Three Positives From the Week of June 30th
Coming off a big series loss against Kansas City the week prior, the Guardians gave us a much-needed lift this past week.
If you’re like me and had a four-day weekend because of the holiday, today is the Monday-est Monday ever. We all need a little pick-me-up to get this week going and the Guardians gave us just that over the past week.
AL-Best Five to ASG
Sunday night, MLB announced all players that will be attending next week’s All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas. While we already knew who will be starting at each position, the league announced all pitchers and reserves last night. While the Philadelphia Phillies lead the National League with an astonishing seven players, it’s the Guardians on top in the American League with five.
José Ramírez was named the starting third baseman for the third time (his sixth appearance overall) while Steven Kwan is making his first start in the outfield (and first appearance overall). Emmanuel Clase will be making his third appearance as a reliever with first baseman Josh Naylor and utility man David Fry making their first. It’s sure to be an exciting week in Arlington for these five and for all of us watching.
Kwan Is Legit
While most people were celebrating the nation’s birthday on the 4th, Cleveland fans were celebrating something else. Steven Kwan became a qualified hitter by plate appearances which means that he is now officially leading the league in batting average. With a .364 average as of Monday morning, he is .040 ahead of second place Bobby Witt Jr. Better yet, he’s .050 ahead of superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Perhaps a more shocking stat is that his OPS is ranked seventh in the league at .957. While he’s known for always having a high OBP (currently third at .419), he’s been shocking the league with a much higher slugging percentage this year. Currently ranked tenth with a .538 slugging percentage, his nine home runs have already set a personal record for the third-year player.
What Slump?
After going 5-5 over their last ten games, it felt as though the team hit a bit of a slump this week. But you just have to take a quick look at the schedule to realize that wasn’t the case at all. Yes, losing a four-game series to the third-place Kansas City Royals was tough. However, the team immediately bounced back by taking both three-game sets versus the Chicago White Sox and the San Francisco Giants this past week.
With a .636 winning percentage, the team is second in the league behind only the Philadelphia Phillies. The Orioles are close behind at .633, but there’s no need to worry about a team that’s not in our division just yet. For now, let’s just enjoy what this team is doing and brag about it until they give us reason not to (which, hopefully, they don’t).