An update on the Canadians
by
, 05-06-2010 at 07:22 PM (3899 Views)
How are the Canadian baseball players doing so far in the 2010 season? Let's examine.
Joey Votto
(Toronto, ON)
Votto is enjoying his usual decent season as the mainstay in the Reds lineup. He has played in all 28 of the team's games to this point and his numbers are right in line with what they've been for his first two seasons. Votto checks in at .303 with 5 home runs and 15 RBI, but the big surprise is his ability on the base paths: 4 steals already, are you serious!
Matt Stairs
(Saint John, NB)
At 42 years old, Big Matty is a shadow of his former self. There's no denying that. As the power pinch-hitting threat off the Padres bench, Stairs has yet to hit a home run this season. But his moment of glory will surely come soon. Stairs checks in at .167 with 4 RBI.
Justin Morneau
(New Westminster, BC)
The Minnesota Twins have been on fire to start the season and a big reason why has been the hitting of Morneau. The former league MVP has been a monster this year. He is beasting it up at .354 with 6 home runs and 19 RBI already and has significantly more walks than strikeouts. Pitchers fear him.
Russell Jeanson Martin
(East York, ON)
Jeanson has been a bum this season. Not only has the pitching staff completely stunk up the joint when he's catching (also to blame is the fact that the Dodgers pitchers are more than underwhelming), Martin cannot hit anymore and he has been shuffled up and down the batting order all season. Martin checks in with a .250 batting average and only 2 home runs and 5 RBI. For the entire season.
George Kottaras
(Scarborough, ON)
As the backup catcher for the Brewers, Kottaras doesn't see much game action. He has only had 28 at-bats this year, but has better numbers than Jeanson Martin. Kottaras checks in at .250 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. Eat that, Jeanson.
Rich Harden
(Victoria, BC)
Rich Harden is a turd. If you want a pitcher who will give up more walks than strikeouts and pitch fewer than 5 innings every other start, Harden is your guy. He is allowing 1.5 baserunners per inning this year, and that number was much higher if it weren't for his last start which was against the offensively-inept Oakland A's which allowed Harden to temporarily correct his numbers. But don't be fooled. Harden is wild.
Ryan Dempster
(Gibsons, BC)
Dumpster is the true ace of the Cubs rotation. You can pencil in 200+ innings for him easily. R-Demp is off to another solid start this year as he checks in with a 2.95 ERA and 39 strikeouts against only 11 walks. His won-loss record is only 2-2, but he could have rightfully won his last two starts but the offense failed to show up for him. Those were games against the Natinals and the Pirates. What gives, Cubs offense?
Jason Bay
(Trail, BC)
Big Bay-bee has been a bust this season. Without question. 28 games in to the season, he is hitting a sturdy .238 with only 1 home run and 9 RBI. But let's not pretend that we're all that shocked. He's playing for the Mets, after all. One's expectations can only be so high when it comes to the Mets.
Jesse Crain
(Toronto, ON)
A relief pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, Crain is trying to do his part to help fill in for the injured Joe Nathan. So far in 12 relief appearances, Crain has a 5.27 ERA. But on the bright side, all of the runs he has allowed have come in three games. So he has been able to limit the damage.
Erik Bedard
(Navan, ON)
[insert picture of Erik Bedard here]
Bedard is still hurt. What a shock. At this point, I would not be surprised if Mark Prior comes back before Bedard does. Yeesh.
Blake Hawksworth
(North Vancouver, BC)
As a relief pitcher for the Cardinals, Hawksworth has been up-and-down. His ERA is a pristine 2.61, but he allows a ton of baserunners and the runners that he inherits seem to score at too-high of a rate. They don't affect his ERA, but his teammates' ERAs, and Hawksworth should partly be blamed for that. He needs to return to his 2009 level when he was a rookie and put up a 2.03 ERA in 40 innings. The Cardinals need him to be excellent.