First half surprises

As the All-Star Game approaches, I decided to revisit The Hardball Times win shares above bench (essentially win shares minus loss shares) to see who was tops at each position, and how much better they were than the No. 2 player. Here is the list:

AL

C: Victor Martinez (11) +4 over Joe Mauer
1B: Carlos Pena (9) +1 over Kevin Youkilis
2B: B.J. Upton (8) +1 over Brian Roberts
SS: Orlando Cabrera (10) +1 over Derek Jeter
3B: Alex Rodriguez (11) +7 over four others
OF: Ichiro Suzuki (14) +1 over Magglio Ordonez, Vladimir Guerrero
DH: David Ortiz (9) +1 over Gary Sheffield

NL

C: Russell Martin (9) +6 over Brian McCann, Chris Snyder
1B: Albert Pujols (9) +1 over Adrian Gonzalez, Dmitri Young, Prince Fielder
2B: Chase Utley (11) +5 over Dan Uggla, Orlando Hudson
SS: Jose Reyes (9) +1 over Edgar Renteria
3B: Miguel Cabrera (10) +2 over David Wright
OF: Eric Byrnes (10) +2 over Aaron Rowand, Barry Bonds, Corey Hart

This list produced several surprises, I think. Three are in the AL: Pena, Upton and Suzuki. Pena, a flop in Detroit, has found himself in Tampa Bay. He is batting .283/.387/.613. He has 19 HR, 42 R and 47 RBI in 68 games. In 2005, Pena struck out 95 times and walked 31 times in 295 plate appearances. This season, in 254 PA, he has just 62 whiffs and 34 BB.

Upton has missed time on the DL, but he’s .320/.396/.545. He has 9 HR, 36 R and 31 RBI in 56 games. He is 13 of 18 in SB. Suzuki, with the best WSAB in MLB, is batting .369/.424/.471. He has 5 HR, 57 R and 39 RBI in 80 games. He is 23 of 25 in SB. Because he plays in Seattle, he doesn’t get nearly the recognition he should – right now he’s the MVP based on these numbers.

I’d label Martinez a mild surprise, only for his WSAB dominance over the rest of a deep catcher position in the AL.

In the NL, Russell Martin might not be a household name, and as another West Coast player he will have difficulty in that regard, but he’s been a standout. Martin is batting .306/.371/.483. He has 9 HR, 47 R and 55 RBI in 80 games. He’s 16 of 19 in SB. He’s also throwing out 31% of opposing baserunners.

The outfield in the NL is filled with surprise names, starting with Byrnes. He is batting .314/.367/.504. He has 13 HR, 52 R and 46 RBI in 85 games. He is 15 of 20 in SB. He also has 8 assists. Rowand is .309/.385/.472 with 11 HR, 50 R and 43 RBI in 84 games. He is 5 of 6 in SB. He has 9 assists. Hart is batting .313/.384/.529. He has 11 HR, 41 R and 33 RBI in 67 games. He is 16 of 19 in SB.

Byrnes, Rowand and Hart all are batting between .340-.350 on balls in play, which is above the expected figure of somewhere between .295-.310 for most players. Byrnes, though, is owed it – his BABIP was .238 with Colorado and .221 with Baltimore in 2005. Suzuki’s BABIP is .400 this year, but that’s not completely unusual for him. His BABIP was .401 in 2004 and .350 in 2006. Upton’s BABIP this year is .447, which would suggest he could see his .320 BA drop in the future. He hit .258 in 2004 (.339 BABIP) and .246 in 2006 (.313 BABIP).