Eugenio Suarez would have been the home run king with 23 dingers. And his teammate, Aristides Aquino would have tied for sixth-place with 19. Watch out for the Cincinnati Reds this season.
Trea Turner scored the most runs (56) after 23 July, ahead of Marcus Semien and Jonathan Villar. Villar was the only player to swipe 20+ bags … remind me why the Orioles decided to dump him instead of cash in on a midseason trade? Baseball never fails to amaze me.
Anthony “no Hollywood lifestyle for me” Rendon drove in the most runs with 59 RBI. It’s gonna be fun watching him hit behind Mike Trout for these 60 games.
Rendon’s World Series-winning teammate, Howie, formerly Howard, formerly Howie, Kendrick hit 0.395 after 23 July. It will be close, but I don’t think we will see anyone hit .400 this season.
Aaron Judge struck out more than anyone else (85 times), although the worse strikeout rate belonged to Keon Broxton’s 52.4% (min 50PA). In 2017, Broxon went 20/20; two years later, he posted -0.7 WAR. He is currently trying to get a gig with the Brewers.
If you’ve read Russell’s excellent article on the rise of hit-by-pitch, then you won’t be surprised that Anthony Rizzo led the league after 23 July with 11, and fellow HBP-magnet, Victor Robles, was fourth. More surprising was Mark Canha (watch out for a big year from him in 2020) and Jose Abreu who were joint-second.
One of the very few bright spots about watching the Orioles last season was the emergence of Trey Mancini as a legitimate superstar. The 28-year-old slugged 35 homers with 106 runs and 97 RBI. He makes it into this article for grounding into more double-plays after 23 July last year than anyone else. But mainly it was so we could wish him well with his treatment for Stage 3 colon cancer.
Moving onto the pitchers. This next bit is brilliant …
Player A: 10.8 K/9, 3.78 FIP
Player B: 10.5 K/9, 3.88 FIP
Player A is James Paxton, the only pitcher to register double-digit wins after 23 July. He went 10-1.
Player B is Spencer Turnbull, who went 0-8 after 23 July.
In the words of Thom Yorke, there were no surprises that Justin Verlander (128) and Gerrit Cole (121) struck out the most batters. Tyler Glasnow had the most potent strikeout rate among starters (44.7%), although Tampa Bay Rays’ Nick Anderson recorded a 50.0 K%. Is that good?
In the unpredictable world of the closer, Archie Bradley secured the most saves (18) while two of the best in the game, Josh Hader and Liam Hendriks, both blew five saves to lead the league. Wade Davis better improve upon his 14.85 ERA as I’ve just drafted him in my fantasy team.
The best pitcher after 23 July was St Louis Cardinals Jack Flaherty who posted mind-boggling numbers of 0.65 WHIP and 0.92 ERA over 13 starts. As if to further prove the ludicrous nature of pitcher wins, Flaherty won fewer games than veteran teammate Adam Wainwright.
Finally, I’ll leave you with this. Which pitcher gave up the most runs last year after 23 July 2019?
WRONG!
(Photos by Mitchell Layton & Norm Hall/Getty Images)
Gavin is one of the team of writers at Bat Flips and Nerds. Follow him on Twitter @_tramps
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