This Month in RLB

This Month in RLB July 1992

Interleague Update *as of 8/3

AL Awards

Rookie of the Month 3B Jabari Hunter – Seattle Mariners: .352/.402/.648, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 20 R Pitcher of the Month

SP Kyle Eldridge – Seattle Mariners: 5-0, 0.99 ERA, .173 BAA

Batter of the Month

3B Jabari Hunter – Seattle Mariners: .352/.402/.648, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 20 R

NL Awards

Rookie of the Month

1B Richard Lascano – St. Louis: .321/.363/.698, 9 HR, 27 RBI, 19 R

Pitcher of the Month

SP Frank Enz – St. Louis: 4-0, 2.09 ERA, .178 BAA

Batter of the Month

LF Ivano Mavrin – Colorado: .337/.429/.716, 9 HR, 25 RBI, 27 R

Who’s Hot:

St. Louis Cardinals

The Redbirds went into July 4 games below .500 with a 37-41 record, but after an impressive 19-8 record this month, they are now 56-49 and in position for the second Wild Card spot in the National League. Their offense is young and led by All-Stars Andy Keeran, Guy Sampsell, who both have 4+ WAR this season, and July’s Rookie of the Month Richard Lascano. They are 5th in the NL in Batting Average and 6th in Runs. Their pitching has been as impressive ranking 3rd in the NL in ERA, 5th in strikeouts, and 6th in BAA. Their staff is led by Pitcher of the Month Frank Enz and Paul Fries. They are currently 3rd in the tough NL Central and 11 games back of the division leading Pittsburgh Pirates.

Washington Senators

July was the second consecutive month where the Senators had posted a .600 W% after a dreadful 9-18 May. They have now put themselves over .500 for the first time since April 21st. Expectations are low for the Senators, but they have a great chance of exceeding the expansion Colorado Rockies’s 1977 record of 80-82. Their offense is ranked 4th in Batting WAR, 5th in wOBA and 4th in HR led by All-Star Jeremy Harris and teammates Curt Parlow and Frank Marnement. A pitching staff anchored by James Babcock that ranks 4th in Bullpen ERA, 5th in Runs Allowed, 4th in Hits Allowed, 4th in Opponents Batting Average, and 1st in BABIP. They also have best defense efficiency in the AL and are 6th in ZR. They also had the #1 pick in the draft and selected Mike Haver who is already at the AAA level and may see some playing time this season as the Senators look to cause havoc in the tough AL East.

Jabari Hunter

The former 1st overall pick of the 1988 draft is finally in the majors after consistently ranking in the top 5 prospects of baseball since 1988, ending at his highest level of #1 in April of this season. Since being called up to the Mariners in late May, Hunter has gone on to prove that he belongs even making a trip to the All-Star Game despite not playing the first 40 games of the season. He took away Rookie of the Month and Batter of the Month honors in July. He is currently batting .312/.382/.628 with 16 HR and 55 RBI and 3.5 WAR in only 58 games played this season. Hunter has proved to be the most exciting thing to come out of Seattle since John Bar and is helping the Mariners make a push for their first postseason in franchise history as they are currently in 2nd place in the AL West and 5 ½ back in the division and Wild Card. Hunter joins a talented young squad that could see dominance in the West for the foreseeable future.

Who’s Not:

Los Angeles Dodgers

It’s been a rough season for the Dodgers in 1992, they currently have the worst record in the National League and sit 32 games back of the Colorado Rockies. They went 7-18 in the month of July, their worst W% by month so far this season. Their offense ranks dead last in most offensive categories and near the bottom in the pitching. Despite getting the best performance out of Greg Mack in his 7-year career and a stellar year from All-Star Shane Justice, their team lacks any real threats outside Justice. They will soon change as the Dodgers do possess the best farm system in RLB with 7 prospects ranked in the Top 100 and 6 of those in the Top 50. Many of these prospects are estimated to be arriving later this season or next season. The Dodgers have not been to the playoffs since 1960, nor have they had a season above .500 since 1969, the longest streak in RLB. The NL West has proved to be a tough division for the majority of the 1980s to today with 3 teams battling for supremacy as the Dodgers had the basement locked down.

Josh Simon

The Angels headed into August still in 1st place in the AL West by 5 ½ games, but the month of July was a month to forget as the team went 7-18 and gave up a 10-game lead in the division. The Angels are still projected to win the AL West, but with a rejuvenated Seattle Mariners, that road to their 14th AL West division title in 16 years may become more difficult. A large part of the reason they struggled this month was due to their lackluster offense as Josh Simon batted .152/.233/.152 with 0 HR and 1 RBI in 66 at-bats in 24 games in July. Never valued for his offensive output, Simon entered the month batting .272 and July knocked 42 points off his average. Simon is still a valuable defensive player to the Angels.

Guy Behm

The Minnesota Twins have the worst record in baseball this season. Their bullpen ERA of 6.30 ranks dead last in the AL. In the month of July, RP Guy Behm pitched 7.1 innings in 7 games posting a 0-3 record, while recording a blown save and two holds. But in this time, he gave up 9 earned runs and posted an 11.05 ERA and a 5.52 FIP. Going into July, Behm had a 5.84 ERA and a respectable 3.01 FIP, those numbers have now ballooned up to 7.78 ERA and a 4.09 FIP at the end of July.

Milestones/Other Notes:

· Shane Justice (LAD) – Hit for the Cycle on 7/3

· Matt Bartolozzi (PIT) – Hit his 300th Home Run on 7/5

· Phil Krueger (CAL) – Hit his 500th Home Run on 7/7