2011 American league Best Hitting Performances (ranked by wOBA)

This is the first in a series of 2011 performance rankings. The information is taken from fangraphs.com and transferred to excel by me. This list is sorted by wOBA and has a 130 at-bat minimum, so we can see some of the potential breakouts we'll be going after in 2012.

Name	Team	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	ISO	BABIP	wOBA
Mike Napoli	Rangers	432	0.320	0.414	0.631	0.312	0.344	0.444
Jose Bautista	Blue Jays	655	0.302	0.447	0.608	0.306	0.309	0.441
Miguel Cabrera	Tigers	688	0.344	0.448	0.586	0.241	0.365	0.436
Brett Lawrie	Blue Jays	171	0.293	0.373	0.580	0.287	0.318	0.413
Adrian Gonzalez	Red Sox	715	0.338	0.410	0.548	0.21	0.380	0.406
David Ortiz	Red Sox	605	0.309	0.398	0.554	0.246	0.321	0.405
Jacoby Ellsbury	Red Sox	732	0.321	0.376	0.552	0.23	0.336	0.402
Alejandro De Aza	White Sox	171	0.329	0.400	0.520	0.191	0.404	0.401
Curtis Granderson	Yankees	691	0.262	0.364	0.552	0.29	0.295	0.394
Paul Konerko	White Sox	639	0.300	0.388	0.517	0.217	0.304	0.383
Alex Avila	Tigers	551	0.295	0.389	0.506	0.211	0.366	0.383
Alex Gordon	Royals	690	0.303	0.376	0.502	0.2	0.358	0.382
Adrian Beltre	Rangers	525	0.296	0.331	0.561	0.265	0.273	0.379
Dustin Pedroia	Red Sox	731	0.307	0.387	0.474	0.167	0.325	0.377
Robinson Cano	Yankees	681	0.302	0.349	0.533	0.231	0.316	0.375
Andruw Jones	Yankees	222	0.247	0.356	0.495	0.247	0.296	0.371
Josh Hamilton	Rangers	538	0.298	0.346	0.536	0.238	0.317	0.371
Jason Kipnis	Indians	150	0.272	0.333	0.507	0.235	0.313	0.371
Ian Kinsler	Rangers	723	0.255	0.355	0.477	0.223	0.243	0.37
Michael Young	Rangers	689	0.338	0.380	0.474	0.136	0.367	0.369
Victor Martinez	Tigers	595	0.330	0.380	0.470	0.141	0.343	0.368
Kevin Youkilis	Red Sox	517	0.258	0.373	0.459	0.202	0.296	0.366
Evan Longoria	Rays	574	0.244	0.355	0.495	0.251	0.239	0.365
Carlos Quentin	White Sox	483	0.254	0.340	0.499	0.245	0.261	0.363
Jim Thome	Phillies	324	0.256	0.361	0.477	0.22	0.327	0.362
Brent Lillibridge	White Sox	216	0.258	0.340	0.505	0.247	0.310	0.362
Alex Rodriguez	Yankees	428	0.276	0.362	0.461	0.185	0.311	0.361
Salvador Perez	Royals	158	0.331	0.361	0.473	0.142	0.362	0.361
Desmond Jennings	Rays	287	0.259	0.356	0.449	0.19	0.303	0.361
Mark Teixeira	Yankees	684	0.248	0.341	0.494	0.246	0.239	0.361
Ben Zobrist	Rays	674	0.269	0.353	0.469	0.201	0.310	0.36
Nick Swisher	Yankees	635	0.260	0.374	0.449	0.188	0.295	0.358
Matt Joyce	Rays	522	0.277	0.347	0.478	0.201	0.317	0.357
Michael Cuddyer	Twins	584	0.284	0.346	0.459	0.176	0.312	0.354
Jhonny Peralta	Tigers	576	0.299	0.345	0.478	0.179	0.325	0.353
Travis Hafner	Indians	368	0.280	0.361	0.449	0.169	0.332	0.353
Nelson Cruz	Rangers	513	0.263	0.312	0.509	0.246	0.288	0.352
Casey Kotchman	Rays	563	0.306	0.378	0.422	0.116	0.335	0.351
Billy Butler	Royals	673	0.291	0.361	0.461	0.169	0.316	0.351
Josh Willingham	Athletics	563	0.246	0.332	0.477	0.232	0.287	0.35
Carlos Santana	Indians	658	0.239	0.351	0.457	0.217	0.263	0.349
Melky Cabrera	Royals	706	0.305	0.339	0.470	0.164	0.332	0.349
Howie Kendrick	Angels	583	0.285	0.338	0.464	0.179	0.338	0.349
Mark Reynolds	Orioles	620	0.221	0.323	0.483	0.262	0.266	0.348
Brennan Boesch	Tigers	472	0.283	0.341	0.458	0.175	0.315	0.346
Jeff Francoeur	Royals	656	0.285	0.329	0.476	0.191	0.323	0.346
Shelley Duncan	Indians	247	0.260	0.324	0.484	0.224	0.297	0.346
Yunel Escobar	Blue Jays	590	0.290	0.369	0.413	0.123	0.316	0.345
Asdrubal Cabrera	Indians	667	0.273	0.332	0.460	0.187	0.302	0.345
Edwin Encarnacion	Blue Jays	530	0.272	0.334	0.453	0.181	0.292	0.344
Marco Scutaro	Red Sox	445	0.299	0.358	0.423	0.124	0.312	0.343
J.J. Hardy	Orioles	567	0.269	0.310	0.491	0.222	0.273	0.343

