‘Splash! Thompson hits another! All of California is cheering for this kid!’ I just want to hear Vin Scully say that once. Has he? Oh, wait, you thought I was talking about Klay? C’mon now, this is baseball, and we’re traveling south down the Cali coast to LA where we find the future mashing prince of Dodgertown. The brother of the Splash Brother in Golden State, Trayce Thompson is quickly making a name for himself early in this 2016 season. We’re gettin’ to to in Week 8, and Trayce is creeeeepin…
- Trayce Thompson, OF (10.7%) – In the Week 7 edition a few commenters noted the hot bat of Thompson and Adam Duvall. While considering both for the highlight, Trayce edges him out despite potential concerns about the Dodgers having a crowded OF. Duvall’s OBP sits barely over .300 at….301. That ain’t good, no matter how much pop you have in the bat. Thompson, on the other hand, sports a cool .347 OBP with a 9.2% BB% and a 22.4% K%. While that K number might seem high, he’s managed to drop it almost ever year of his professional career. Last season for the ChiSox Trayce hit 5 HR in 135 PA. Solid. .238 ISO. Strong. This year he’s already mayshed 7 in 35 games and seems to be a lock for consistent ABs int he struggling Dodgers lineup. In May he’s slashing .301/10/6/14 with a 6:9 BB:K ratio. With Ethier, Crawford and Van Slyke all on the shelf, Puig seriously struggling and the Dodgers bats essentially flat-lining, Los Angeles can’t afford to not have him in the lineup right now. With another strong week under his belt, he’s a Creeper of the Week that could actually move his way into the Top 100 come Week 9. Get ahead of it while you can.
Enough creepin’…Here are your Top 100 Hitters for Week 8! Now in TECHNICOLOR!
RED = Falling
GREEN = Rising
BLUE = New to the 100
The Top 100 Hitters
| Rank | Name | Pos | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jose Altuve | 2B | HOU |
| 2 | Manny Machado | 3B/SS | BAL |
| 3 | Mike Trout | OF | LAA |
| 4 | Nolan Arenado | 3B | COL |
| 5 | Josh Donaldson | 3B | TOR |
| 6 | Bryce Harper | OF | WAS |
| 7 | Anthony Rizzo | 1B | CHC |
| 8 | Paul Goldschmidt | 1B | ARI |
| 9 | Mookie Betts | OF | BOS |
| 10 | Andrew McCutchen | OF | PIT |
| 11 | Giancarlo Stanton | OF | MIA |
| 12 | Starling Marte | OF | PIT |
| 13 | Kris Bryant | 3B | CHC |
| 14 | Carlos Correa | SS | HOU |
| 15 | George Springer | OF | HOU |
| 16 | Ryan Braun | OF | MIL |
| 17 | Nelson Cruz | OF | SEA |
| 18 | Robinson Cano | 2B | SEA |
| 19 | David Ortiz | DH | BOS |
| 20 | Yoenis Cespedes | OF | NYM |
| 21 | Jose Abreu | 1B | CWS |
| 22 | Chris Davis | 1B | BAL |
| 23 | Jose Bautista | OF | TOR |
| 24 | Miguel Cabrera | 1B | DET |
| 25 | Ian Kinsler | 2B | DET |
| 26 | Daniel Murphy | 2B/3B | WAS |
| 27 | Edwin Encarnacion | 1B | TOR |
| 28 | Charlie Blackmon | OF | COL |
| 29 | Eric Hosmer | 1B | KC |
| 30 | Dexter Fowler | OF | CHC |
| 31 | Gregory Polanco | OF | PIT |
| 32 | Xander Bogaerts | SS | BOS |
| 33 | Matt Carpenter | 3B | STL |
| 34 | Rougned Odor | 2B | TEX |
| 35 | Francisco Lindor | SS | CLE |
| 36 | Brandon Belt | 1B | SF |
| 37 | Christian Yelich | OF | MIA |
| 38 | Freddie Freeman | 1B | ATL |
| 39 | Adrian Gonzalez | 1B | LAD |
| 40 | Todd Frazier | 3B | CWS |
| 41 | Hunter Pence | OF | SF |
| 42 | J.D. Martinez | OF | DET |
| 43 | Ian Desmond | SS/OF | TEX |
| 44 | Buster Posey | C | SF |
| 45 | Stephen Piscotty | OF | STL |
| 46 | Ben Zobrist | 2B/OF | CHC |
| 47 | Gerardo Parra | OF | COL |
| 48 | Hanley Ramirez | OF/1B | BOS |
| 49 | Lorenzo Cain | OF | KC |
| 50 | Mark Trumbo | OF | BAL |
| 51 | Jason Kipnis | 2B | CLE |
| 52 | Travis Shaw | 1B/3B | BOS |
| 53 | Joey Votto | 1B | CIN |
| 54 | Kyle Seager | 3B | SEA |
| 55 | Adam Jones | OF | BAL |
| 56 | Victor Martinez | DH | DET |
| 57 | Jackie Bradley Jr. | OF | BOS |
| 58 | Adrian Beltre | 3B | TEX |
| 59 | Carlos Gonzalez | OF | COL |
| 60 | Odubel Herrera | OF | PHI |
