Biggest MLB Duds of Week 11, Position by Position
Rookie of the Year candidates, current (and former) All-Stars and high-paid veterans litter Week 11's All-Dud team. Once again, the funk proved it doesn't care about a player's track record of success, how much money he makes or how highly touted he was as a prospect.
The funk can strike any player at any time—and neither popping two Advils nor spending the day in bed is enough to get rid of it. The cure is different for every player.
Taking traditional and advanced statistics into consideration, here's a look at those players who wish there was an over-the-counter remedy for what ailed them in Week 11 action.
Catcher: Curt Casali, Tampa Bay Rays
1 of 11
With each passing week, the promise Curt Casali showed last season, when he connected for 16 extra-base hits (10 HR) and an .898 OPS in only 101 at-bats for the Tampa Bay Rays, becomes a more distant memory.
The 27-year-old hit only .118 (2-for-17) with a pair of singles, one RBI, two walks and six strikeouts last week—his .328 OPS nearly 100 points lower than our dishonorable mention behind the dish. You have to go back to June 1, when Casali went 2-for-3 with a double and home run, to find his last extra-base hit.
Dishonorable Mention
Yan Gomes (CLE): 6 G, .150 BA (3-for-20), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 3 K
First Base: Tommy Joseph, Philadelphia Phillies
2 of 11
A rough week isn't going to put Tommy Joseph on shaky ground at first base in Philadelphia—Ryan Howard isn't going to take his starting job away from him. That the 24-year-old rookie has hit a rough patch comes as no surprise to his manager, Pete Mackanin.
"I didn't think he'd be a .330 hitter," Mackanin told the Philadelphia Inquirer's Matt Gelb. "He's going to have his ups and downs like anyone else. ... He doesn't have a lot of flaws in his swing. It's just recognizing pitches."
Per Gelb, opposing pitchers have been feeding Joseph a steady diet of breaking balls and off-speed pitches lately, which helps to explain his woeful .043 batting average (1-for-23) and .170 OPS over the past week.
"I have to stay within the strike zone a little bit better than I have," Joseph told Gelb. "... As a hitter on any level, when you get two strikes, you don't have to swing."
Dishonorable Mention
Mike Napoli (CLE): 6 G, .125 BA (3-for-24), 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K, .410 OPS
Second Base: Josh Harrison, Pittsburgh Pirates
3 of 11
One bad week doesn't erase what has been a solid, albeit unspectacular, season thus far for Josh Harrison. But one bad week was enough to push his batting average below .300 for the first time since April 20, when it sat at .288.
The former All-Star hit just .136 (3-for-22) with a walk, four strikeouts, a stolen base and one RBI over six games, and his .310 OPS was the lowest among qualified second basemen by a whopping 140 points.
Dishonorable Mention
Brett Lawrie (CHW): 6 G, .167 BA (4-for-24), 3 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K, .450 OPS
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Third Base: Todd Frazier, Chicago White Sox
4 of 11
Four of Todd Frazier's last eight hits have cleared the fences. Unfortunately for Frazier, none of those hits came in Week 11, during which he posted baseball's lowest OPS (.091), striking out nine times in the process.
Over his last 21 games, Frazier is hitting .103 with 29 strikeouts and a .506 OPS, an epic slump that has Frazier stumped.
“It’s the weirdest thing I’ve been involved in, hitting-wise,’’ Frazier told Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. “You’ve got to keep focusing on the positive stuff and eventually it will turn. But it’s taking a little longer, just like winning, it’s taking us a little longer.’’
Dishonorable Mention
Jhonny Peralta (STL): 5 G, .190 BA (4-for-21), 1 RBI, 3 K, .476 OPS
Shortstop: Aledmys Diaz, St. Louis Cardinals
5 of 11
A 1-for-15 Week 11 showing did nothing to help slow—much less stop—the drop in production Aledmys Diaz has seen since the calendar flipped to June.
Diaz brings a .301 batting average and .836 OPS with him into Sunday's action. Those are solid numbers, but they're significantly worse than where they sat only two weeks ago, when he was hitting .335 with a .920 OPS.
