In a relatively new marketing venture (but not unique by any means) the Marlins are pushing the players they feel are most merited for all-star consideration on their roster: Hanley Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Jorge Cantu and Cody Ross. Only Hanley (currently 2nd among NL SS) has a legitimate chance to win the fan vote and start, but Uggla and Cantu should be all-stars.
Uggla is having a renaissance of sorts as he has combined his prodigious power stroke - he is tied for 3rd in the NL with 12 homers - with his patient approach we saw unveiled in 2009 (.370 OBP). Among NL second-baseman, Uggla is second in OBP, second in slugging, third in OPS, 1st in homers and 1st in RBI. It's also worth noting that the player Uggla trails in most of those categories is not Chase Utley but instead Arizona's Kelly Johnson.
Cantu started the year with an historic RBi streak and has continued being a primary run producer for the Marlins. While the RBI stat is one part skill and two parts luck, it is not entirely meaningless, and leading the league in RBI - as Cantu currently is doing - is far from a mere footnote. For Cantu, the only incredibly strong selling point is his RBI production, he's middle of the pack among NL thirdbasemen in other categories, so perhaps his all-star candidacy will offer a referendum on the perceived value of RBI.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment