June 2.
Prior to this season, the Indians had been no-hit through six innings in only one game over the last five seasons combined.
Jayson Nix didn't need a scoring change to add another error to his resume at third base. He's had a rough time transitioning to third base.
A scoring change from an Aug. 22 game resulted in Nix getting charged with an error and rookie starter Jeanmar Gomez getting charged with only five earned runs instead of seven.
The Indians appealed the official scorer's decision to MLB, and it was upheld. Nix now has eight errors in 21 games at third.
26. Kansas City Royals
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Jason Kendall has undergone season ending knee surgery. In 434 ABs, Kendall was only able to collect 37 ribbies. His .256 is way below his .288 career average.
This could be the beginning of the end for Kendall.
Billy Butler has hit safely in his last 94 series, second longest in franchise history.
25. Arizona Diamondbacks
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From Elias: Augie Ojeda's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning drove in what proved to be the winning run in Arizona's 4-3 victory over the Astros on Friday night.
It was Ojeda's 81st career RBI, but the first that came in the eighth inning or later and gave his team a lead. Prior to Friday, Ojeda had never had a go-ahead RBI in an inning later than fifth in his career.
He's baaack. Mike Hampton is once again in the majors. at 37, after 15 years in the majors and three major operations, Hampton still felt like he had something left, like he could help a big league team.
"I'm not ready to give it up, not ready to quit. It's never been an option," said Hampton, who lives in Scottsdale. "I guess when the drive and the hunger and the competitive edge, when that's over, I don't feel that anymore then it's time to walk away. Right now, I still feel pretty strong."
When healthy, Hampton has been an effective starting pitcher, going 148-115 with a 4.07 ERA with five teams.
24. Chicago Cubs
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Carlos Silva is scheduled to start Tuesday for the Chicago Cubs against Houston after missing more than a month because of a heart problem.
In a extremely disappointing season for the Cubs, the 20-year-old rookie Starlin Castro has been one of the few bright spots. He has a .317 batting average, good enough for third in the NL.
He has 29 doubles since being called up in early May. And he's improved through the season, hitting .361 in the month of July and .331 in August.
He looks like a star for the Cubs next season.
23. Washington Nationals
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Adam Dunn became the fifth player in MLB history with 350 homers within his first 10 seasons. Dunn now has 34 bombs on the season.
Nyjer Morgan received an eight-game suspension for his role in a Wednesday night brawl between him and the Florida Marlins. He charged the mound and started swinging.
Morgan isn't well liked aroud the league and this is a perfect example why: smashing into a catcher two different times when both situations could have been prevented.
So why would he be surprised that the Marlins would hit him in retaliation?
22. Milwaukee Brewers
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Prince Fielder hit his 30th HR today. He has four seasons of 30 or more long-balls, tying Jeromy Burnitz and Gorman Thomas for the most in Brewers history. Fielder and Burnitz both did it in four straight seasons.
Corey Hart's hit a home run this weekend on a 76.9-mph curveball from Roy Halladay. Of his 92 career dingers, only four have come on curveballs; the last was in May of '08, off the Nationals' John Lannan.
21. Los Angeles Angels
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The injured Erick Aybar didn't play at all this weekend; he has now missed seven straight games.
They are very short on middle infielders with Maicer Izturis out, the Angels are crossing their fingers they can get Aybar back in fewer than 15 days.
Aybar has barely tested his hyperextended left knee. He threw and did some light agility work over the weekend.
"If he's not making enough progress to see light at the end of the tunnel in a couple days, we'll obviously have to consider a move," manager Mike Scioscia said.
Admist the worst season for the Angels in years, the pitching has not been up to the Angels' high standards. The 4.33 team ERA is 22nd best in the majors. That's not getting it done.
20. Houston Astros
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The young Astros have played very well of late. They are 11-3 in their last 14 games and have swept both the Cardinals and Phillies.