Dishonorable Mention
Freddy Galvis (PHI): 7 G, .115 BA (3-for-26), 2 BB, 8 K, 1 RBI, .294 OPS
Left Field: Brett Gardner, New York Yankees
6 of 11
Few players were as hot as Brett Gardner heading into Week 11. The 32-year-old was in the midst of a nine-game hitting streak, during which he hit .500 (17-for-34) with a 1.141 OPS. But that torrid stretch came crashing to a halt last week.
Gardner hit just .105, picked up a pair of singles in 19 at-bats and walked only once while striking out five times. Only one qualified outfielder, the Texas Rangers' Nomar Mazara, posted a lower OPS on the week than Gardner's .287 mark.
Dishonorable Mention
Trayce Thompson (LAD): 7 G, .160 BA (4-for-25), 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 7 K, .570 OPS
Center Field: Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins
7 of 11
Things are going to click for Minnesota Twins rookie Byron Buxton one day, and the struggles he went through in the early part of his career will seem like a distant memory. But that day didn't come last week, with the highly touted prospect striking out 11 times while hitting just .125 (3-for-24) with a .458 OPS.
The good news from those ugly numbers is that all three of his hits went for extra bases—two doubles and a home run.
Dishonorable Mention
Charlie Blackmon (COL): 5 G, .227 BA (5-for-22), 1 BB, 3 K, 2 SB, .488 OPS
Right Field: Nomar Mazara, Texas Rangers
8 of 11
While we don't take defense into account for our weekly All-Dud teams, this picture of Nomar Mazara crashing into the outfield wall, oblivious to the ball falling to the ground, sums up the kind of performance Texas' hot-shot rookie put forth in Week 11.
Mazara hit only .071 (2-for-28) and struck out six times. Mazara reached base safely in only one of the six games he played last week, picking up a pair of singles against the St. Louis Cardinals Friday night.
Dishonorable Mention
Mark Trumbo (BAL): 6 G, .160 BA (4-for-25), 2 RBI, 1 BB, 7 K, .352 OPS
Designated Hitter: Prince Fielder, Texas Rangers
9 of 11
Another week, another appearance on our All-Dud team for Prince Fielder. Last week saw the hefty designated hitter go 4-for-24 (.167 BA) with a .458 OPS over seven games.
Perhaps even more depressing is the fact that such a poor showing did little to his numbers on the season. Fielder entered the week hitting .204 with a .593 OPS. He exits the week hitting .200 with a .579 OPS. It's as if he didn't play at all.
Dishonorable Mention
Albert Pujols (LAA): 6 G, .240 BA (6-for-25), 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, .536 OPS
Starting Pitcher: James Shields, Chicago White Sox
10 of 11
A return to the American League and a contending ballclub was supposed to re-energize James Shields, even if his fly-ball tendencies made him a less-than-ideal fit at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field.
Instead, Shields was shelled over two starts that lasted a combined 6.2 innings, allowing 14 earned runs and 16 hits while walking more than twice as many batters (seven) as he struck out (three).
"To be honest with you, I don't know exactly what it is right now," Shields told the Chicago Tribune's Colleen Kane. "I'm going to keep grinding. The most disappointing thing is I'm disappointing my teammates, and my performance is not giving them a chance to win ballgames. I have to keep going and grind this thing out."
Dishonorable Mention
Chase Anderson (MIL): 2 GS, 13.50 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, 7.1 IP, 11 H, 11 ER, 5 BB, 8 K
Relief Pitcher: Mark Lowe, Detroit Tigers
11 of 11
The good news for Mark Lowe is that the veteran reliever recorded six outs over three Week 11 relief appearances. The bad news? Lowe allowed eight earned runs and 10 hits in two innings of work. That works out to a 36.00 ERA and 5.50 WHIP.
It was as if he was throwing batting practice to Detroit's opponents, who put up a combined .625/.647/.938 slash line against the veteran reliever last week.
Dishonorable Mention
Casey Kelly (ATL): 3 G, 0-0, 18.90 ERA, 3.30 WHIP, 3.1 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs and MLB.com and are current through games on June 18. All contract information courtesy of Cot's Contracts (via Baseball Prospectus).
Hit me up on Twitter to talk all things baseball: @RickWeinerBR.
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