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

BBA: Stan Musial Award

This is the official ballot of the Fantasy Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Associations' vote for the Stan Musial Award which recognizes the Top Player in both the American League and the National League.

American League

1. Jose Bautista
2. Jacoby Ellsbury
3. Miguel Cabrera
4. Dustin Pedroia
5. Curtis Granderson
6. Justin Verlander
7. Adrian Gonzalez
8. Ian Kinsler
9. Alex Gordon
10. Melky Cabrera

National League

1. Matt Kemp
2. Ryan Braun
3. Prince Fielder
4. Joey Votto
5. Justin Upton
6. Troy Tulowitski
7. Albert Pujols
8. Jose Reyes
9. Hunter Pence
10. Lance Berkman

You can check out member blog opinions on these great sites:

Dear Mr. Fantasy
Roto Think Tank

BBA: Walter Johnson Award

This is the official ballot of the Fantasy Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Association's Walter Johnson Award, given to each season's best pitcher.

National League:
1. Roy Halladay
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Cliff Lee
4. Cole Hamels
5. Madison Bumgarner

American League:
1. Justin Verlander
2. C.C. Sabathia
3. Jered Weaver
4. James Shields
5. C.J. Wilson

See our member opinions:

Dear Mr. Fantasy
Roto Think Tank

BBA: Willie Mays Award

This is the official ballot of the Fantasy Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Association for the Willie Mays award, given to the best rookie in each league.

National League
1. Craig Kimbrel
2. Freddie Freeman
3. Cory Luebke

American League
1. Eric Hosmer
2. Jeremy Hellickson
3. Ivan Nova

You can see other member votes on these sites:

Dear Mr. Fantasy

BBA: Connie Mack Award Ballot

The official Connie Mack Ballot of the Fantasy Chapter of the BBA reads as follows:

American League:
1. Joe Maddon
2. Ron Washington
3. Jim Leyland

National League:
1. Kirk Gibson
2. Ron Roenicke
3. Bruce Bochy

You can find our member opinions here:

Dear Mr. Fantasy
The Sporting Hippeaux

Hanley Ramirez Injury Impacts 2012 Season

Hanley Ramirez's injured shoulder needs surgery. He could potentially miss up to six months which makes it possible he will not be available to start the 2012 season.

Hardball Talk

According to Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, the Marlins’ medical staff has recommended surgery for shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who has been bothered by an unstable shoulder since attempting a diving catch in early August. No exact date has been set for the procedure, but it should take place within a week.

The recovery time could last anywhere from four to six months, meaning Ramirez might not be ready for the start of spring training next February and could even miss the start of the 2012 regular season.

Trayvon Robinson: Coming Up on Friday?

If this is true, grab him...

Trayvon Robinson will replace Greg Halman on the Mariners roster, Ryan Divish of The News Tribune tweeted Thursday.

Divish cited two “well-placed and well-informed” sources in a later blog post.

The team optioned outfielder Greg Halman to Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday and said they would make an announcement Friday about his replacement.

Robinson, 23, was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend in the Erik Bedard trade.