June Booms and Busts

It's July 1st and a bit over the halfway mark in the season--time to see who was hot and who wasn't in the month of June. There's a feature I recently came across in an obscure section of Baseball-Reference that allows one to cut up the season in almost any way possible--it may not be available to non-paying users (it's only $36), but it's worth checking out. If you want to locate it yourself, click:

Seasons>2013 MLB>Other >Last N Days Leaders. 

It's temperamental and many of the buttons have to be clicked repeatedly to get them to work, suggesting it's a beta, but it allows for comparisons that can't easily be made otherwise.

TEAMS

Oddly enough, NO teams were that hot in June--the best was Toronto who went 16-10 for the month, and that included an 11-game winning streak. The White Sox are easily the leaders in futility, going 8-19, but the Giants gave them a run for their money with a 10-17 record. At least the Giants are only 3 games back in the NL West--the Sox have yet to play a SINGLE GAME against the AL Central-leading Tigers. It's gonna be a GREAT summer, Chicago.

BATTING

I saw a tweet from SB Nation regarding Chris Davis and the season he's having--here's the list of players to hit 30 or more homers by game 82 (SB's definition):

Player	Year	G	HR ▾	HRtot	Diff	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Barry Bonds	2001	81	39	73	-34	355	259	66	79	18	0	73	88	55	.305	.487	.826	1.314
Mark McGwire	1998	80	37	70	-33	362	268	70	83	12	0	87	88	78	.310	.483	.769	1.252
Mark McGwire	1987	80	33	49	-16	334	289	59	85	10	3	68	39	68	.294	.383	.692	1.075
Babe Ruth	1930	73	32	49	-17	337	252	94	94	15	3	84	75	32	.373	.517	.837	1.354
Babe Ruth	1928	78	32	54	-22	348	272	85	87	13	6	75	71	54	.320	.465	.765	1.230
Babe Ruth	1921	78	32	59	-27	354	275	85	102	22	7	82	77	44	.371	.510	.851	1.361
Chris Davis	2013	82	31	31	0	342	298	60	99	25	0	80	35	91	.332	.406	.728	1.135
Jose Canseco	1999	82	31	34	-3	364	315	63	87	14	1	69	41	97	.276	.360	.622	.982
Mark McGwire	2000	70	30	32	-2	302	221	58	67	8	0	69	75	74	.303	.483	.747	1.230
Jim Thome	2006	82	30	42	-12	355	289	69	86	12	0	77	56	89	.298	.414	.651	1.065
Barry Bonds	2003	80	30	45	-15	349	256	68	81	11	1	63	84	39	.316	.496	.719	1.214
Willie Stargell	1971	76	30	48	-18	323	281	56	90	18	0	87	35	83	.320	.396	.705	1.101
Harmon Killebrew	1964	76	30	49	-19	327	275	53	79	4	0	64	47	62	.287	.391	.629	1.021
Brady Anderson	1996	79	30	50	-20	372	307	65	91	21	3	62	46	51	.296	.404	.678	1.081
Jimmie Foxx	1932	80	30	58	-28	356	299	82	112	14	7	93	57	50	.375	.475	.769	1.244

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/1/2013.

Pretty small, and VERY IMPRESSIVE list. The interesting part of this chart is how many home runs these players finished the season with.  The outliers are Jose Canseco in 1999 and Mark McGwire, who started out 2000 hot and ended it up injured.

