Kuzul

Every few years before the All-Star break, a slugger has a big first half and triple crown talk gives way. By August, a triple crown seems like a distant memory. The hopeful who was likely leading one or two of the three categories in June, has either slumped, been pitched around, or just simply not had the luck required to accomplish this amazing feat.

This season that was Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera, who is currently hitting .342 with 33 home runs and a major league leading 107 RBI’s, hasn’t slowed down one bit since his hot start. He is still being pitched to, still hitting for average, and still cranking the long ball that has allowed him to drive in over 100 runs before the month of September. Unfortunately for Cabrera, Toronto RF Jose Bautista has had a career year and continues to belt bombs at an alarming rate with a major league leading 42 dingers.

That’s the luck part of the equation. If Cabrera played in the National League, he would have a commanding lead in RBI’s, batting average, and would be just three jacks shy of Albert Pujols in the home run category.

Luckily for Pujols, his St. Louis Cardinals are in the NL and he doesn’t have to contend with a Bautista a Cabrera, or even a Josh Hamilton for the league lead in any such category. Enter Joey Votto.

Votto, who is currently battling the Machine for league MVP and NL Central supremacy, has become a household name in 2010 with his production at the plate. Votto is currently second in the NL in all three triple crown categories and is in striking distance of first in each one. Votto’s .325 average, 32 jacks, and 93 RBI’s are currently .001 behind the NL leader in batting and three dingers and two RBI’s behind Pujols in homers and RBI’s.

For the first time in recent memory, September rolls around with not one, but two legitimate contenders for the first triple crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1973 and the first NL triple crown winner since Joe Medwick accomplished the trifecta in 1937.

One would be likely to assume that if the triple crown is not accomplished in 2010, it will be simply because one beat out the other in the final category lacking. While this may end up being the case, another player in the National League has a say so in the race for baseball immortality. Not only does this player have a say so, he may actually acquire the whole triple crown for himself.

Who is this third contender in the race for the great triple crown you ask? Say hello to 24-year-old Carlos Gonzalez. In his first full season in the big time, Gonzalez quietly leads the NL in batting with a .326 average while belting 29 home runs and driving in 90 RBI’s for a Rockies club that is battling for the NL Wild Card.

While Cards and Reds fans are fearing that the youngster will win the batting title and prevent their hero from the triple crown, don’t count this kid out of winning the triple crown all on his own. Five RBI’s behind Pujols for the league lead and six behind Albert in homers, it isn’t inconceivable that Gonzalez has a power surge in September and gives both Votto and Pujols a serious run for their money.

With both the Cards and the Reds in a pennant race, Votto and Pujols could see less and less pitches as the season winds down leaving the door wide open for Gonzalez. While six home runs is still a sizable lead for Pujols over Gonzalez in the bombs department, Gonzalez still has 17 games remaining at the launching pad they call Coors Field.

Both Gonzalez and Pujols had their best months of the season in August setting up for a thrilling September. During the month of August, Pujols blasted 12 homers, batted .412, and drove in 24 runs. Gonzalez was not far off pace, leaving the yard nine times while batting .378 and also driving in 24 runs. Votto had a fabulous month of August as well batting .322 with 21 runs driven in, but fell off the home run pace of Pujols sending just five balls out of the park. If Pujols and Gonzalez have the type of month in September that they did in August, baseball could have an extremely intriguing final series as the Rockies visit the Cardinals in the final week of the season.

Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, and Carlos Gonzalez are in a tight race heading into the last month of the season. The Machine, the Canadian, and the youngster are all chasing a feat that hasn’t been achieved in their league in 73 years and in all honesty likely won’t be done this season. But if just one of these players can stay hot, healthy, and acquire the right amount of luck, we could maybe, just maybe, see an epic feat that many of us have never witnessed in our lifetime.

-scf

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With the 2010 Major League Baseball season nearing the final six weeks of action, it’s time to take a quick glance at 10 worthy Most Valuable Player candidates that no one is talking about.

And from Delmon Young, to Carlos Gonzales, to a handful of other overlooked stars in the majors this season, we’re going to be counting down the 10 MLB MVPs no one is talking about.

As a side note, let me mention that for “fairness reasons,” I have decided to include five players from the National League and five from the American League, breaking it down by a majority of overlooked batters and one or two under-the-radar pitchers that deserve mention in the MVP category.

So, without further ado, let’s begin…

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Winning a Triple Crown is one of the rarest feats in all of baseball. Very rarely do we even see one player contending for the average, home run, and RBI titles.

And you’re telling me that there are three contenders in the National League this year?

Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez, Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, and St. Louis’s Albert Pujols are all in the hunt for the Triple Crown. And if none of them wins the honor, it will be one of them that keeps another from winning.

All season long, these three have been hitting absurdly for average and power.

Do they even have a chance? Can it really happen for the first time since 1967?

Here is a look at each contender’s chances at the Crown.

Begin Slideshow

In the mile-high city, there is an outfielder having the best baseball season you haven’t heard about. 

His name is Carlos Gonzalez, and he has been a menace to National League pitching this season.

Gonzalez, 24, is a tall, lean lefty with a sweet swing. 

Originally from Venezuela, Gonzalez is in his second full year with the Colorado Rockies. He came to the Rockies in the Winter of 2008 when the Rockies dealt Matt Holliday to the Oakland A’s. 

Gonzalez has made A’s general manager Bill Beane regret this trade. 

In 2009, Gonzalez spent the first two months of the season dominating the Pacific Coast League for the Rockies Triple-A affiliate in Colorado Springs. 

On May 29, the Rockies fired manager Clint Hurdle and replaced him with Jim Tracy. A week later, Gonzalez got the call to the majors.

Gonzalez struggled at first, posting a .607 OPS in June. He quickly improved that to an .860 mark in July. Since August 1, 2009, he has been one of the best hitting outfielders in baseball. 

Gonzalez hit 11 home runs and batted .330 over the last two months of 2009. In the playoffs, he hit .588, homered, stole two bases and scored five runs as the Phillies defeated the Rockies in four games.   

This season, he has continued to hit at almost the same astounding level. 

Consider his numbers: 135 hits, six triples, 25 home runs, 77 RBI, 75 runs, 18 stolen bases, 239 total bases .327 BA, .355 OBP, .579 SLUG, 136 OPS+.

These numbers equate to him being second in hits, sixth in triples, fourth in home runs, third in RBI, fourth in runs, first in total bases, first in average, third in slugging, and sixth in OPS among National League hitters.

Among outfielders, his numbers demonstrate why he is now one of the finest hitters in baseball.

Gonzalez leads all NL outfielders in average, home runs and RBI—winning the outfielder batting triple crown. 

He is also first in slugging and OPS. Among all major league outfielders, he is second in home runs, tied for third in RBI, second in batting average, third in slugging, and third in OPS.

Among all outfielders, Gonzalez trails Josh Hamilton and Jose Bautista in most of those categories—two players whose fantastic seasons have drawn them plenty of notice. However, Gonzalez easily trumps Bautista in batting average (by 67 points) and speed (four more triples and fifteen more stolen bases). 

The title of, “Best Outfielder in Baseball” is a debate between Gonzalez and Hamilton.  

Since July 1, Gonzalez has staked his claim to the title by playing out of this world baseball. 

In the six weeks since that date, he has stroked 12 home runs, hit .388, posted a 1.170 OPS and swiped six bases. On July 31, Gonzalez hit for the cycle against the Chicago Cubs. He saved his best for last, smashing a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Gonzalez has also been one of the most versatile outfielders in baseball. He’s played 52 games in center field, 35 in left, and 24 in right. He’s made only one fielding error this year. 

The only thing Gonzalez doesn’t do well is take walks—he has 19 on the season.  

Despite all this success, Gonzalez has received little attention.

Gonzalez barely made a blip in the NL All-Star voting, and was not named as a reserve by the players or NL manager Charlie Manuel. He was chosen as one of the five players for the “Fans Final Vote,” but he finished third.

As previously demonstrated, Gonzalez has maybe the best all-around numbers of any outfielder this season, yet he doesn’t even get total recognition from fantasy baseball players. In Yahoo! fantasy leagues his ownership is 93 percent.   

However, ESPN’s Fantasy Player Rater ranks Gonzalez as the best player in all of baseball (for the standard fantasy categories). But, he still isn’t owned in all ESPN fantasy leagues.  

Carlos Gonzalez should be getting a lot more attention.

His statistics clearly demonstrate why he’s having one of the best offensive seasons in baseball. 

Joey Votto has had an MVP-type season for the NL Central-leading Reds, but Carlos Gonzalez should not be forgotten in the discussion about the National League’s Most Valuable Player. 

In fact, Gonzalez should be at the top of that list.

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Carlos Gonzalez is making Rockies’ fans forget all about Matt Holliday.

Ever since breaking out in last year’s playoffs, Gonzalez has been on an absolute tear.

The young outfielder is in the top ten in all National League offensive categories, and is second in Power-Speed, a statistic invented by Bill James that measures the harmonic mean between a player’s home runs and stolen bases.