| 61 | Marcell Ozuna | OF | MIA |
| 62 | Adam Eaton | OF | CWS |
| 63 | Trevor Story | SS | COL |
| 64 | Nick Castellanos | 3B | DET |
| 65 | Jean Segura | SS | ARI |
| 66 | Dustin Pedroia | 2B | BOS |
| 67 | DJ LeMahieu | 2B | COL |
| 68 | Corey Seager | SS | LAD |
| 69 | Justin Upton | OF | DET |
| 70 | Wil Myers | 1B/OF | SD |
| 71 | Aledmys Diaz | SS | STL |
| 72 | Jung-ho Kang | SS/3B | PIT |
| 73 | Troy Tulowitzki | SS | TOR |
| 74 | Albert Pujols | 1B | LAA |
| 75 | Miguel Sano | OF | MIN |
| 76 | Matt Kemp | OF | SD |
| 77 | Chris Carter | 1B | MIL |
| 78 | Danny Valencia | 3B/OF | OAK |
| 79 | Evan Longoria | 3B | TB |
| 80 | Melvin Upton Jr. | OF | SD |
| 81 | Jonathan Villar | SS | MIL |
| 82 | Jay Bruce | OF | CIN |
| 83 | Steven Souza Jr. | OF | TB |
| 84 | Addison Russell | 2B/SS | CHC |
| 85 | Michael Conforto | OF | NYM |
| 86 | Brett Gardner | OF | NYY |
| 87 | Josh Harrison | 2B/3B/OF | PIT |
| 88 | Kole Calhoun | OF | LAA |
| 89 | Starlin Castro | SS | NYY |
| 90 | Jacoby Ellsbury | OF | NYY |
| 91 | Joc Pederson | OF | LAD |
| 92 | Anthony Rendon | 2B/3B | WAS |
| 93 | Maikel Franco | 3B | PHI |
| 94 | Wellington Castillo | C | ARI |
| 95 | Michael Saunders | OF | TB |
| 96 | Jason Heyward | OF | CHC |
| 97 | Carlos Beltran | OF | NYY |
| 98 | Carlos Santana | 1B | CLE |
| 99 | Neil Walker | 2B | NYM |
| 100 | Steve Pearce | 1B/OF | TB |
Dropped from Rankings: David Peralta (72), Byung Ho Park (88), Yasiel Puig (89), Brian Dozier (92), Nomar Mazara (98), Mike Napoli (99), Brandon Phillips (100)
- Not a lot of crazy movement this week, but we’ve seen Mike Trout fully Mike Trout himself again, reminding everyone that he’s the OG in line for a $500M contract. Not Bryce Harper. Watching both of them square off for the next 15 years is going to be incredibly glorious.
- Also coming back to life is J.D. Martinez and Jose Bautista. J.D. slid a lot last week, but hit his way back into the Top 45 this week. He could easily climb back into the Top 25, but needs to consistently drop bombs for a few more weeks to top names like Dexter Fowler and Gregory Polanco. Bautista, on the other hand, or is on the right hand? Too soon? Anywho, after getting the bejeezus knocked out of him by Rougned Odor he hit three straight fingers through the weekend.
- And wouldya look at that…Nick Castellanos makes his appearance! Now get off my balls! I don’t think he maintains this and falls out of the Top 100 within a month. But you can’t argue with what he’s done so far this year, crazy BABIP and all. Now y’all need another name to hound me about while I persistently choose to deny his true value. Wait, don’t fight about this…lemme guess who it will be. Actually, I guarantee it after Grey highlighted him this past week…
- KHRIS DAVIS! A notable omission from the Top 100 yet again. And guess what? He’ll stay out of the highly esteemed rankings? Pero porque Mateo? See, he aggravates me to the point of speaking in tongues! Well, spanish. Close enough. Listen, Davis can mash the ball. Did anyone doubt that? You know what I doubt, though? His ability to get on base, take a walk and seemingly do much of anything besides hit a home run. He’s like the waning Mark McGwire from the mid-2000’s. Davis OBP sits at, wait for it, .265. That’s not a typo! His walk rate is a mere 3%, while he strikes out a quarter of the time. Oh, and those measles counting stats…2/3 of his runs come from his home runs. C’mon y’all, he’s a one cat performer. He might reach 30 HR, but his end line could be .235/50/30/70/0. Maybe. Can we all pump the brakes here? Take that 3-HR game out and what do you have? A slower Leonys Martin. And now that I’ve written this he’ll probably do his summertime takeoff thing and I’ll look as silly as he does vs. anything not down and away in the zone.
Alright, enough creeping and hating. We have TECHNICOLOR! Good luck in Week 8! Check back next weekend for the new names in Week 9!
