With the season just underway, let's take a look at some players who have started the season off surprisingly strong, who I think can actually play well for the whole season:Emilio Bonifacio: Bonifacio has been red hot to start the season batting .500 with 1 HR, 5 RBI, and 4 SB. He really doesn't have much pop in his bat, so I wouldn't expect him to hit too many more home runs, but he definitely can run and it's very possible if he continues to get on base he could swipe 50 bags. He's a career .285 hitter in the minors and is just about to turn 24 next week, so I don't think it's out of the question that he can keep his batting average up around the .280 range at least.
Adam Lind: The fact that Lind is having success early in the season shouldn't come as a surprise because the Blue Jays have always been high on him. Lind was a career .318 hitter in the minors and coming into this season he had at least held his own in parts of the last two seasons in the majors. Lind might be on the verge of a breakout season with the bat and has started off hitting .400 with 3 HR and 12 RBI. His walk rates are kind of low, but I think he is a good enough hitter to bat above .300 and keep his on-base percentage up. The early power might not be sustainable though and I think he tops out around 20-25 home runs this season.
Josh Johnson: Johnson is now fully recovered from the Tommy John surgery he had a few years back and it shows since he has started the season 2-0 with a 0.57 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. Johnson was successful as a 22 year old in 2006, so if he's healthy, I see no reason why he couldn't pitch a strong 200 innings plus for the Marlins and pick up between 15-18 wins. The Marlins always have great young talent and I think this team could cause some trouble for the Mets, Phillies, & Braves in the NL East this year.
Other MLB News:
- Evan Longoria is off to a strong start as well in his second season batting .481 with 5 HR and 10 RBI so far. Seems like there will be no sophomore jinx for him and Longoria could be primed for an MVP type season. He's definitely one of the strongest candidates out there, especially if he takes his game to the next level and builds off his fantastic rookie season. You could be looking at the first great season from someone who could become one of the greatest third baseman of all-time. Definitely far too early to know for sure, but the potential is there, so I have to bring it up.
- I know it's early in the season, but Toronto has the best offense in the AL right now having a 132 OPS+. This might surprise some people, but with the addition of Travis Snider, an improving Adam Lind, and the return of Aaron Hill; I figured their offense would be improved this season. Hell, even replacing David Eckstein with Marco Scutaro is an improvement offensively, not to mention defensively as well. They won't continue to be the best offense in the AL, but they should improve upon their 94 OPS+ from last season. Of course the flip side of that is that they led the AL in pitching last season with a 122 ERA+, however, I don't think their starting rotation is going to be as strong this season, so their improved offense might be offset by a weakened pitching staff.
- Brandon Webb is headed to the 15-day DL with a tight shoulder. Definitely not the news you want to hear if you are the Diamondbacks. This team is already suspect to me and to lose Webb for any significant amount of time would kill their playoff chances in my mind. The D'Backs are also talking about possibly demoting Justin Upton, which I think is ridiculous. Let the guy play, they are kidding themselves if they think they are a World Series contender this season. It will benefit them in the long run if they give Upton at-bats now.
- Mark Teixeira has a mysterious wrist injury that has kept him out of the past few games. Not sure how serious it is or how it happened, but it's definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
- Milton Bradley left yesterday's game with a groin strain and it should come as no surprise that he is hurt. The guy has pretty much never played a full season and I still think defensively liabilities and all that the Cubs should have went after Bobby Abreu instead of Bradley. I think Bradley is a great hitter, but he should be a DH in the AL, not playing the outfield on an NL club.
More: MLB & MLB Weekly
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