Here are the average leaders for the month of June (minimum 50 PA):

	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA ▾	OBP	SLG	OPS
Everth Cabrera	San Diego	15	68	61	8	28	4	0	0	4	6	9	12	2	.459	.507	.525	1.032
Yasiel Puig	Los Angeles	26	107	101	19	44	5	1	7	16	4	20	4	1	.436	.467	.713	1.180
Jason Kipnis	Cleveland	27	118	93	17	39	12	1	4	25	20	22	9	1	.419	.517	.699	1.216
Jose Iglesias	Boston	25	95	86	17	34	4	2	1	6	8	9	2	1	.395	.453	.523	.976
Miguel Cabrera	Detroit	27	120	98	20	37	5	0	9	21	20	22	1	0	.378	.492	.704	1.196
Hanley Ramirez	Los Angeles	22	70	64	13	24	4	0	5	17	5	8	3	0	.375	.414	.672	1.086
Buster Posey	San Francisco	25	108	99	11	37	11	0	5	17	8	9	0	0	.374	.426	.636	1.062
Mike Carp	Boston	16	58	49	13	18	3	0	5	12	8	16	0	0	.367	.448	.735	1.183
Carlos Quentin	San Diego	20	82	71	11	26	3	0	4	8	8	12	0	0	.366	.451	.577	1.029
Jacoby Ellsbury	Boston	23	113	100	21	36	8	2	0	9	9	12	11	1	.360	.414	.480	.894

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2013.

Everth Cabrera is on the DL but should be coming off it very soon (he appears to be eligible to return July 2nd), and he was clearly having an outstanding month prior to that. Yasiel Puig will have to cool down sometime, RIGHT? The Dodgers were 14-11 even with Puig having one of the best starts ever in baseball, which says all that needs to be said about the 2013 Dodgers. Jason Kipnis is starting to show flashes of power to go along with a good bat and really good fielding and could be the best up-and-coming second baseman--I know White Sox broadcaster Steve Stone thinks very highly of him. Just off this list is Rickie Weeks, who was having a horrendous year and might have turned it around with a strong June--he had been the second-worst player by WAR in the majors at one point very recently.

Here are the home run leaders

	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR ▾	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Chris Davis	Baltimore	28	116	107	19	31	7	0	12	30	6	41	0	0	.290	.336	.692	1.028
Pedro Alvarez	Pittsburgh	26	108	97	15	30	6	0	10	24	10	35	0	0	.309	.380	.680	1.060
Jay Bruce	Cincinnati	27	118	109	15	32	6	0	10	21	7	31	2	0	.294	.331	.624	.954
Raul Ibanez	Seattle	27	115	107	13	28	2	1	10	22	8	30	0	0	.262	.313	.579	.892
Miguel Cabrera	Detroit	27	120	98	20	37	5	0	9	21	20	22	1	0	.378	.492	.704	1.196
Ian Desmond	Washington	26	108	98	16	30	5	0	9	28	6	24	3	1	.306	.355	.633	.988
Adam Dunn	Chicago	27	117	95	17	26	3	0	9	24	21	26	0	0	.274	.402	.589	.991
Carlos Gonzalez	Colorado	27	120	113	19	31	7	4	9	26	7	36	3	1	.274	.317	.646	.963
Edwin Encarnacion	Toronto	26	115	101	22	28	7	0	8	20	13	8	1	0	.277	.365	.584	.949
Evan Longoria	Tampa Bay	26	108	91	15	25	4	1	8	16	15	26	0	0	.275	.370	.604	.975

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2013.

Look at Adam Dunn hitting like it's 2010 again--he'll still have a horrible batting average after his abysmal start and it's too late for the Sox anyway, but if he can keep hitting like that, he might be able to get close to his career .250, and if he can do that, he has value. I suggested some time last week that the Pirates might be interested in replacing Pedro Alvarez, and I'll guess that discussion goes nowhere for now. Even with Chris Davis hitting home runs by the bucketload, Miguel Cabrera still has a chance at the Triple Crown. In this day and age, doing it once is miraculous, doing it in consecutive years would be on a par with, well, I really don't know. Anytime something that has never occurred in baseball history is possible, that's momentous.

