Crooked Pitch

The National League had six MVP’s this week compared to the American League’s two. It was all hitters for the NL and all pitchers for the AL. Does good pitching beat good hitting, or vice versa? I guess we’ll find out next week in NYC at the All-Star game.

Here are the week 14 fantasy baseball MVP’s.

Catcher: Geovany Soto | Chicago Cubs - Soto’s slash stats were impressive last week at .370/.452/.667. He also hit two home runs, scored six times and drove in five. And how can I not select Soto for the MVP award this week as he became the first rookie catcher ever to be selected to start an All-Star game for the National League?

First Base: Adam LaRoche | Pittsburgh Pirates - LaRoche had an impressive slugging percentage last week of 1.000 as five of his nine hits were extra base hits (two home runs, two doubles, and a triple). He had a batting average of .474, scored five times and drove in eight runs.

Second Base: Brandon Phillips | Cincinnati Reds - Two hitters deserved this award this week, but I am only giving it to Phillips, since snubbing ball players in en vogue lately. Ian Kinsler was a very close second place, but Phillips’ extra RBI’s were the icing on the cake. Phillips batted .481/.500/.667 with 4 runs scored, one home run, nine RBI, and two stolen bases.

Shortstop: J.J. Hardy | Milwaukee Brewers - It’s amazing when we have a week where Hanley Ramirez hits three home runs, drives in eight and scores seven times but isn’t even considered for this weekly MVP award! Hardy batted .600/.625/1.367 with eight runs scored, six home runs, 12 RBI, and a stolen base, and was arguably the most valuable fantasy baseball player last week.

Third Base: Alex Rodriguez | New York Yankees - ARod only had eight hits last week, but they all counted in a big way. He batted .333/.448/.750 with eight runs scored, three home runs, seven RBI, and three stolen bases.

Outfield: Cody Ross | Florida Marlins - Here’s another situation where excellence wasn’t good enough for a player to win the weekly MVP award. Matt Holliday belted three  homers, drove in 10, and stole three bases, but couldn’t hold a candle last week to Ross’ .500/.529/.813 with eight runs scored, two home runs, and 15 RBI.

Starting Pitcher: Roy Halladay | Toronto Blue Jays - Halladay beat up on the American League West last week earning wins over the Angels and the Mariners. He pitched 16 innings and struck out 13 while only walking one. His ERA was only 1.12 and his WHIP was 0.69.

Relief Pitcher: Brandon Morrow | Seattle Mariners - Morrow has slid into the closer’s role very nicely in Seattle. Last week he notched three saves, one win, and struck out five while only walking one in 4.1 innings of work. His ERA was perfect at 0.00 and his WHIP was 0.23.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 10:34 am and is filed under Fantasy Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.