Big congratulations to Aaron Judge on his win in this year's Home Run Derby. He absolutely lived up to the hype (don't you just love it when people do that?!) and made it look easy because keep in mind how tough that ballpark is to hit home runs in. He was ahead of everyone and had time left over once he caught up to them. Also, Justin Bout looked amazing and truly shcoked us but Judge had to remind us who he is so that took away from Bour's amazing performance. Mad props to Bour on what he did do.
It's always great to see a good rookie and this one is going to continue to entertain us all for the remainder of the season and for the actual game itself! I think it's time for us all to rise and watch his rise to baseball stardom. Tonight is the night where we see if Giancarlo Stanton defends his title in his home field or a rookie takes over the throne. Maybe we also could see an upset, like Stanton's teammate Justin Bour could decide that he wants to win it for Miami and shocks the baseball world. Or maybe a player who's having their best season yet could win it all (looking at Miguel Sanó or Charlie Blackmon). Either way, it's hard to choose a champion but luckily my statistical tools helped seeing how each can do distance-wise. On Saturday we dealt with how many they can hit but since most of them are foreign to Miami's park, they have to be able to stroke it out. Stanton and Bour have that advantage there and the others also have to deal with an indoor stadium. People like Blackmon are used to altitude carrying the ball but no altitude or wind can save these players. Today's stats will show who has the best chance of going yard by using z-scores*. *Remember: The higher the z-score, the more the player can separate from the pack and be the best. Z-Scores were found by looking up each player's furthest home run this season on hittrackeronline.com (the best site!!) and also putting in the top 10 home run distances at Marlins Park for this year. They were then thrown together to find the average distance (451.8 ft) and the standard deviation (14.6). Then, each top distance from the players was subtracted and divided to see how far away they are from the mean. Now let's begin... Giancarlo StantonTop Distance: 465 ft Z-Score: 0.9 Gary SanchezTop Distance: 450 ft Z-Score: -0.1 Mike MoustakasTop Distance: 433 ft Z-Score: -1.3 Miguel SanóTop Distance: 465 ft Z-Score: 0.9 Aaron JudgeTop Distance: 496 ft Z-Score: 3.0 Justin BourTop Distance: 445 ft Z-Score: -0.47 Cody BellingerTop Distance: 432 ft Z-Score: -1.4 Charlie BlackmonTop Distance: 455 ft Z-Score: 0.22 Predictions for the RoundsRound One- Stanton over Sanchez Moustakas over Sanó Judge over Bour Blackmon over Bellinger Round Two- Stanton over Moustakas Judge over Blackmon Final Round- Stanton over Judge Why? Stanton has home crowd advantage and knows this park so well. A guy who has never been here before can only do so well. He's done well in unfamiliar parks and in the distance department, but not well enough to beat Stanton since a large majority of Judge's home runs are at home. There's simply no place like home and that will work in Stanton's favor, not Judge's. Marlins Park DimensionsLeft- 344 ft Left Center- 386 ft Center- 407 ft Right Center- 392 ft Right- 335 ft Who hits what? Righties vs. Lefties:This is important because it definitely looks like lefties have the advantage yet Stanton dominates at this stadium more often than not. Right- Stanton Sanchez Sanó Judge Left- Moustakas Bour Bellinger Blackmon Home Vs. Away DimensionsCourtesy of hittrackeronline.com. Make sure to watch on ESPN at 8 pm ET!
