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The first half of the 2019 season is in the books. As covered last month, we remain on pace to have the league total home run record smashed and the highest pitching ERA in well over a decade. MLB saw the record for most home runs hit in a month fall for a second consecutive month in June. In the DTBL, we just missed the May total with three fewer homers hit by active players (596).
What stands out to me in perusing the DTBL leaderboards is the stark contrast in experience between the league’s top hitters and pitchers. On the offensive side of things, there are a few veterans mixed in, but for the most part, the most productive batters are all in their 20s. On the flip side, the league’s best pitchers are all guys who have been dominating hitters for a decade or so. Currently, the youngest pitcher in the top five of Pitching PAR is 32 year old Hyun-Jin Ryu. The average age of those five hurlers is about 35 years old. Joining the Naturals Ryu in that group of impressive veterans are the Kings Max Scherzer (34) and Justin Verlander (36), and Mooshiners Zack Greinke (35) and Charlie Morton (35).
I’m not sure what to make of the continued success of all these veteran pitchers. Perhaps this is why teams were mostly uninterested in paying huge money on long term deals to hitters this past winter, while the market’s top free agent pitcher, Patrick Corbin, was signed before Christmas. For a long time, teams were unwilling to sign almost any pitcher to a long term contract. But now pitchers appear to be the safer bets to continue to be highly productive well into their 30s. That would seem to bode well for upcoming free agent pitchers like Gerrit Cole and potentially Stephen Strasburg, should he opt-out of his current deal.
Much to come in the upcoming days, including the announcement of the 2019 DTBL All-Star rosters. So let’s get straight to the June award winners.
Batters of the Week:
Week 11 (6/3 – 6/9) – Edwin Encarnacion, Darkhorses
Week 12 (6/10 – 6/16) – Charlie Blackmon, Cougars
Week 13 (6/17 – 6/23) – D.J. LeMahieu, Choppers
Week 14 (6/24 – 6/30) – Ronald Acuna, Jackalope
Pitchers of the Week:
Week 11 (6/3 – 6/9) – Walker Buehler, Komodos
Week 12 (6/10 – 6/16) – Trevor Bauer, Choppers
Week 13 (6/17 – 6/23) – Tyler Skaggs, Kings
Week 14 (6/24 – 6/30) – Max Scherzer, Kings
Well, I suppose this is as good a place as any to mention the tragic passing of 27 year old Angels and Kings pitcher Tyler Skaggs earlier this week. Skaggs was an eighth round selection of the Kings in this year’s draft and did a very nice job for the team, shuffling into and out of the lineup since early May. As you can see above, he had a very strong final week in the lineup for the Kings in late June. Skaggs also appeared for the Naturals in 2015. From all accounts, he was a great person in addition to being a quality big league pitcher. He will be missed. RIP Tyler Skaggs.
Batter of the Month:
Ronald Acuna, Jackalope
.331 AVG, 9 HR, 21 RBI, 28 R, 6 SB, 3.36 PAR
Pitcher of the Month:
Max Scherzer, Kings
1.00 ERA, 0.667 WHIP, 6 W, 0 SV, 68 K, 5.34 PAR
Ronald Acuna is continuing to prove the Jackalope correct for selecting him with the first overall pick in this year’s draft, not that anyone was ever questioning that pick anyway. June was his best month yet though. He showed off his prowess in all five categories. He is currently fifth in the league in Batting PAR and joins Christian Yelich as the only two players with 20+ home runs and double digit stolen bases. This was a very tight race though. Had Cougars outfielder Charlie Blackmon not missed the first week of the month from the Cougars active roster, he would have finished in a virtual tie with Acuna. Acuna’s Braves teammate, Demigods first baseman Freddie Freeman had a great June as well.
The race for June Pitcher of the Month was not close. At this stage of his career, it is hard to rank all of the great Max Scherzer moments. He has won a pair of DTBL Cy Young awards and three MLB Cy Youngs. He has pitched two no-hitters and had a 20 strikeout game. But June of 2019 might be the single best month of his distinguished career. He even broke his nose in the middle of it, bouncing back to strike out 10 Phillies in seven scoreless innings a day later. That might have been his most impressive outing of the month, but it wasn’t the best statistically. In two other starts, he struck out at least 14 batters allowing a single run and one or zero walks. The complete picture was arguably the best pitching month in DTBL history. No other DTBL pitcher has ever posted a single month with a 1.00 or lower ERA, 65+ strikeouts and six wins. His 5.34 June PAR would be a great full season total for most pitchers. This is the fourth consecutive year that Scherzer has won a Pitcher of the Month award and the third time in that span that he has won it in June. The awards keep rolling in for the incomparable Scherzer. Komodos rookie Walker Buehler and Jackalope righty Gerrit Cole finished second and third for this award, but neither had even half of Scherzer’s PAR total.