Famous Baseball Players

Seattle Mariners best hitter

There isn’t much dispute or debate as to whom the best hitter in Seattle is. Ichiro Suzuki has been not only the best hitter in Seattle; he has been a Hall of Famer in his 10 years in Major League Baseball. Ichiro has led the league in hits 7 of his 10 seasons, and owns the Major League record for hits in a season with 262. He also has 2 batting titles to his credit. These are Amazing accomplishments for a player that spent the majority of his career playing in Japan.

Ichiro is supported by a rag tag group of castoffs and underachievers in 2011. Chone Figgins, the team’s 3rd baseman batted a measly .259 in 2010 after peaking with a .330 average in 2007. Chone’s on base percentage of .340 was still respectable, but he took many at bats with him to the field in 2010 and his defense and base running suffered as well.

Cast off Shortstop Brendan Ryan looks to get some playing time at second base and shortstop. Jack Wilson and Brendan Ryan make a phenomenal double play combo if Ryan can play regularly at second, and the Mariners will need the tandem to compensate for their lack of offensive production with gold glove caliber defense. Ryan is only a year removed from batting .299. If he can return to that form

Read more »

The Rays are under a change this year. Gone are mainstays of the past years success including Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford from a lineup that that was feared in the dreaded Al East. Don’t take this as a crippling blow for the Rays though. The Rays were prepared for this departure and made moves to fill the holes. The way this was accomplished was by adding Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon.

The facts are though that those players are just support for the best hitter on the Rays. That hitter is Evan Longoria. Evan Longoria is not only considered the best hitter on the Rays but also the most dangerous 3rd Basemen in the league. Evan is being drafted at the average spot of 4.9 in ESPN fantasy drafts. Any player that goes that high is considered one of the best hitters in the game.

Last year Evan Longoria had a down year for his standards. Many of the factors that came in where because of bad luck. He had a low percentage of fly balls ended up being home runs. He still ended up with 22 Hrs and 104 RBI’s with a .295 batting average.

This being only his 3rd year you can expect to see his numbers make a large jump across the board. This will put him in contention to compete in all three categories for the triple crown. If Evan Longoria does keep himself healthy to play in 150+ games he will also

Read more »

Who is the best hitter on the Baltimore Orioles?

It’s really hard to fall in love with any of the O’s hitters. None of them standout as the clear-cut favorite. Mark Reynolds at first seems like their top hitter–until you take a look at his 2010 batting average (.198). Brian Roberts and Vladmir Guerrero are both one bad sneeze away from an extended DL stint. Adam Jones is young, only 25, has speed, but still lacks any star power. When in doubt, go with the player who performs well in a majority of categories, which is Mark Reynolds.

How does Reynolds compare to the other Baltimore hitters?

He’s better or at least competitive with the rest of the team in Runs, Home Runs, RBIs, and Stolen Bases. As mentioned previously, he’s just absolutely terrible in batting average. This season he likely won’t change, and will once again be near the bottom of the active players in terms of batting average. But what lacks in consistent contact with the ball, he makes up for in being a productive member of his team’s offense.

Will Reynolds compete for the home run title?

A high strikeout rate doesn‘t always indicate an elite home run hitter. He’s good for around 30 home runs each season, but anything more than that is a bonus. He shouldn’t be winning any home run titles soon.

Will Reynolds compete for the batting average title?

He will never win a batting average title, ever. There are three things certain in life: death, taxes, and a Reynolds’s swing-and-a-miss.

Read more »

At the time this article was written, Neftali Feliz was scheduled to make another spring training start. The same Feliz that set the rookie record for saves in a season. The same Feliz that bedazzled hitters and in the 2010 playoffs looked like a younger, less smiley Mariano Rivera against Rivera’s Yankees squad.

The loss of Cliff Lee to the Phillies sent the Rangers into a tail spin and caused them to overreact in their pursuits of Adrian Beltre and Mike Napoli, among other DH types. By the end of the off-season, they had not secured a number 1 starter; they’d alienated their team leader, and had not secured a comparable bat to replace outgoing DH Vladimir Guerrero. They did manage to open a gaping hole in their bullpen by tinkering with moving Feliz or Alexi Ogando to the starting rotation.

With the addition of Beltre (after his second good year, both walk years) they have added, at minimum, one of the premier gloves in the game. Michael Young has moved to another position again, and he’s only valuable now in the DH slot.

They would’ve been better served signing Rafael Soriano to replace Feliz in the closer’s role, and gone for the least amount of movement within a still young staff. That is, if they were serious about moving Feliz to the rotation.

It is still unclear how the staff will round out. Derek Holland was once a top flight prospect, but has struggled to find a role in the majors.

Read more »

Joe Nathan seems to have the luck. Any pitcher will tell you that an elbow injury is not something that you simply shake off and move on. Quite the contrary, the rehabilitation is long and usually mark with good few setbacks. Just like at the Tommy John and his attempts to return to the game.

