Trailing 30 - August 31

Here is an explanation of this weekly feature, listing the best and worst of past 30 days, made possible by FanGraphs' Leaders application. Comment for the week: I'm a day late posting this, but the timing makes it easier to predict the August players of the month. American League: Edwin Encarnacion probably deserves it, but I expect his teammate Josh Donaldson to be Player of the Month, with another teammate, David Price, winning Pitcher of the Month. National League: Nobody really stands out offensively. Andrew McCutchen could be Player of the Month. The Cubs' Jake Arrieta seems an easy choice for Pitcher of the Month.

   American League              National League

   Team W-L                     Team W-L      

1. Toronto         21- 5     1. Chicago         19- 8

2. Kansas City     19- 9        New York        19- 8    

3. Texas           18- 9        Pittsburgh      19- 8         

4. Cleveland       15-12     4. St. Louis       18- 9   

5. Boston          14-12     5. Los Angeles     14-12        

   Worst Team W-L               Worst Team W-L

1. Los Angeles     10-18     1. Cincinnati       7-21      

2. Detroit         10-17     2. Atlanta          8-19       

3. Baltimore       11-17     3. Colorado         9-18      

4. Chicago         12-16     4. Miami           10-18
5. Oakland         12-15     5. Milwaukee       11-15

   Batting Average              Batting Average     

1. Brantley, Cle    .424     1. Pollock, Ari     .373  

2. Encarnacion, Tor .402     2. Peralta, Ari     .370      

3. Lindor, Cle      .385     3. McCutchen, Pit   .348           

4. Altuve, Hou      .365     4. Herrera, Phi     .346          

5. Kinsler, Det     .362     5. Piscotti, SL     .340       

   Lowest Batting Average       Lowest Batting Average  

1. Rodriguez, NY    .148     1. Bruce, Cin       .157         

2. Lowrie, Hou      .165     2. Wong, SL         .189       

3. Urshela, Cle     .179     3. Uribe, NY        .192
4. McCann, Det      .195     4. Werth, Was       .208           

5. Plouffe, Min     .196     5. Byrd, Cin-SF     .216      

   On Base Percentage           On Base Percentage  

1. Brantley, Cle    .481     1. Votto, Cin       .513           

2. Encarnacion, Tor .458     2. McCutchen, Pit   .470         

3. Goins, Tor       .439     3. Harper, Was      .454         

4. Zobrist, KC      .433     4. Bryant, Chi      .411          

5. Beltran, NY      .433     5. Pollock, Ari     .409      

      

   Slugging Percentage          Slugging Percentage   

1. Encarnacion, Tor .927     1. Votto, Cin       .619        

2. Donaldson, Tor   .723     2. Bryant, Chi      .619     

3. Cruz, Sea        .714     3. McCutchen, Pit   .609       

4. Bradley, Bos     .711     4. Piscotti, SL     .600       

5. Ortiz, Bos       .693     5. Gonzalez, Col    .596        

          

   Home Runs                    Home Runs

1. Cruz, Sea          12     1. Gonzalez, Col      10
2. Donaldson, Tor     11        Davis, Mil         10        

   Encarnacion, Tor   11     3. Schwarber, Chi      9
4. Bautista, Tor      10     4. Cespedes, NY        8
   Davis, Bal         10     5. 5 with              7

   Runs                         Runs    

1. Donaldson, Tor     29     1. Schwarber, Chi     25        

2. Bautista, Tor      26     2. Pollock, Ari       23     

3. Cruz, Sea          24     3. Granderson, NY     22
4. Encarnacion, Tor   23        Harper, Was        22
   Hosmer, KC         23        Marte, Pit         22

   RBI                          RBI      

1. Encarnacion, Tor   35     1. Davis, Mil         24        

2. Donaldson, Tor     33        Kemp, SD           24      

3. Sano, Min          26        Zimmerman, Was     24       

4. Bradley, Bos       23     4. Cespedes, NY       23
5. 3 with             22        Schwarber, Chi     23
                             

   Stolen Bases                 Stolen Bases             

1. Altuve, Hou         7     1. Gordon, Mia        11
   Cain, KC            7     2. Pollock, Ari       10     

3. 4 with              6     3. Blackmon, Col       8   

                             4. Desmond, Was        6
                                LeMahhieu, Col      6
                                                     
   Saves                        Saves

1. Osuna, Tor         10     1. Rosenthal, SL      10

   Tolleson, Tex      10        Melancon, Pit      10

3. Boxberger, TB       7     3. Giles, Phi          9
   Holland, KC         7        Jansen, LA          9
5. 2 with              6        Rondon, Chi         9

   ERA                          ERA

1. Feldman, Hou     1.33     1. Harvey, NY       0.33

2. Carrasco, Cle    1.47     2. Arrieta, Chi     0.43

3. Verlander, Det   1.50     3. Wacha, SL        1.13

4. McHugh, Hou      1.89     4. Kershaw, LA      1.40

5. Gallardo, Tex    1.98     5. Bumgarner, SF    1.43

   Worst ERA                    Worst ERA

1. Samardzija, Chi  8.82     1. Harang, Phi      8.04

2. Simon, Det       7.20     2. Wisler, Atl      7.85

3. Santana, Min     6.11     3. Garza, Mil       6.75

4. Gonzalez, Bal    6.82     4. Koehler, Mia     6.68

5. Hernandez, Sea   6.60     5. Scherzer, Was    6.43

   WHIP                         WHIP

1. Carrasco, Cle    0.68     1. Harvey, NY       0.63

2. Kluber, Cle      0.81     2. Arrieta, Chi     0.69
3. Verlander, Det   0.83     3. Bumgarner, SF    0.72

4. Sale, Chi        0.89     4. Iglesias, Cin    0.76
5. Iwakuma, Sea     0.90     5. Kershaw, LA      0.78

   Strikeouts                   Strikeouts

1. Sale, Chi          52     1. Bumgarner, SF      53     

2. Kluber, Cle        47     2. Kershaw, LA        51

3. Archer, TB         44     3. Iglesias, Cin      45

4. Price, Tor         41     4. Arrieta, Chi       43

5. Richards, LA       39        deGrom, NY         33

At The Kind-Of Halfway Point

I missed this, because the schedule this year has been more uneven than usual. There are 162 games in the regular season, meaning that 81 games is halfway through. Most teams are now past that point, though not all:

• 85 games played: Dodgers, Tampa Bay 
• 84 games played: Arizona, Houston, Milwaukee, Toronto 
• 83 games played: Atlanta, Boston, White Sox, Colorado, Mets, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, Texas
• 82 games played: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, Miami, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Washington
• 81 games played: Cubs, Minnesota, Yankees
• 80 games played: Angels
• 79 games played: Detroit 

If the season were to end now, at the kind-of halfway point:

• The wild card games would be Mariners at the Angels and Nationals at Giants.
• The wild card winners would play the A's in the American League and the Brewers in the National League. The other playoffs would be Blue Jays vs. Tigers and Braves vs. Dodgers. The A's, Brewers, Tigers, and Dodgers would have home field advantage.
• The batting leaders would be Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies (.353) and Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (.332). Home run leaders would be Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins (21) and a three-way tie among the White Sox's Jose Abreu, the Orioles' Nelson Cruz, and the Blue Jays' Edwin Encarnacion (25 each). RBI leaders: Cruz (66) and Stanton (60). 
• ERA leaders would be Johnny Cueto of the Reds (1.88) and Masahiro Tanaka of the Yankees (2.10). Saves leaders would be Francisco Rodriguez of the Brewers (27) and a tie between the Dodgers' Kenley Jansen and the Braves' Craig Kimbrel (25 each). 
• MVP: Hard to argue against Tulowitzki in the NL, as he plays a key defensive position (shortstop) well and leads the league in batting, on-base, and slugging. In the AL, Mike Trout is seventh in batting, second in on-base percentage, second in slugging, and first in on-base plus slugging.
• Cy Young: It'd probably be close between Tanaka (first in ERA, first in wins) and the Mariners' Felix Hernandez (second in ERA by .003, second in strikeouts, second in wins) in the American League. The NL is more wide open, as Cueto, the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright, the Braves' Julio Teheran, the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, and the Marlins' Henderson Alvarez would all get votes. 
• The American League Rookie of the Year race is between Tanaka and Abreu and will likely remain so. The NL race so far is between Diamondbacks shortstop Chris Owings and Reds centerfielder/speed demon Billy Hamilton. 

But, of course, the season isn't ending. We still have half the year to go, kind of.

Diamondbacks Fans, Meet Mark Trumbo

Another interleague trade. Mark Trumbo has never played against the Diamondbacks, so he's new to Arizona fans. Here's the skinny.

What's Good About Him? Power. Trumbo was tenth in the American League in homers in 2012 with 32 and fourth last year with 34. He's been a regular the past three years, and in that time, among players with at least 1,500 plate appearances, he's tied with Edwin Encarnacion and Giancarlo Stanton for fifth in home runs with 95. He's gone deep once every 17.92 at bats, the 14th-highest rate. He batted in exactly 100 runs last year.  

What's Not So Good About Him? A lot of power hitters also strike out a lot (not good), walk a lot (good), and hit into a lot of double plays (not good). Trumbo did strike out a lot: Once every 4.0 plate appearances, 12th highest in the majors among players with over 1,500 plate appearances. He grounded into a double play once every 39.1 plate appearances, 27th highest in the majors. But he didn't walk all that much: Once every 16.0 plate appearances, 84th in the majors. There were 104 players who logged 1,500+ plate appearances, so he struck out and grounded into double plays more than average and walked less often than average. All those strikeouts have kept his batting average low: .251 in his three years as a regular, .234 in 2013. The lack of walks have hurt his on base percentage: .300 as a regular, .294 last year. His homers have kept given him a good slugging percentage: .473 as a regular, .453 last year. His .251/.300/.473 slash line over the past three years compares to .256/.321/.408 for the American League as a whole.

This is not to say he's not valuable. Because of his power, his OPS has been consistently above average: about 15% over the past three years, adjusted for his park. Only MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt, second baseman Aaron Hill, and part-time third baseman Eric Chavez topped that figure on the Diamondbacks last season.

Trumbo's not a great fielder, and his best position is first base, where he's not going to unseat Goldschmidt. He'll be a corner outfielder.

So What Should Diamondbacks Fans Expect? Despite playing in a hitters' park, Arizona had the sixth-lowest slugging percentage and tied for the fourth-fewest homers in the National League last year. Trumbo will help on both scores. The ESPN Home Run Tracker chart at right doesn't do him justice: It shows where his home runs last season would've landed at Arizona's Chase Field. But Chase Field's an easier place to hit a home run than Angel Stadium, resulting in a park index of 106 for home runs at Chase (6% more home runs hit there than in Diamondbacks games on the road) compared to 90 in Anaheim (10% fewer than in Angels road games). So presumably some of Trumbo's fly outs at Anaheim will be round-trippers in Arizona. Trumbo crushes the ball when he connects--his average home run distance of 413 feet was fifth highest in the majors last year--so 35-40 home runs (along with a lot of strikeouts) seems a reasonable expectation.