Matt Kemp takes the Baseball Musings Hitter of the Month Award for April. While it’s easy to pick Matt, he dominated just one category, slugging percentage. David Wright did a slightly better job of getting on base, but only slightly. Ian Kinsler tied him for the major league lead in runs scored, but didn’t drive in as many runs. Josh Hamilton tied Matt for the MLB lead in RBI, but didn’t score as many runs. Matt finished second to Derek Jeter in hits, and had one of the great Aprils in terms of home runs. For doing everything well, Matt Kemp wins the player of the month for April 2012.
Matt Kemp hits a walk-off home run against the Nationals, one of 12 homers in April for the Dodgers hitting star. Photo: © Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE
Joe Saunders makes a very good case for pitcher of the month with a 0.90 ERA in April. The Diamondbacks starter didn’t strike out many, 5.4 per nine innings, but walked just 2.1 per nine and allowed one home run. Stephen Strasburg finished third in ERA at 1.12, but his three-true outcomes were much better than Joe’s. Strasburg struck out 9.56 per nine, walked 1.69 per nine, and was one of seven pitchers with at least 25 innings pitched that did not allow a home run.
It’s Saunders ERA versus Strasburg’s three-true outcomes. FanGraphs rates Arizona’s defense well ahead of Washington’s. Joe’s low ERA likely has a higher defensive component to it than Stephen’s. Joe pitched well in his home park, which is tougher on pitchers.
Stephen Strasburg helped himself on defense as well, snaring this line drive off the bat of Dee Gordon. Photo: © Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE
It’s a tough call, but I’m going with Strasburg. His ERA seems much more in line with his overall stats. He dominated in ERA because he dominated the batters, rather than leaving it up to his defense. Stephen Strasburg is the Baseball Musings pitcher of the month for April 2012.
How about a mention for David Robertson? Eleven scoreless innings, .9 WHIP, 18 K and 3 BB. Not enough innings, but really impressive.
.443 OPS against. Of course, he doesn’t *have* an ERA+, so maybe that disqualifies him 🙂
James » Consider him mentioned. Pitching in a month is a small sample size, and relief pitching in a month is a really small sample size, so I like to go with starters.
So who has had the worst month so far? Someone at work keeps pointing out Nick Johnson of the Orioles, who’s currently 0-26 at bats (30 plate appearances) so far – the most at bats for anyone without a hit this season. Does anyone know what the record for most hitless plate appearances to start a season is?
npbcardguy » Johnson would be up there, but among regulars I’d probably go with Clint Barmes or Ryan Raburn. Marlon Byrd was pretty bad, too. I believe Clay Buchholz has the highest ERA of any pitcher with at least 25 innings.