After getting off to a horrid start to the season, the Astros have been playing very well since trading Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman.
One of the newly acquired players has been a big reason for the Astros' recent success. JA Happ pitched a two-hit shutout over the Cardinals this week.
He has has only allowed four-plus runs in one start since being acquired from the Phillies in July. For the season, he is 5-2 with a 2.89 ERA.
Carlos Lee hit his 20th home run of the season this weekend. He has now hit at least 20 home runs in 12 consecutive seasons. The only season he didn't hit 20 was his rookie year.
19. New York Mets
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New York Mets ace Johan Santana will miss his next turn in the rotation because of a strained pectoral muscle, the team announced on Sunday.
It's nothing major, and I'm sure Santana would have played through it if the Mets were in playoff contention.
The Mets can blame their '10 failures on the offense. The team average is an awful .247. It is the third worst in the majors and the lack of run support for Santana is appalling.
So when they dropped 18 runs on the Cubs Sunday, maybe they should have saved a few for the rest of the week.
18. Detroit Tigers
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From Elias: The Tigers overcame a 4-0 deficit to defeat the Royals by a score of 9-5 in 11 innings on Friday. It was the eighth time this season that Detroit has come back from a four-run deficit to win, the highest total for any team in the MLB.
It has been 60 years since the last time the Tigers won eight games after trailing by four-or-more runs in a single season (nine wins in 1950).
17. Oakland Athletics
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The A's injury woes continue to kill them. Kevin Kouzmanoff left the game on Sunday with lower back spasms.
Kouzmanoff singled and grabbed his lower back as he ran towards first base. He slowed down but was able to reach first safely.
Kouzmanoff was hitting .283 over his last 12 games, with 12 RBI. He leads the team with 14 home runs.
16. Los Angeles Dodgers
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After 16 seasons, John Lindsey has finally reached the big leagues.
Lindsey, 33, was among five players the Dodgers promoted on Sunday. No other current player had spent more years in the minors than Lindsey.
Russ Mitchell is also being called up; whenever he plays he will be making his major league debut as well. Chin Lung Hu, and pitchers Jon Link and John Ely were also brought up.
For Lindsey, his dream is finally coming true. He's spent a large chunk of his life in the minor leagues, since the Colorado Rockies took him in the 13th round of the 1995 draft.
He's had a career season in 2010, batting .354 with 25 home runs for the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes.
15. Florida Marlins
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Florida's three-game weekend series against NL East rival Atlanta ended Sunday without any ceremony for departing Braves manager Bobby Cox, who criticized Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria earlier this season.
The Marlins were able to avoid any suspensions in this week's brawl.
Morgan was at fault and the Marlins were simply protecting their catcher and showing the Nationals that they don't appreciate that kind of reckless play.
14. Toronto Blue Jays
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Jose Bautista continues to have a monster season for the Jays. He's sitting on 43 homers, best in baseball. He is second in the AL with 103 RBI and 88 walks.
The Blue Jays would be wise to sign him to a long term contract now before a big-market team swoops him up.
He has gone under the radar for most of the season due to the fact that he plays in Toronto. Just imagine the coverage he would have received this year if he played for the Yanks or Red Sox.
13. Colorado Rockies
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Carlos Gonzalez continues to be the hottest hitter of the last month.
In his last 12 games, Gonzalez is batting .522 (24 for 46) with 15 extra-base hits, including six home runs, and 16 RBI.
According to Elias, since the major leagues began compiling RBI in 1920, only three other players have had a 12-game span in which they reached Gonzalez's levels in batting average, extra-base hits, homers and RBI.
Rogers Hornsby had a 12-game stretch of that nature for the Boston Braves in 1928; and Todd Helton and Richard Hidalgo (who was then with the Astros) each had a 12-game span like that in the 2000 season.
The Rockies playoff hopes aren't dead just yet. They swept the Padres over the weekend to find themselves only 4.5 games back in the NL West.