Some names from the list that may warrant some further study include:

• Brett Lawrie - Blue Jays
• Alejandro De Aza - White Sox
• Andruw Jones - Yankees
• Jason Kipnis - Indians
• Salvador Perez - Royals
• Desmond Jennings - Rays
• Brennan Boesch - Tigers
• Shelly Duncan - Indians

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance MVPs are...

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance has just released the winners of the American League and National League MVP awards. As a proud new member of the Alliance it gives me great pride to say that we got it exactly right.

The American League MVP is Joe Mauer. The National League MVP is Albert Pujols.

You can check out all the details of the voting on the Baseball Bloggers Alliance Site.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 90 blogs spanning 28 of the 30 major league squads as well as those that focus on general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. Those blogs that are not dedicated to a specific team are allowed to vote on either the American League or National League award, but not both.

American League 25-Man Roster Surprises

Part One of the Opening Day roster surprises can be found here.

The Baltimore Orioles

Alfredo Simon is in the rotation after having a fantastic spring training.

The Boston Red Sox

George Kottaras chosen over Josh Bard to back up Jason Varitek. Chris Carter is the extra corner outfielder rather than Brad Wilkerson.

The New York Yankees

Rookie Ramiro Pena beat out Angel Berroa for the extra infielder job. Jonathan Albaladejo is chosen over several more experienced veterans for the last bullpen spot.

The Tampa Bay Rays

Jeff Niemann makes the rotation after all, thanks to the last minute trade of Jason Hammel to the Colorado Rockies and the demotion of David Price to the minors.

The Toronto Blue Jays

Rookie Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond are the numbers four and five starters.
The Chicago White Sox

DeWayne Wise and Chris Getz have not only won the starting center field and second baseman jobs, but are also batting first and second in the lineup. A lot of weight put on two relatively inexperienced players on a team expected to win.

The Cleveland Indians

That the Indians would rather play three players at their second best position rather than two at their best position and one at the position he is best suited for -- Mark DeRosa 2B, Asdrubal Cabrera SS, and Jhonny Peralta 3B -- and sticking with DeRosa at 3B, Peralta at SS, and Asdrubal at 2B.

The Detroit Tigers

The release of Gary Sheffield was mildly surprising but rookies Rick Porcello in the rotation and Ryan Perry in the bullpen have to be the greater qualifiers.

The Kansas City Royals

Mark Teahen looks like the starting second baseman -- his third position change as a Royal.

The Minnesota Twins

Manager Ron Gardenhire did not find a way to squeeze Michael Cuddyear into his starting lineup. But you have to like the potential of a Carlos Gomez, Denard Span, Delmon Young outfield. Left-hander Brian Duensing in the bullpen rather than Jose Mijares.

The Los Angeles Angels

If we ignore all the pitchers in the rotation because of injured veterans, the demotion of shortstop/third baseman Brandon Wood who probably deserved a chance in the majors.

The Oakland Athletics

Billy beane acquiring three major league veterans (Matt Holiday, Orlando Cabrera, and Jason Giambi) was pretty surprising, but not as much as throwing top prospects Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson directly into the rotation.

The Seattle Mariners

Shawn Kelley made the team and will pitch middle relief.

The Texas Rangers

Kris Benson has returned to the major leagues and is in the Rangers rotation.