But Joe Nathan is different. After suffering a serious elbow injury during an exhibition on the March 6 last year and ultimately going under the knife three weeks later (even though he was hoping that such a drastic move could be avoided – naturally the surgery means the worst for a player and it usually is. Even if the procedure is fairly simple the rehabilitation isn’t. So is the time he spends on the bench.) and spending the season off the field he is now super eager to get back to playing.
Read more »

Jorge Cantu must be singing now. He has just signed a contract with the Padres giving this free agent some much required job and stability.

Is it good news for him? I would say it’s more than he could have expected. I would say at most he could have expected to get some minor league contract and instead he got the full blown deal.

On the other hand he is now expected to pull out the same level of play as he did for the entire season of 2010 when he was hitting .256 with 11 home runs on his score card. It might not sound too great, especially after his hot start but if you consider that he probably won’t play on daily basis with the Padres the deal he scored for himself is really one of the best in the late drafts of 2011

I would say it must be tough for a free agent that had a great start but them for one reason or another has somewhat lowered his results to find a suitable contract. I don’t know how much he got from the Padres however I am sure it is more than you and me make over the course of a decade so he shouldn’t complain.

And that is especially that his technique has dropped down in the season instead of going up. Things like that are a drama for every player and I would imagine that he will have to now double his efforts in order to prove that signing him up was not a mistake.

In 2010, the Texas Rangers Baseball Team made an unlikely appearance in the World Series, their first in franchise history. While the run in 2010 was unexpected, Ranger fans are now awaiting the most anticipated season in Ranger history.

In 2011, the Rangers need to build on what they achieved last season. They have incredible bats, as they led the majors in hitting percentage last season. The Rangers are led by MVP outfielder Josh Hamilton, who also led the majors in hitting. They also added 3rd baseman Adrian Beltre. With Beltre at 3rd base, Michael Young will be the designated hitter. Also in the infield is Elvis Andrus, 2010 All-Star.

Elvis was the lead-off hitter for most of the season, and he is a big Read more »

Currently 13 teams are grouped together under the British Basketball League hood and the members consist mainly of players from England and Scotland with a small minority of Welsh players.

The organization itself was created in 1987 mainly on a pressure from clubs in operation at that time wanting to become franchises just like their contemporaries from the sports native land. In order to achieve that, solid regulations and promotion were required and thus the BBL was formed to assist and regulate the sport.
Read more »

The NBA was founded in 1946, first referred to as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) it was finally named NBA 3 years later. As a typical American organization it started off by gaining influence in the country however in time it has become known all over the globe with finally players from the US being able to enter the draft.

The first non-American to be drafted was an Eastern European, Arvydas Sabonis. He was drafted by the Trailblazers in 1986 but it took much longer to get him onto the court. Back then the whole process of drafting foreign players took years from the actual draft to the game. It took Sabonis nine years before he could come and play for Portland. Luckily these days, once a foreign player is drafted, they start playing the next season.

Read more »

The top defensive team in the NBA makes it’s way to Detroit Friday night to play 6-13 Pistons. Orlando enters the game with a 14-4 record and following a 29 point dismantling of the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night. The Pistons try to bounce back after losing by 25 to the Miami Heat in south Florida Wednesday.

Chicago was pumped up for this game with the debut for Carlos Boozer this season. Orlando spoiled that return with an impressive 107-78 win. Point guard Jameer Nelson led the way for the Magic with 24 points and 9 assists. His fellow back court team mate Vince Carter chipped in 22 points and 6 rebounds. Superman, better know as Dwight Howard, contributed his nightly daily double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Chicago shot 42.3% from the field and were never really a threat in the game.

Detroit has lost three straight games moving their record to 6-13. That record is good enough for fifth place in the central division. Miami was in control of this game from the start and really pulled away in the third quarter by holding the Pistons to 9 points. The total of 72 points scored was a new season low for the Pistons. Only 2 players managed to score in double figures for the Pistons. Power forwards Greg Monroe and Charlie Villanueva tallied 15 and 10 points respectively. Both players did this coming off the bench.

Orlando sits atop the southeast division with a 14-4 record. They average just under 100 points per game and give up just over 91 points per game. Head coach Stan Van Gundy has his team playing hard nosed defensive basketball. With Dwight Howard patrolling the paint, teams have a really hard time getting any easy baskets near the rim. The big man is averaging 2.39 blocks per game. He also leads the team in scoring at a pace of 21.3 per game. Last but not least, he keeps the glass clean with 12.1 rebounds per contest. He doesn’t play the game alone. He gets help from a veteran cast of team mates led by scoring guard Vince Carter. Carter adds 14.4 points per game.

Detroit has 5 guys averaging double digit points but they haven’t had any one of those five really step up and be that go to guy every night. Point guard Rodney Stuckey has been solid pouring in 16.5 points per game. Forwards Tayshaun Prince and Charlie Villanueva both add in just over 13 points each per game. Shooting guard Richard Hamilton has not produced as much as the team had expected. His average of 12.2 points per game is almost 6 points lower than his career average of 17.8 per game.