On the season, the Rox are 11-4 against the Padres. The most encouraging part is the fact that the sweep was on the road. Before this weekend, the Rockies had a dreadful 26-42 road record.
12. Boston Red Sox
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Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon blew his seventh game of the season after giving up four runs in 1.1 innings of work as the White Sox scored four times in the top of the ninth inning for a comeback 7-5 victory.
This has been a brutal year for Pap, and this might also be his last one.
Bill Hall walked in his first plate appearance Sunday, his first walk since July 28, a span of 85 plate appearances.
Funny thing was, he walked against one of the most accurate pitchers in the game, White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle, who has walked an average of 2.2 batters per nine innings.
Hall's walkless streak lasted 26 games, well short of the 46 games that Shea Hillenbrand went without a walk in '02.
11. Chicago White Sox
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The White Sox are hot. They have won six in a row and are now only 3.5 games back of the Twins in the AL Central. Manny hasn't lost a game with the team yet.
Paul Konerko left Sunday's game with lower back stiffness and is day to day. He will be re-evaluated on Monday in Detroit before the White Sox open a four-game series with the Tigers.
10. St. Louis Cardinals
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Some odd comments have star slugger Albert Pujols criticizing young outfielder Colby Rasmus.
Rasmus said he wasn't always happy being a Cardinal as a rookie last year and this season. The 24-year-old center fielder is denying reports that he asked in July to be traded.
"It's a privilege to play in this organization, just behind the Yankees with 10 World Series [titles] and be able to be in the postseason almost every year," Pujols said.
"I have nothing negative to say about this organization, For a young kid to come up and say that, that he wants to be somewhere else, I don't know why."
"You need to know the mistake you make and be accountable to that. I think for him to come up and ask for a trade and that you guys should know about it, I don't think that was pretty professional," Pujols told reporters.
The Cards were able to salvage a horrible week by beating the Reds two-of-three times over the weekend.
On the previous road trip against the last place Pirates, Nationals, and lowly Astros, the Cards lost 8 of 10. Ouch.
9. San Francisco Giants
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Dont look now, but the Giants are only one game back of the Padres in the NL West.
The pitching is getting back on track and the hitting is contiuing to do just enough to get by.
The pitching staff leads the majors with 1,094 strikeouts led by Tim Lincecum with 188.
Speaking of "Big time Timmy-Jim," he may be back on the right track after he went eight strong innings, allowing only one run in a victory over the Rockies this week.
If the Giants expect to finish this comeback and overtake the division lead—Lineccum needs to be back to his old self.
8. Texas Rangers
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Trouble in paradise? The Rangers continue to own a huge lead in the AL West, but injuries to key players are beginning to pile up.
Cliff Lee will miss his next start due to a sore back and the Rangers are unsure when he will return. They acquired Lee for the playoffs and want to make sure he is 100 percent healthy for October.
Elvis Andrus was been dealing with a tight right hamstring. He likely won't play the next two days at least. The Rangers don't want him to aggravate it, making the injury worse than it already is.
Josh Hamilton is out indefinitely after crashing into a wall on Saturday. Hamilton described the feeling as "getting hit by a car" and it remains to be seen how severe the injury is.
If the team MVP can't play in the playoffs...bye bye, Texas.
7. Philadelphia Phillies
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Roy Halladay has proven to be a great pickup for the Phillies. He leads the NL with 196 strikeouts.
He has a 2.46 ERA and has pitched the most innings in the majors at 222.1. He is an innings eater that doesn't need to rely on his defense to be effective. He is going to be a monster in the postseason.
Speaking of the playoffs, it looks as if the NL East takeover will be a reality for the Phils. The Braves have struggled of late and the Phillies are healthy and rolling. Ryan Howard's best month has historically been September and the pitching has been spectacular.
It looks like once again the Phillies will be the team to beat in the National League.