And at the ripe age of 24, he’s one of baseball’s budding young stars.

But forgive me if I’m skeptical of his amazing stats.

After all, in his 85 games with Oakland, he hit just .242/.273/.361, and the Athletics saw fit to trade him in a package for Rockies star left fielder Matt Holliday.

Now, in baseball’s famous hitters’ haven of Coors Field, he’s putting up MVP-type numbers at an incredibly young age.

So I decided to take a further look at CarGo’s numbers. I hoped to prove myself wrong.

But sometimes, you don’t get what you hope.

As of Wednesday, August 4, Gonzalez has played one more home game than road. A basic look at his splits cast his whole season into doubt.

First, the home runs.

Coors Field has always been notorious for producing the long ball. So much so, that recently they began a practice of humidifying baseballs to take the sting out of the thin mountain air.

As for Gonzalez, the Rockies star hit his 22nd and 23rd home runs of the season on Wednesday. That gives him 19 at Coors Field, and just four on the road.

Put it this way.

If Gonzalez played an entire 162 game season at Coors Field, he’d hit a superhuman 64 home runs.

If he played all of his games on the road, he’d hit just 13 homers. Yikes.

He also slugs .700+ at home, but just .385 on the road.

Obviously, his power numbers are influenced by the Rocky Mountain air.

And home runs and slugging percentage aren’t the only mirages in CarGo’s stat line.

He bats more than .100 higher at home than on the road. That’s shocking for a player who is second in the National League in average.

He even strikes out twice as often on the road.

So it’s obvious that most of his numbers are a product of Coors Field.

And I thought that would be the end of my investigation. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

It turns out, the Denver air isn’t the only thing fueling Gonzalez’s super human statistics.

He’s also had a fair bit of luck to his credit. On the season, he has a BAbip of .369, almost .3 above his career average.

Even more shocking, his BAbip during the month of July is .441, a number that I had a hard time finding, as it was so high in the stratosphere. His HR/FB rates are also above his career average.

Can CarGo keep up his miracle season?

For now, the only number we can assume is real is his .995 fielding percentage.

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Ubaldo Jimenez is without a doubt the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball this season.

His 15-1 record is easily the top mark in the majors, while his 2.20 ERA is fifth best among pitchers with 10+ decisions.

His three complete games include a no-hitter versus the Atlanta Braves, which is the first ever in the Colorado Rockies’ 18-year franchise history.

“(He’s) one of the great talents, and he’s a treat to watch pitch. He’s 15-1. His record speaks for itself. I said Jimenez from the beginning, he was my pick,” National League manager Charlie Manuel said of choosing Jimenez to start over Florida’s Josh Johnson.

“I want to say it’s a huge honor just to be out there. Having the chance to share all those moments tomorrow with all the stars, just to be there, I’m honored just to be in the clubhouse,” Jimenez said of the opportunity to start the midsummer classic.

Jimenez’ selection to make the team and to start the 2010 All Star game were no-brainers, as was the case for Rockies’ star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki would have started the game if not for the broken left wrist he endured June 17. And while it’s disappointing that the young star won’t be able to play tonight, an even bigger travesty has left another young and extremely talented Colorado player off the roster.

Carlos Gonzalez, one of the three players the Rockies received in a trade for Matt Holliday following the 2008 season, is in the middle of enjoying a better season than the All Star Holliday.

Holliday is currently hitting at a .300 average, with 51 RBI and 16 HRs. Gonzalez on the other hand, has a .314 average, 60 RBI, 17 HRs with four more runs scored (56-52) and double the stolen bases Holliday has swiped (12-6). On top of all that, Gonzalez is completely comfortable on defense as he is the NL leading outfielder with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, with three assists and zero errors compared to Holliday’s .994 fielding with two errors on the season.

Carlos “CarGon” Gonzalez is a rare commodity in the MLB to be sure, as a truly legit five-tool player.

CarGon can easily smash baseballs into the Mile High night and his sweet swing allows him to hit for a solid average as well.

Once on the base paths, Gonzalez gallops gracefully with blistering speed that allows him to smartly steal bases or be used in hit-and-run situations that produce runs for the Rockies.

In the field, Gonzalez glides effortlessly towards balls hit into the expansive Coors Field outfield and his arm is surprisingly strong as well.

In fact, the argument can be made that Gonzalez is outperforming Hollidays since the 2008 trade that both were the centerpieces of. While the Rockies also gained a great closer in Huston Street and starter Greg Smith that put in some time earlier this year as a fill-in.