Who didn't have a very good June--these are the worst by OPS to combine power with hitting:

	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS ▴
Vernon Wells	New York	23	77	75	4	10	1	0	0	7	1	17	0	1	.133	.143	.147	.290
Yuniesky Betancourt	Milwaukee	21	63	61	4	7	2	1	0	4	2	14	0	0	.115	.143	.180	.323
David Adams	New York	16	56	48	1	6	0	0	0	4	7	17	0	0	.125	.236	.125	.361
Kelly Johnson	Tampa Bay	20	80	69	4	8	1	0	1	5	8	21	1	0	.116	.225	.174	.399
Emilio Bonifacio	Toronto	22	67	64	9	11	3	0	0	2	3	13	6	1	.172	.209	.219	.428
Nick Punto	Los Angeles	22	73	70	6	13	3	0	0	2	2	10	1	1	.186	.208	.229	.437
Brendan Ryan	Seattle	23	83	76	6	13	3	0	0	4	6	21	1	1	.171	.232	.211	.442
Starlin Castro	Chicago	26	113	108	11	18	6	0	1	5	3	24	4	1	.167	.204	.250	.454
Pedro Florimon	Minnesota	22	83	75	4	13	2	0	1	7	5	21	1	1	.173	.220	.240	.460
Derek Norris	Oakland	17	53	50	2	8	2	0	1	5	3	11	0	0	.160	.208	.260	.468

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2013.

Vernon Wells, a symbol of the last gasp of a free-spending era in baseball that appears to be coming to an end. I don't mean that teams won't still shell out big money for superstars, but the day of paying 8-digit salaries to players on the way down is coming to an end. When your first baseman is Yuniesky Betancourt, it's time to look for a new first baseman--and to think, the Brewers cut Alex Gonzalez because he wasn't performing. How could they tell? Starlin Castro, ahhhhhhh, Starlin Castro, signed for $69 million through 2020. That's okay, they don't need his hitting when he fields the way he does...wait, he's tied with Alexei Ramirez for the league lead in shortstop errors with 14. No, it's the POWER hitting, with...darn, one home run and 5 RBI in a month. He's still so young that his future isn't written in stone, but there's a very real possibility that his future could be summed up in one two-LETTER word:

Oy.

 

PITCHING
I'll begin with ERA, minimum 5 starts:

	Tm	G	GS	W	L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA ▴	WHIP
Jeff Locke	Pittsburgh	5	5	2		32.2	17	6	6	15	25	1	1.65	0.980
Jose Fernandez	Miami	5	5	2	1	32.1	19	7	6	11	32	0	1.67	0.928
Bartolo Colon	Oakland	5	5	5		36.1	32	7	7	9	19	1	1.73	1.128
Jeremy Hefner	New York	5	5	1	1	30.1	33	15	6	5	23	2	1.78	1.253
Julio Teheran	Atlanta	5	5	3	2	32.1	26	7	7	4	37	3	1.95	0.928
Ervin Santana	Kansas City	6	6	2		40.2	27	12	9	11	32	2	1.99	0.934
Jarrod Parker	Oakland	6	6	3		39.2	22	10	9	9	26	4	2.04	0.782
Jordan Zimmermann	Washington	5	5	3		35.0	23	11	8	7	31	2	2.06	0.857
Tyler Chatwood	Colorado	4	4	1	1	21.1	19	5	5	9	11	0	2.11	1.313
Jacob Turner	Miami	5	5	1		34.0	28	9	8	11	24	1	2.12	1.147
Kris Medlen	Atlanta	5	5	4	1	34.0	34	11	8	2	28	2	2.12	1.059
Francisco Liriano	Pittsburgh	6	6	4	2	38.0	33	9	9	15	39	2	2.13	1.263

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2013.

Kansas City's so-so season isn't due to pitching, but I wonder what happens if teams call about Ervin Santana--he's a free agent after this year and I have no clue if the Royals have any interest in signing him. Bartolo Colon manages to defy age SOMEHOW, and it's good to see Jordan Zimmermann begin to come around, but the Nationals issue hasn't been pitching as much as an overall sense of malaise. And look who's lurking at the bottom of the list--Francisco Liriano, all potential and little promise after 2006--if he keeps producing, the Pirates will be for real.

