How Duffy stacks up in NL rookie race
CHICAGO — Brandon
Crawford had heard and seen enough. He watched TV analysts break down National League Rookie of the Year candidates without mentioning Matt Duffy and then noticed a tweet from a St. Louis baseball writer asking whether the Cardinals’ Randal Grichuk matched up with Kris Bryant, Joc Pederson
and Jung-ho Kang.
It was Tuesday, a day when Duffy had four hits, and Crawford couldn’t help himself, so he tweeted this: “Umm ... @mm_duffy #duffman”
Consider it the official kickoff of the Matt Duffy National League Rookie of the Year campaign. One word, Duffy’s Twitter handle and Duffy’s nickname hashtagged.
The Giants couldn’t have done better if their PR department distributed a 50-point synopsis. Crawford’s tweet said it all from a shortstop who has seen Duffy’s evolution play out to his right — replacing struggling third baseman
Casey McGehee, who replaced a departed Pablo Sandoval, who had been a Giants postseason legend.
“He didn’t come into the big leagues as a high-ranked prospect like Pederson and Bryant or with big publicity like Kang,” Crawford said. “That’s a big reason why he hasn’t been getting as much attention.
“We’re starting to see a little bit now, but it’s because he’s had to put up great numbers. These other guys, they were being predicted to win Rookie of the Year before they put up any numbers at all.”
Duffy opened the season as a utility man and began delivering immediately after replacing McGehee, and now it’s hard to find a more consistent and productive National League rookie. No other bats third, and entering the weekend, Duffy’s 3.7 wins above replacement, a stat that Baseball-reference.com and other websites use to measure a player’s value, tops rookies.
Among all the postseason awards, this figures to be one of the most hotly contested. Consider the candidates: Bryant (Cubs): Nobody opened the season with more hubbub than Bryant, who hit nine homers in 40 springtraining at-bats and got off to a fast start. The third baseman has struggled since the AllStar break (under .200) and is hitting .248 overall, with a league-high 132 strikeouts. He leads rookies with 64 RBIs and is hitting above .300 with runners in scoring position. Pederson (Dodgers): An All-Star and Home Run Derby participant, like Bryant. Also like Bryant, Pederson has had a rough second half. Twenty homers at the break. One since. Derby jinx? He remains a Gold Glove-caliber center fielder but no longer leads off, hits just .224 and ranks right behind Bryant in Ks (130). Kang (Pirates): Hitting .293 and leading rookies in on-base percentage. His WAR is second to Duffy’s, and he was named the league’s top rookie for July after hitting .379. He has eight homers after hitting 40 last season in South Korea and has played third base and shortstop depending on Pittsburgh’s needs. Grichuk (Cardinals): The outfielder leads rookies in OPS and extra-base hits and got a head start by hitting two homers in last year’s postseason. He has five homers since the All-Star break, 14 in all. He’ll forever be known as the guy taken one pick ahead of Mike Trout in the 2009 draft. The Cardinals aren’t sweating it. Chris Heston (Giants): Duffy has competition on his own team. Heston, 27, leads rookies with 11 wins and 1352⁄3 innings, and his June 9 no-hitter put him on the map. He has struggled in his past two starts, and he’ll be tested when he’s counted on in September for the first time in his pro career. Noah Syndergaard (Mets): He’s 6-foot-6 with a 5-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio and more strikeouts than innings. Syndergaard’s ERA is 3.01 (1.32 in July) and his WHIP is 1.11. He has five fewer starts than Heston.
There are other fine NL rookies including Yasmany Tomas (Diamondbacks), Ben Paulsen (Rockies), Maikel Franco and Odubel Herrera (Phillies), Michael Taylor (Nationals), Kyle Schwarber (Cubs), Taylor Jungmann (Brewers) and Anthony DeSclafani (Reds).
With eight weeks left it’s a wide-open race, and Duffy no longer is an outsider. He’s being featured in national publications and websites and appeared on MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk” on Wednesday, though he was asked more about his cat, Skeeter, than about his clutch hitting.
Crawford is fine with stepping in as Duffy’s spokesman.
“Lot of hard contact, lot of line drives, seems to always come through when we need a hit with runners in scoring position, the reason (Bruce Bochy) felt comfortable making him the 3 hitter,” Crawford said. “It doesn’t matter where he hits in the lineup. He still hits line drives.
“As a third baseman, he’s made huge strides. I think he’d be the first to tell you he was a little shaky defensively early in the year. He’s made adjustments, and he’s been solid over there.” Around the majors: Trayce Thompson, 24, made his bigleague debut Monday for the White Sox, and his big brother was in the house. Guy named Klay. Trayce got his first bigleague hit Friday after he entered for Adam Eaton (hamstring). He also doubled. When Trayce was in the Bay Area in October at World Series time, he, Klay and oldest brother Mychel (with the NBA DLeague Santa Cruz Warriors) played Wiffle ball. ... The Royals stole seven bases in last year’s wild-card game in Oakland, six on catcher Derek Norris. This year, Norris, a Padre, has thrown out 28 runners trying to steal, tops in the majors. ... Chase Utley needs 251 plate appearances to vest his $15 million option for 2016, and no way the Phillies will permit it to happen. The Giants are relieved they never landed the second baseman, formerly a .285 career hitter who fell off a cliff this season (.185, . four home runs). ... Liberty Media, which owns the Braves, said the team’s revenue dropped $14 million over the same period last year. Rebuilding can be costly. We’ll see whether the A’s are similarly affected. ... The Mets’ Yoenis Céspedes, with his fourth team in 13 months, said he’d like New York to be a longterm option and is open to a contract extension. He had similar sentiments a few months before being traded by the A’s. It makes sense in New York. They have the money, and he loves the limelight. He already has a relationship with Mets fan Jerry Seinfeld —at least on Twitter.