And while Gonzalez continues to improve while Holliday is plateauing, CarGon was left off of the All Star roster—he was straight up robbed.

Ryan Braun (.292 average, 13 HR, 54 RBI), Corey Hart (.288 AVG, 21 HR, 65 RBI) and Andre Eithier (.324, 14 HR, 54 RBI) are the three starters for the NL and Gonzalez’s numbers are comparable with Hart’s and better than the other two. CarGon’s numbers are much better than reserve OFs Michael Bourn, Marlon Byrd and quite comparable to Holliday’s and Chris Young’s production.

Still, Gonzalez didn’t make the All Star team.

It’s another instance of a stellar player from the Mile High City being overlooked in favor of others from bigger towns. Holliday lost out on the MVP when he was with the Rockies, and Tulowitzki was robbed of the Rookie of the Year as well. Despite Carmelo Anthony playing at an extremely high level the last three seasons, he was basically an afterthought for the NBA MVP.

As Denver continues to “grow up” (a funny term when reminiscing about the three professional championships and four major professional teams the city sports) in the eyes of coast-biased media outlets, more respect will come regarding our sports’ stars.

The Rockies have opened eyes as a well-run organization that grows its own stars and now competes annually for postseason play—and along with his incredible performance, Jimenez has been getting shine from all across America.

People will wake up and realize that Gonzalez is a star in the making, just as they did with Tulo, and CarGon will make his fair share of All Star games.

But that’s not much of a consolation for now, Gonzalez is meant for an All Star game, he’s flashy, exciting and plain fun to watch. The MLB could have at least let CarGon go deep a few times in the Home Run Derby—he would have done better than Nick Swisher, Holliday and some of those other chump performances.

For Gonzalez, he should use this snubbing as another motivating force and if he keeps playing at this extremely high level, we’ll all see him in the outfield in 2011.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist on bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is a contributor on NFLTouchdown.com , the CSU Rams Examiner and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner on examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com .

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There were high expectations for Carlos Gonzalez entering the 2010 season, and thus far he has lived up to them. Just look at his numbers through Tuesday if you need proof:

236 At Bats
.301 Batting Average (71 Hits)
10 Home Runs
42 RBI
41 Runs
8 Stolen Bases
.328 On Base Percentage
.496 Slugging Percentage
.349 Batting Average on Balls in Play

He’s showing realistic power (16.1 percent HR/FB), and while he’s had some luck, he certainly has the speed to maintain it. Yeah, there are things that could use improvement (i.e. his walk rate is at 3.6 percent), but overall there is very little that you can complain about.

The question is: where is his ceiling? Could he possibly be the next Matt Kemp?

Gonzalez had spent parts of 2008 and 2009 in the Major Leagues, much like Kemp spent parts of 2006 and 2007 with the Dodgers. Let’s look at what Kemp did in his first full season (2008):

.290, 18 HR, 76 RBI, 93 R, 35 SB

Clearly, Gonzalez is on pace to outperform these marks, especially in the HR and RBI.  Since then, Kemp has continued to show the speed while adding more power and RBI potential. Let’s look at the underlying statistics that have helped him get there in 2010:

Fly Ball Rate: 34.7 percent
Line Drive Rate: 21.1 percent
HR/FB: 16.7 percent
Strikeout Rate: 27.6 percent
BABIP: .324

There may be some slight anomalies in Kemp’s numbers, as his career BABIP is .357 and strikeout rate is 25.2 percent. Still, it gives you a good idea of how Gonzalez compares:

Fly Ball Rate: 33.7 percent
Line Drive Rate: 19.0 percent
HR/FB: 16.1 percent
Strikeout Rate: 22.9 percent
BABIP: .349

Kemp does walk more then Gonzalez has shown this season (8.4 percent), but Gonzalez has shown that type of ability in the past (8.8 percent over 278 AB in 2009). Outside of that, the numbers are very similar.

So, at 24 years old, to have the metrics to compare to Kemp and all ready be delivering on the promise you have to ask yourself just how much better will Gonzalez get? It’s a tough question to answer because he easily could stagnate a bit, maybe even regress a little. Still, by looking at the numbers compared to one of the players regarded as one of the top two or three outfielders, it’s hard not to get excited.

If you own him in a keeper league, it should be hard to pry him away from you. There is a realistic chance that within the next two years we are talking about a potentially top five outfielder.

What do you think? Just how good can Gonzalez be? Will he reach Kemp’s status, if not surpass it?