Who wasn't so good in June, also measured by ERA, 5 starts minimum:

Rk		Tm	G	GS	W	L	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA ▾	WHIP	BAbip	SO/9	SO/BB
35	Trevor Cahill	Arizona	6	6		5	24.2	39	27	27	13	21	6	9.85	2.108	.402	7.7	1.62
42	Justin Grimm	Texas	5	5	2	2	25.2	31	25	25	11	18	6	8.77	1.636	.325	6.3	1.64
46	Matt Moore	Tampa Bay	5	5	2	3	24.2	34	24	23	20	26	1	8.39	2.189	.418	9.5	1.30
61	Jon Lester	Boston	5	5	2	2	28.2	38	24	24	15	23	8	7.53	1.849	.353	7.2	1.53
72	Ian Kennedy	Arizona	5	5	1	1	27.2	29	21	21	10	27	7	6.83	1.410	.289	8.8	2.70
73	Tom Koehler	Miami	5	5	1	2	27.2	28	22	21	12	13	5	6.83	1.446	.264	4.2	1.08
80	P.J. Walters	Minnesota	5	5		4	22.2	29	21	17	13	12	4	6.75	1.853	.325	4.8	0.92
86	Juan Nicasio	Colorado	5	5		2	25.0	32	21	18	8	19	2	6.48	1.600	.349	6.8	2.38
95	Edinson Volquez	San Diego	6	6	2	1	31.0	38	24	21	17	38	2	6.10	1.774	.414	11.0	2.24
104	Barry Zito	San Francisco	5	5		3	29.0	40	19	19	11	20	3	5.90	1.759	.381	6.2	1.82

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2013.

I'm not sure what it says about the NL West that Trevor Cahill could go 0-5 and the Diamondbacks are still 2 games up on the Rockies--probably that there's a whole bunch of mediocrity lurking west of the Rockies (literally AND figuratively). Ian Kennedy makes the list as well, and much as people consider Zack Greinke the instigator of the ugly brawl that occurred on June 11th, to date Greinke has hit four batters--Kennedy led the majors in HBP with 14 in 2012 and leads the NL this year with 9. But as long as there's bad pitching in the rest of the NL West, that race will go down to the wire.

Here are the closers:

	Tm	G	W	L	SV ▾	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
Jim Johnson	Baltimore	14		1	11	13.0	9	3	3	5	9	2.08	1.077
Joe Nathan	Texas	14			11	14.2	6	1	1	3	15	0.61	0.614
Steve Cishek	Miami	13	1		9	12.0	5	1	1	1	12	0.75	0.500
Ernesto Frieri	Los Angeles	14			9	13.0	9	4	4	3	19	2.77	0.923
Greg Holland	Kansas City	13	1		9	13.0	5	2	2	3	24	1.38	0.615
Glen Perkins	Minnesota	11			9	11.0	4	0	0	1	12	0.00	0.455
Grant Balfour	Oakland	11		1	7	9.2	8	3	3	1	8	2.79	0.931
Aroldis Chapman	Cincinnati	11		1	7	10.0	6	3	3	7	16	2.70	1.300
Kevin Gregg	Chicago	13	1	1	7	13.2	11	4	4	2	14	2.63	0.951
Craig Kimbrel	Atlanta	10	1		7	10.0	7	0	0	5	13	0.00	1.200
Mariano Rivera	New York	10	1		7	9.0	11	1	1	4	10	1.00	1.667
Jose Veras	Houston	11			7	11.0	8	2	2	4	12	1.64	1.091

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/1/2013.

What's more useless than a closer on a terrible team? Makes me wonder if there's interest in Steve Cishek. Same about Glen Perkins since I have a hard time seeing the Twins being competitive anytime soon. Other than a brief stretch about a month or so ago, Craig Kimbrel has been lights-out, and I can see another team in Jose Veras's future as well.

It's brutally unfair to view players in small sections like this, but it's still interesting to see who manages to turn bad starts around (Weeks, Dunn), head in the wrong direction (Jon Lester) or just catch your fancy in ways both good (Puig) and bad (Castro).