6. San Diego Padres
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Freeee, free faaaaalling. This is painful to watch. The Padres have lost 10 in a row and are beginning to make their critics look smart. They lost they comfortable division lead and now have to regroup quickly.
They have scored a grand total of 23 runs during the skid. This just in: that's not going to cut it.
From Elias: The Padres extended their losing streak to 10 games on Sunday by losing to the Rockies. That's the longest losing streak by a first-place team since the 1995 Angels dropped nine straight games from August 25 to September 3, in the process of seeing an early August 11-game division lead slip away.
The Angels would end up missing the playoffs after losing a play-in tie breaker to the Mariners.
I'm sure Padres fans didn't exactly like reading that last paragraph. OR this: only two teams have ever made the postseason after enduring a 10 game losing streak.
5. Atlanta Braves
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The Braves have had an excellent season in Bobby Cox last year as manager. But their grip on the division is slowly slipping away.
The NL East lead is down to one and the Phillies are hot. The two teams play each other six more times this season, including the last three games of the season.
Could the division come down to those three? My crystal ball says you betcha.
Chipper Jones may be done for the season but he is still in the heat of it all. He was ejected from a game this week while sitting on the bench.
4. Cincinnati Reds
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Chapmania has begun in Cincy. The flame-throwing Aroldis Chapman has created quite the buzz in the Queen City.
Adding him to an already solid bullpen really bolsters the Reds playoff chances. Teams have little to no film on him. I'll give them the scouting report: he throws hard...really hard.
Chapman allegedly hit 105 on the radar gun in AAA and has already hit 103.7 for the Reds.
It's a speed few hitters have ever experienced. He will more than likely be a starter next year, but for now he will be utilized in the seventh/eighth inning of games.
The Reds continue to roll over the dregs that are the NL Central. This week it was a sweep of the Brewers.
But they can't beat the Cardinals. The Reds are 6-12 against the Cards and 73-45 against everybody else.
Good thing they don't have to worry about them in the postseason.
3. Minnesota Twins
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From Elias: Jim Thome crushed two home runs in the Twins 12-4 victory over the Rangers on Saturday.
That lifted his career total for multiple-homer games to 46 (matching the number of multiple-homer games that Mickey Mantle and Harmon Killebrew had in their Hall-of-Fame careers).
Thome now has 20 home runs this season and it's the 16th time that he has reached that plateau (the same number of 20-homer seasons turned in by Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Reggie Jackson and Eddie Murray).
Only Hank Aaron (20), Barry Bonds (19), Willie Mays (17) and Frank Robinson (17) have more 20-homer seasons.
It was Thome's second two-homer game at Target Field, the first-year home of the Twins, which is twice the number of multiple-homer games produced there by all of his teammates combined.
Thome has become a key piece to the Twins '10 success.
2. Tampa Bay Rays
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Evan Longoria hit his 20th homer of the week and has hit at least 20 in his first three full seasons.
He is only the third player whose primary position was 3B to hit 20-plus home runs in his first three MLB seasons. The others are Eddie Mathews and Bob Horner.
He is also the fifth player in MLB history to have accumulated 20 bombs and 30 doubles in each of his first three seasons.
The Rays are starting to fall back a bit behind the Yankees' torrid pace.
But don't be fooled, this team is as complete as any in baseball. It seems as if an epic battle with the team from the Bronx awaits the Rays in October.
1. New York Yankees
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The Yanks clinched their 18th consecutive winning season this week. Unreal.
Barring an epic collapse, the Bronx Bombers will be postseason bound once again. They need to get healthy, though.
Andy Pettitte is targeting a mid-September return to the mound. A-Rod returned to the lineup on Sunday. Nick Swisher has been day-to-day with a sore knee.
Maybe A-Rod should stay out of the lineup, without Alex Rodriguez the Yankees are 21-3.
His replacement has been excellent. Marcus Thames has been on fire. Over his past 10 games, he has seven homers and is batting .314.
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