Betts Best?

[rog]

Mookie Betts became a 30/30 man yesterday, and I had the chance to watch a bit of the telecast on the MLB Network.  Boston Globe writer Alex Speier said he believes Betts is now at "Trout level," and compared Mookie to Willie Mays and the early Barry Bonds.  He spoke of Betts' daring on the bases, sounding like a comparison to Mays. 

Speier quoted Buck Showalter as saying that Betts is the best right fielder he's ever seen.  (Mookie will almost certainly win his 3rd straight Gold Glove this season.)

This season Betts is leading the majors in hitting with a .346 average.  He has 32 homers and the 30 steals.  Batting lead off, he has scored 126 runs.

Mays hit .346 or better only once.  He homered 32 or more times in 11 different seasons.  Willie stole 30 or more bases three times.  He scored 126 or more runs only twice.  Willie never accomplished all those feats in one season, although his first season in San Francisco was almost shockingly similar to Mookie's season this year.

Willie hit .347 to Mookie's .346.  He homered 29 times to Mookie's 32.  He stole 31 bases to Mookie's 30.  He scored 121 runs to Mookie's 126.  It might be worthy of mention that Mookie's numbers have come in 85 fewer at bats than Willie's.

In short, Mookie is having a Willie Mays-type season and will very likely win the AL MVP Award.  In 1958 Willie finished second to Ernie Banks, who hit 47 homers and drove in 129 runs as a shortstop.

As an aside, Mike Trout will likely finish second or third in the MVP voting.  In his six previous full seasons, he's won twice, finished second three times, and finished fourth.  That only guy with an MVP run like that is Bonds, who won four straight times after finishing second.

Here is how Barry fared in the MVP voting in the 15 seasons from 1990 through 2004:

#1  seven times
#2   twice
#4   once
#5   twice
#8   once
#12 once
#24 once (injury season)


That's one heck of a run.  Now Trout and perhaps Betts are becoming nearly as dominant.

[rog]

So who are the best players in the major leagues these days? Here's my crack at it:

RHP -- Max Scherzer

LHP -- Clayton Kershaw

Closer -- Craig Kimbrel

C -- Gary Sanchez (Buster Posey? Bengie Molina?)

1B -- Paul Goldschmidt

2B -- Jose Altuve

SS -- Francisco Lindor

3B -- Nolan Arenado

LF -- Christian Yelich

CF -- Trout

RF -- Betts

DH -- J.D. Martinez


Trout and Kershaw are transcendent talents. Betts might be joining them. Betts and Trout are outstanding five-tool elites.

Kershaw is becoming one of the top pitchers ever. It's hard to argue that Clayton hasn't out-Koufaxed the Left Hand of God. This will be Kershaw's 10th straight season of sub-3.00 ERA's. His 2.53 thus far this season ties his HIGHEST ERA in the past eight campaigns.

As an aside, when Betts stole his 30th base yesterday, the throw beat him, but he managed to arch his body to avoid the tag. Even though his hand was blocked off the base by the fielder's foot, Betts still got in safely. On the replay you could clearly hear Betts proclaim, "He missed it (the tag)!" Even the blind bat of an umpire could see it!

[sfgdood]

This pure partisan crap. Comparing Betts to HOF legends like Mays and Bonds is the most clear example of stats geekery run amok.

[rog]

Randy, it is you who are running amok. If you don't like what is being said, ignore it and come up with your own threads and meaningful responses. We can use all of those here we can get.

This began not by comparing Mookie Betts' career to that of Willie Mays. At this point there is no comparison. What we're saying is that this season Mookie put together an impressive combination of accomplishments that even Willie couldn't match.

I love Willie Mays and get teared up just thinking about the day he is no longer with us. I'll cry big-time then. For you to give me crap for comparing a season of a current player to a season of Willie's is just plain ignorant.

As for Mookie, he's been a star but not a superstar until this season. But he's put together a fabulous season this year that likely will beat out Mike Trout even though Mike is off to one of the greatest starts to a career of any player in history. Trout and Clayton Kershaw are generational players who have accomplished things at the present stage of their careers that no other player or pitcher has accomplished.

No one is saying that these guys will have players that equal Mays, Bonds or Seaver. But if Trout plays average ball for a few more years -- average ball -- he'll easily make the Hall of Fame. Kershaw has already had a career to challenge if not match Sandy Koufax.

Yeah, I realize it's heresy to say that, but Kershaw has pitched nearly as many innings now as Koufax, and his ERA is nearly two-fifths of a run lower than Sandy's. Sandy may or may not have been more dominant at his peak than Kershaw, but Clayton has been far more consistent than Sandy.