First-Half Surprises

Every baseball season there are some players who seemingly come out of nowhere and make a sizeable fantasy splash. You know, they’re the guys who, upon reviewing the box scores, make you wonder aloud why you did all that preseason prep work. The guys who usually sent you scurrying to your league’s free agency pool to fish them out only to find that someone beat you to the punch. Sigh! Here are the most surprising players, by position, of the first half of the 2008 campaign:

C Dioner Navarro, Rays – It’s only fitting that the first player mentioned is a member of baseball’s most surprising team. Navarro entered the year with a .247 career batting average over parts of five seasons split between three teams. He is currently hitting .313 and will be in New York for the All-Star game.

1B Mike Jacobs, Marlins – Yeah, his .250-something batting average blows, but c’mon! You weren’t expecting jack from Jacobs this season and right now he has more homers (19) and RBI (52) than Albert Pujols for crying out loud! In fact, only three first basemen have gone yard more often this year. Jacobs’ previous career bests in homers and RBI were 20 and 77 respectively; he is currently on pace for 36 and 100.

2B Ian Kinsler, Rangers – We knew Kinsler could hit, but this is getting ridiculous. Ian is leading the American League in batting as I type this with a .337 mark—exactly 63 points higher than his career average coming into this season. Oh, and he’s also on pace to shatter his previous bests in home runs and RBI and already has as many hits and stolen bases as he did all of last year… in 42 fewer games no less.

2B Dan Uggla, Marlins – I couldn’t decide between Kinsler and Uggla and since this is my blog, I make the rules. Thus, I am giving both of them some props. One of them can fill the middle infield slot in my fantasy lineup, ok? That Uggla has power is not a surprise, but little did we realize he had 40-homer type power. His .289 batting average is also quite the shocker given that he hit .245 a year ago.

3B Jorge Cantu, Marlins – Alright, I didn’t set out to glorify the Marlins in this article, but it’s kind of working out that way. Most of the third basemen putting up big numbers this season were expected to. Guys like Chipper Jones, David Wright, Aramis Ramirez, even Evan Longoria, are doing about what was expected, maybe a little more. I certainly didn’t expect Chipper to be batting .400 still in June. Anyways, in Cantu we are talking about a guy who was sent to the minors twice last year, got traded to Cincy, and then was released. Now, he’s on pace to match his career high of 28 dingers. Not a bad comeback.

SS Cristian Guzman, Nationals – I must admit, I was convinced Guzman was on his way out of baseball when he hit .219 in 2006 and then appeared in just 46 games last year. Now he’s among the NL leaders with a .311 batting average and is on pace to match his career highs in home runs and RBI, established a mere seven years ago while a member of the Twins—the last time he was on the All-Star team.

OF Ryan Ludwick, Cardinals – I was fortunate enough to roll the dice on Ludwick early in the season when it appeared he was going to be playing a lot and was hitting over his head. Well, aside from a few skids, Ryan has continued hitting over his head. Apparently no one has bothered to tell him that he is, in fact, Ryan Ludwick and that he has no business batting around .300. I’d typically add at this juncture that he is on pace to exceed his previous career bests in stats like home runs, RBI, and runs, but I see that he already has so never mind.

OF Nate McLouth, Pirates – Yessir, Nate McLouth is on the All-Star team, and in no way is that a mistake. This 26 year old from Muskegon went undrafted in a lot of fantasy leagues yet not unlike the aforementioned Ludwick he has already set new career bests across the board in several areas, including hits, runs, home runs, and RBI. In fact, Nate is six ribbies short of doubling his career RBI total coming into this season.

OF Josh Hamilton, Rangers – Frankly, I am not as shocked as most people are that Hamilton is going off this season, but as a barometer of general consensus I would have been remiss to leave him off this list. He’s always had the immense talent. Now that he is healthy in mind and body, he’s realizing his potential, leading the majors in RBI, and vying for the AL Triple Crown.

OF Carlos Quentin, White Sox – Quentin was supposed to be a big run producer, but his production has taken off faster than most expected this season. I mean it’s really escalated quickly. I don’t think there were many people outside of his immediate family that expected him to be challenging for the AL home run crown at the midway point of the season.

OF Xavier Nady, Pirates – I was going to stop at four outfielders, but then I looked at Nady’s stats again and just couldn’t leave him off the list. Injuries and ineffectiveness have prevented Nady from getting an opportunity to play every day until now. Barring injury (knock on wood) the former UC Berkeley record-holding slugger is going to get 500 at bats for the first time this season and re-write his own personal bests in the process.

SP Justin Duchscherer, A’s – Given 100 chances I would have come closer to spelling his last name right without looking it up than accurately forecasting Duchschrevcher’s 2008 numbers to this point of the season. I mean, this guy was a setup man; he’s not supposed to have 10 wins and a major-league best 1.78 ERA right now. There’s got to be something wrong here… aside from my misspelling of his name on my second attempt.

SP Edinson Volquez, Reds – It’s ironic, don’tcha think, that Volquez and Josh Hamilton are both on my esteemed list of biggest surprises? They were part of the same trade between the Rangers and Reds this past offseason. It’s kind of like rain on your wedding day or perhaps 10,000 spoons in your Chardonnay or something. At the time of the deal, Edinson was viewed as a very good prospect, not someone who would be leading the NL in ERA and, if justice is served, be starting on the mound in the All-Star game already in 2008.

RP George Sherrill, Orioles – We all sure had this one pegged, huh? Oh sure, we all figured that the rebuilding Orioles would bring in a guy with four career saves, name him the closer, and get 27 saves out of him before the All-Star break. Let’s be honest: in the best-case scenario, 27 saves was about what was expected of George for the entire season.