For the second consecutive month, one of the league’s top title contending teams is facing an uncertain future due to the loss of arguably their most irreplaceable player. So far, the Mavericks have weathered the storm without Mike Trout quite nicely. They have held onto first place for virtually the entire season and have built a relatively comfortable margin over all but one of their competitors. The one team that is giving them everything they can handle is the Naturals. As of this writing, the two teams are tied in first. But while the Mavericks have Trout on the verge of returning, the Naturals will now be without young star outfielder (now shortstop) Trea Turner. Turner broke his right wrist when getting hit by a pitch by the Cubs’ Pedro Strop last Thursday afternoon. He figures to miss close to two months of action. Less than ideal for a Naturals team that is competing for a championship while already missing their best pitcher, Noah Syndergaard. More on Turner in a bit.
At the halfway mark of the season, it has become pretty clear that we are headed to a record breaking year for home runs and probably the best league-wide offensive numbers in 15 years. The record for most home runs hit in the DTBL in a single season is 3,231 back in 2000. Through Sunday, basically the exact mid-point of the season, 1,625 home runs had been hit. Runs and RBIs are way up as well. Even stolen bases are on pace to surpass the totals from the past few years. Only batting average has stagnated. Meanwhile, it has been a rough go for pitchers. The league’s 3.90 ERA is up more than 3/10 of a run from last season and is higher than any full season mark since 2006. Strikeouts remain the lone strong spot for pitchers compared to recent seasons.
Despite the incredible power surge, it is guys with speed who have been among the biggest contributors to their teams this season. Last month, Billy Hamilton won the Player of the Month award despite hitting just one home run. This month’s honor goes to a guy who only hit a pair of homers in June. Meanwhile, the Pitcher of the Month was earned by a hurler who has bounced back from a slow start in a big way. Here are the award winners for June 2017.
Batters of the Week:
Week 9 (5/29 – 6/4) – George Springer, Darkhorses
Week 10 (6/5 – 6/11) – Gary Sanchez, Jackalope
Week 11 (6/12 – 6/18) – Jose Ramirez, Gators
Week 12 (6/19 – 6/25) – Corey Seager, Gators
Week 13 (6/26 – 7/2) – Mookie Betts, Kings
Pitchers of the Week:
Week 9 (5/29 – 6/4) – Tanner Roark, Jackalope
Week 10 (6/5 – 6/11) – Robbie Ray, Moonshiners
Week 11 (6/12 – 6/18) – Jacob deGrom, Darkhorses
Week 12 (6/19 – 6/25) – Corey Kluber, Demigods
Week 13 (6/26 – 7/2) – Max Scherzer, Kings
The weekly hitter honors went to five guys who were just named to the MLB All-Star teams. How many of them will make the DTBL All-Star squads as well? Find out later today! Interesting that Tanner Roark won a weekly award because he has really struggled recently, outside of that one week in late May, early June. His Nationals teammate Max Scherzer has basically been a candidate for the weekly award every week this season. Another one of the weekly winners edged him out for the monthly honor though.
Batter of the Month:
Trea Turner, Naturals
.316 AVG, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 23 R, 22 SB, 3.51 PAR
Pitcher of the Month:
Corey Kluber, Demigods
1.26 ERA, 0.674 WHIP, 4 W, 0 SV, 64 K, 4.33 PAR
Trea Turner’s incredible June ended poorly with the broken wrist, but prior to that, he was terrorizing pitchers and catchers throughout the league. Famously, in one of his last games before the injury, he stole four bases off the Jake Arrieta/Miguel Montero duo, causing the latter to throw the former under the bus prior to being designated for assignment. Turner stole 22 bases in June, the highest single month total since Jose Reyes stole 23 in August of 2007. There have only been three 22+ stolen base months in DTBL history: http://www.baseball-reference.com/tiny/cPbAS (Roger Cedeno wasn’t on a DTBL roster in ’99). Prior to the injury, Turner had been on pace to challenge the league’s full season stolen base record as well. But that has gone by the wayside with him expected to miss up to two months of action. This was Turner’s honor pretty easily, but Mavericks young phenom Aaron Judge was the runner-up.
It has been an interesting season for Corey Kluber. After getting off to a rough start, he hit the disabled list in early May with an ERA north of 5.00. But since returning, he has been dominant, to the point where the Demigods ace is now a strong All-Star candidate. In June, hes sported an impressive 1.26 ERA and led the league with 64 strikeouts. Despite very strong months from a couple other pitchers, Kluber won this award pretty handily. His closest competition was a pair of pitchers you may have heard of: Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2017 DTBL All-Stars later today!