With the All-Star break coming tomorrow, it's officially our last day of the first half of the season. So, let's look back on the Central before things close up. Who would've expected that the Brewers and the Twins would be the leaders in the Central? Both teams are holding their good starts from April, which shows that they are serious contenders. Now, the second half is still long and gruelling but they already have a good start that other teams lacked. Maybe the Cubs can get themselves together by the time the second half since the first half has only been mediocre for them. They still have last year's key players and they very much could be back in the postseason, so don't count them out just yet. Speaking of last year's World Series, how about the Indians? They are very similar to the Cubs in how they are doing just enough to compete with their division. They still could turn on the jets and then find themselves in the postseason and beyond, but they will face tougher competition (especially in the East). The Central may look much more different by the time the season ends, but for now let's cherish what it looks like for these teams. Who knows, we may laugh at this someday. On this day in 2012, Bryce Harper became the youngest position player to make an All-Star team when he is named to replace Miami's Giancarlo Stanton, who is unable to participate because of an injury. The 19 year-old Nationals outfielder surpassed catcher Butch Wynegar (Twins) as the youngest non-pitcher to be selected.
This year marks his fifth All-Star selection. What a long he has come in six seasons. It's been a long time since the last one (so sorry about that!) but that won't stop from keeping up with your favorite rookies for the week! Hope you enjoy all the highlights from this great group of newcomers! Aaron JudgeAwards (from this week!): AL Rookie of the Month for June, AL Player of the Month, AL All-Star starter, and Home Run Derby Participant. Average (Jun. 26-Jul. 3): .291 Home Runs (Jun. 26-Jul. 3): 1, but still leads MLB with 27 Stats Fact: First Yankee Rookie to reach base in 30 straight games since Charlie Keller in 1939 (@EliasSports). Judge is continuing to do Judge things, like gather all the recognition for his already awesome season. He will fulfill dreams and participate in the Home Run Derby, which will be mentioned a lot more on this blog in the upcoming days. His team is in second place right now with 3 games behind the Red Sox but there's a lot left to be played and they will make it an interesting race. Cody BellingerAwards (from this week): NL Rookie of the Month for June, All-Star team, and Home Run Derby Participant. Average (Jun. 26-Jul. 3): .148 Avergage Slugging Percentage (Jun. 26-Jul. 3): .378 Stats Fact: Bellinger is the youngest Dodger position player to make the All Star team and the first to make it in their first true season in the Majors, meaning the year they were called up in (@Dodgers and @ESPNStatsInfo). It's been bit of a rough week for Bellinger since we expect so much from him, considering his fast start to the Majors ranks among the fastest ever. His week was rewarding for him since he got all those accolades and now that those are given out, he can focus and get even better for those competitions. Maybe his team's off day will help his performance before the All-Star Game. Sean NewcombERA (from Jun. 27 start): 1.48 Strikeouts (from Jun. 27 start): 8 Record (from four starts): 1-2 Stats Fact: Newcomb is limiting right handers to .143 (@SERCenter). Newcomb earned his first Major League win last week against San Diego after only giving up 6 hits, one walk, and no runs. He's been doing well before his first victory but he got a no-decision on his start before where he only gave up three hits. Newcomb has done well for a rotation that relies on a lot of veteran pitchers while maintaining second in the East. Make sure to watch Newcomb start on the Fourth of July vs. Houston at 7:35 pm ET! Yuli GurrielAverage (Jun. 27- Jul. 3): .200
Home Runs (Jun. 27- Jul. 3): 2 RBIs (Jun. 27- Jul. 3): 7 Stats Fact: Gurriel hit a game-winning double off of a 100.2 mph fastball by Aroldis Chapman. Imagine what the velocity for his hit would be. Gurriel is one of the older rookies here (33 years old) but he is making an impact for the league-leading Astros. This week, he hit back-to-back home runs on July 1 and July 2. His hitting has become even better for the Astros further along his time in the majors which is a good sign for the team. Hello and welcome to the month of July! As much as I hate to say it and think it, this is getting closer to the midpoint of the season. The All Star Game is coming soon and we get to find out the selections soon. June was a big month in terms of power hitting and excitement for the game. This month alone saw 1,070 home runs, the most for one month in Major League Baseball. That is a cause for celebration after some of those home runs came from multihomer games from rookies and veterans alike or even walkoff wins. Maybe July will offer us something new with trade deadlines coming up and the always great All Star Game. The floor is yours, July. |
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