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ZUUUUUUUUMBALL

One U for each homer this month.  One time Bill James said about Bret Boone in a Player Handbook, "he hit 7 homers in September; he might hit seven a month from now on."

It was a 95 MPH fastball down-and-in, the wheelhouse for lefties, but right hand batters have their thumbs more on top of the bats.  Blowers pointed out that Zunino took a nice soft front step that wouldn't have crushed a grape, and this kept his whole body quiet, with his shoulder and head locked in.  SSI grokked that his followthrough was pretty golfy, with excellent knee action and a relaxed half follow.  This easy swing produced 110 MPH exit velocity.  

Zunino has laid waste Dr. D's worry about a slider-speed bat.  THIS swing is an aiki joy to watch, quick and compact and "firing" through the zone as Blowers put it.  "Different guy," he concluded.   Brad Adams pointed out that Zunino has gotten on base 17 games in a row and counting.  Not bad for any power hitter.

Which makes you wonder about Zuumball's upside potential.  He's been a wrecking machine.  What are youse mooks' opinions as to his ceiling?  

Granted, after a month's worth of 1.092 OPS it's not the greatest time to make a sober assessment.  :- ) But these days he LOOKS like thirty homers standin' still.  The guy was a #3 overall, right?

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ROBINSON CANO

They pointed out that this will be Cano's twelfth straight season with 30 doubles.  The dude is a middle infielder, you realize.  By the way, what are this guy's chances to make the Hall of Fame?  James' points system has him at 126 on a 100-point scale, and he's to be paid as a star for 7 years after this one.

I didn't realize the man has 58 WAR already, did you?

There is an oddity about Cano, while we bring up the HOF.  His "gray ink" Hall standards are already HOF-worthy, but he has only a single "black ink" point.  How weird.  This means that Cano has oodles and oodles of top-10 finishes in glory stats, but absolutely nothing in terms of ever leading the league in anything.  (He did lead the league in "games played" one year, LOL.)

Do you know of any player ever who had a 132:1 ratio in gray ink to black ink?   That's got to lead everybody.  Which is a cool oddity in itself.  Dr. D has nothing against home team ballplayers who are always fourth in the league in R and RBI and hits and stuff.

In any case, this year we've definitely got a Hall of Fame level player at second base.  Headed for 100 RBI, 100 runs, 30+ homers, 30+ doubles, .300ish average -- in Safeco Field.  At second base.

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BABVA,

Dr D