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW. ROTOPROFESSOR .COM

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The Colorado Rockies (25-22) faced division rival Arizona Diamondbacks (20-28) Thursday afternoon in the last game of a three-game series.

For the Rockies, everything was working Thursday as a multitude of pitchers and a barrage of batters led Colorado to a dominant 8-2 win and the team’s first sweep of the 2010 season.

Jason Hammel started the game and pitched well despite not having his best stuff. Through five innings Hammel didn’t give up a run and tallied a career-high tying eight Ks against the D-Backs.

But the sixth inning was his undoing.

With the Rockies up 3-0, Hammel walked Stephen Drew and Adam LaRoche. Mark Reynolds then singled to load the bases and Chris Young singled to score Drew. Then Hammel hit Chris Snyder to walk home Arizona’s second run of the game.

Hammel left the game after five and one third innings giving up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out eight.

After Hammel went to the dugout, Colorado’s bullpen was air tight and didn’t allow a single hit while striking out six more batters.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Rockies’ bats were cracking and created fireworks at one point.

Colorado jumped on Arizona’s ace Dan Haren early, scoring three runs in the first inning.

Carlos Gonzalez stayed hot and hit a leadoff single that he legged into a double, only to be knocked home by Ryan Spilborghs a few minutes later. Then, after a Jason Giambi strikeout, Troy Tulowitzki homered to stretch Colorado’s lead to three.

For Tulo, it was his fifth home run in seven games and he continued to grow his 11-game hitting streak.

But it was what the Rockies did after Hammel’s meltdown in the sixth that showed they were not going to lose this game.

After a Clint Barmes single in the seventh, Colorado made Coors look like the ballpark of old with big blasts. Seth Smith (8), Gonzalez (6), and Spilborghs (3) hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off of Haren, the first time the Rockies had done so since April 27, 2004.

The seventh inning fireworks secured Colorado’s 8-2 win and capped off an electrifying series against Arizona.

In a way, the game was a microcosm of the Rockies on this current win streak.

Since May 20, Colorado is 6-1 and averaging 5.4 runs per contest while only allowing 3.3 runs per.

Despite missing starter Jorge De La Rosa and closer Huston Street, the Rockies pitching has been special and led them through games.

Ubaldo Jimenez was Ubaldominent in wins eight and nine versus Houston (4-0) and Arizona Wednesday (7-3), allowing zero runs in each. Likewise, Jeff Francis was stellar in his second start versus Kansas City on May 22, going six and a third innings allowing five hits, two walks and striking out three.

And when starters come out, Colorado’s bullpen has held together lately.

In the last seven games Matt Belisle has pitched on four occasions for a combined four innings, allowing two hits and sitting down seven on strikes. Similarly, Joe Beimel has been throwing well as his ERA has dropped to 0.52 and Manuel Corpas is up to four saves in relief of the ailing Street.

And while pitching has been hot, the Rox’ bats have been hotter.

Tulo“hit”zki’s 11-game hitting streak has ballooned his average to .314, just edging out Gonzalez (.313) for the team lead. Tulo also leads the team in runs (34), hits (54), and doubles (15) as he’s leading by example as the Rockies’ biggest current star.

Colorado’s fifth outfielder, Seth Smith, had three homers in the Rockies’ last two games even though he’s been sick with the flu, and their sixth outfielder Spilborghs went 3-4 with a double and a home run as he was the player of the game Thursday.

So, everything is coming together for the Rockies, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time. After sweeping Arizona, Colorado plays Los Angeles (26-21) for three games at home starting Friday, then flies to San Francisco (24-22) Monday as Tim Lincecum and Jimenez get set to see who is the best pitcher in the NL. The Rockies finish this 12-game divisional stretch with three games (June 4-6) in Arizona against the Diamondbacks.

So as they sit now, the Rockies are third in the NL West and three and a half games back of West leader San Diego and one back of LA. Come Monday, if Colorado can continue playing these winning ways, they could be sitting solely in second place at the one-third point of the season.

The Rockies have already battled tough through injuries and slumping bats for most of the season. Now they are hitting their stride as a run to the playoffs for the third time in four years seems possible if not probable at this point.

In the grueling 162-game MLB season there’s still lots of baseball to be played, but Colorado is starting to look like a contender as we approach Memorial Day.

So Denver, get out and support your Rockies—especially when Ubaldo “Cy Young” Jimenez is out on the mound (he only had around 25,000 fans on Wednesday)—because your Rockies are a special baseball team.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and freelance sports journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist here on B/R, Kurtzman is the Denver Broncos FC for NFLTouchdown.com, the CSU Rams Examiner for examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Regional Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com.

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