Hey Batter³ Contest, Week 16: Spring(er) Chicken

For the second time in the last five weeks, George Springer has been the top batter for the week. Back in week 11, Springer led the way with 45 points. Well, in week 14 he was at it again, slugging his way to 46 points, just edging out Jose Altuve for the top spot. How about that, I managed to squeeze three commas into that sentence. I’m not sure it was proper grammar, but I can tell you that neither George Springer or I really care. Springer hit three home runs, drove in nine, scored twelve and stole his first two bases of the season en route to those 46 points. Only Nolan Arenado, Adam Duvall and Jose Ramirez have more extra base hits than King George. At 27, it seems Springer is hitting his stride and emerging as the powerhouse he promised to be back in 2013 when he fell three home runs short of a 40/40 season in the minor leagues.

For those that are wondering if Foul balls completed the three-peat, the answer is no. The winner was jesusc97 who selected Edwin Encarnacion, Francisco Lindor and Domingo Santana. Those three batters scored a total of 65 points, which was enough to win week 14. In second place was MattH (55) with Jose Abreu, Ryan Braun and Scott Schebler.

Here are the top five from Week 14:

jesusc97 (65): Edwin Encarnacion (16), Francisco Lindor (19) and Domingo Santana (30)
MattH: Jose Abreu (19), Ryan Braun (19) and Scott Schebler (17)
Robert Leiker: Ian Desmond (0), Andrew McCutchen (36) and Jose Abreu (19)
Trevor: Scooter Gennett (27), Adam Duvall (9) and DJ LeMahieu (17)
LenFuego: Daniel Murphy (25), Mark Reynolds (11), Jedd Gyorko (16)

Week 14 Perfect Pick: (123 points) George Springer, Giancarlo Stanton and Andrew McCutchen

Current Standings

The full standings are included in the spreadsheet attached at the bottom of this post.

Weekly Winners YTD

Chris Montgomery (70)
Trevor (80)
Euroalien (90)
Denhusk (138)
Cannot spell wrong without Ron (81)
DonSlaughtOnslaught (57)
Peter guigli (77)
Smallwine (71)
Fungazi (90)
BK BROILER (71)
Mickey (79)
Foul Balls (78)
Foul Balls (84)
jesusc97 (65)

Week 15

In week 15 there are 30 contestants. Those 30 have selected 60 different batters. The most selected batter was Nelson Cruz with five selections. Week 15 is a shortened, three day week. It should be interesting to see how many points people can squeeze out of those limited plate appearances.

At the time of this writing, which is about 9:45pm EST on Friday night, Smallwine is currently in the lead with 26 points. Smallwine’s picks are Anthony Rendon, Travis Shaw and Josh Reddick. El Famous Burrito is in second with 25 points.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Originally this contest was slated to last 15 weeks. However, since week 15 is a short week, I have decided to extend it to 16 weeks. This will be the last week of this contest before the playoffs. In order to qualify for the playoffs you need to either win a weekly contest or finish in the top three overall season standings. The playoffs will run five weeks and will begin with week 18 so that I have time to make sure everything is setup and we are all caught up.

For those trying to figure out what this whole contest is all about, please re-read this post containing the rules. For those too lazy to do so, here are the basic rules. Each week you pick three batters (no pitchers). A week (scoring period) runs from Monday through Sunday. You must have your picks submitted by 1:00 PM EDT on Monday mornings. You submit your picks by leaving a comment in the comments section of that’s week’s contest post. Comment timestamps will be used to break any ties. Once you pick a player, you cannot pick that player again in any subsequent week. A card laid is a card played. This means that once you announce your picks in the comments section, you cannot change them. It doesn’t matter the reason.

The last thing to mention are the unmentionables. Actually they are called Unpickables. You cannot pick an unpickable. Well you can, but you will get zero points.

The Unpickables – DON’T PICK THESE PLAYERS!!!

Mike Trout
Mookie Betts
Jose Altuve
Nolan Arenado
Paul Goldschmidt
Anthony Rizzo
Bryce Harper
Charlie Blackmon
Kris Bryant
Josh Donaldson
Manny Machado
Joey Votto
Miguel Cabrera

Each week is a new contest, but your weekly points will count towards your total points in the season long standings. The season will run fifteen weeks. At the end of the season there will be a five week playoff competition. In order to qualify for the playoffs you need to either win a weekly contest or finish in the top three overall season standings. That’s it. If you win more than one week and/or finish in the top three, you still only get one entry into the playoffs. However the person that finishes the regular season with the most points (first place), will be allowed to pick players from the Unpickables list during the playoffs (one per week). The winner of the playoffs will receive a brand new Razzball tee shirt. And that’s me plagiarizing me from last week again. Thank you cut and paste.

The scoring system that will be used for this contest is as follows:

1B(+1), 2B(+2), 3B(+3), HR(+4), RBI(+1), R(+1), SO(-1), BB(+1), SB(+1), CS(-1)

In case you don’t remember who you’ve already picked, you can refer to the attached spreadsheet which shows you everyone’s picks.

The contest closes on Monday at 1pm EST!!!

Important Note: Please use the same name you’ve used in previous weeks with all future submissions. Otherwise your points will not be combined and you will lose ground in the overall standings. If you are unsure of how you previously entered it, find your name in the standings tab of the spreadsheet and cut and paste it. You have been warned :)

Hey Batter Spreadsheet

Last chance! Newcomers welcome. Just because you missed any of the previous weeks does not mean you can’t join this week. Remember all you have to do is win one week (any week) and you’re in the playoffs!