Hamilton: Texas Ranger
Biking for Baseball is headed south to Arlington to catch the defending 2-time AL Champion Texas Rangers take on the Seattle Mariners. The red hot Rangers lead the majors with 276 runs, 73 home runs, .289 batting average, and an .824 OPS. The offensive juggernaut scores runs like crazy and has All-Stars across the diamond.
Adrian Beltre is batting .319 with 9 homers and plays great defense at the hot corner. Nelson Cruz is a feared power hitter who hit 2 home runs and had 10 RBI last series against the Blue Jays. Ian Kinsler is 2nd baseman that actually hits; he has an OPS+ of 115 so far this season and 7.1 WAR last season. Elvis Andrus is a SS that hits .302 with .385 OBP. Mike Napoli is a catcher who already has 7 homers. Michael Young is what is known as a professional hitter.
The crazy thing about the Ranger’s line up is these guys are pedestrian compared to their most feared hitter. Josh Hamilton already has 20 homers and 53 RBI this season. That is two more home runs than the San Diego Padres! He’s batting .379 and has an OPS+ of 211. His numbers are insane. He was MVP 2 season’s ago, and he is on pace to completely shatter his numbers from that season.
In 48 games so far this season, he’s accumulated a 3.7 WAR. Over 162 games, that’s 12.5 WAR. To put that in perspective, the highest single season WAR was 12.2 by a performance enhanced Barry Bonds in 2001. Crazy!
He needs a lot to go his way this season to stay on his current pace. Matt Kemp knows how much a little injury can hamper a very promising season. Regardless, B4B is looking forward to watching Hamilton and the Rangers in person on Wednesday at the Ballpark in Arlington.