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2009 Mid-Season Awards
Posted by Troy Patterson on Thursday, July 09, 2009
Awards
AL Fantasy Mid-Season Awards
AL Fantasy Cy Young- Zack Greinke - SP Kansas City Royals>
One of the biggest surprises of 2009 so far has been the extreme jump in numbers by Greinke. His season has not been a fluke and he really has been the best AL pitcher so far. His numbers have settled a bit since his stellar start, but he still has a K/9 of 9.12, which is better than any previous season. His BB/9 is also at a career low of 1.48 and holding strong. His K/BB is currently at 6.14 and even though he has been lucky with a HR/F of 3.7%, but he has been unlucky with BABIP of .327. This all gives him a xFIP of 3.11 and my Mid-Season Cy Young Award.
AL Fantasy MVP- Ben Zobrist- 2B Tampa Bay Rays
OK so maybe Zobrist has been a bigger surprise than Greinke, but Greinke was a surprise and Zobrist is an utter shock. I had heard someone this season on The Fantasy Baseball Roundtable suggest Zobrist could hit 20 homers in full time ABs and I had to agree, but no one could have seen a first half on pace for 30 homers. I suspect the second half will be a slower pace and his current HR/F of 23% is to much to keep up. I'm looking forward to watching his BB% in the second half. So far he has a 16.8% walk rate and has been over 15% in Triple-A. He looks like a perennial 20 homer guy with a .400 OBP who can play 2B and SS although his defense so far has been much better at second base.
NL Fantasy Mid-Season Awards
NL Fantasy Cy Young- Dan Haren - SP Arizona Diamondbacks
Good to see my 2008 Fantasy NL Cy Young pick has backed it up again with another great followup season. the amazing part is he has been even better so far this year with an outstanding 7.93 K/BB so far by dropping his BB/9 to an amazing 1.12. The K/BB is currently the 14th greatest K/BB of all time for a single season, but even with a predicted regression in the second half to 6.38 he would still finish top 36 all time.
NL Fantasy MVP- Albert Pujols - 1B St Louis Cardinals
What else can be said about this man that hasn't already. His B% and K% are amazing at 19.4% and 12.2% respectively. Plus they get better year after year. His power has jumped so far in 2009 to a HR/F of 27%, which is better than his 2006 rate of 22.5% when he hit 49 homers. Add in 10 steals and he has almost already topped his 2007 season in value in only 85 games. His current adjusted OPS+ of 211 ranks 25 all time in a tie with Tip ONeill(1887), Babe Ruth(1930) and Frank Thomas(1994).
2 comments:
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I agree Joe Mauer could just as easily been the AL MVP, but I went with Zobrist since they both play weak offensive positions, but Zobrist can play more than one. Then he was largely undrafted so his positive value in the first half is unbelievable.
On the other hand Mauer was drafted before the surgery as a top 3-5 catcher and after the surgery later, but still much earlier than Zobrist.
My future prediction is neither of these two are my final MVP, but still strong players for the second half regardless.
I would contend that one of the 1B sluggers of Teixeira or Morneau has produced better numbers than Zobrist, but Zobrist is definitely a bigger surprise and quite an acheivement, considering he wasn't that well thought of. I think I would have to agree on Zobrist. However, were it not for his injuries, my AL MVP choice would be Joe Mauer. After coming off the DL, there's not one player who's made as much a difference as this guy. The man is hitting 12 points shy of .400 right now, and is producing the power numbers many once thought him capable of. Taking his reduced playing time into account, a healthy Mauer the rest of the season could surpass anyone else.
Your other choices simply cannot be debated, and it would not shock me if those are your Cy Young and MVP winners. Rather, it WOULD shock me if they WEREN'T! LoL