Let me join the voice to Phungo. The Phillies, as we all know by now, have not been having a good season. The one extremely major exception has been the Panamanian smasher known as Carlos "Chooch" Ruiz. He is not hitting like a catcher or even like a first baseman, he's hitting like one of the top 5 hitters in the league. Check out this line (as of 6:43 pm PDT as I just finished watching him hit a HR in the 8th inning): .361/.427/.579. The last catcher to hit that well was (I think) Joe Mauer in 2009.
He's taken up residence in the clean-up spot for the team and is not just keeping it warm. Only one batter in the NL can lay claim to having a better OPS than him (Joey Votto), only 4 have a better slugging %, none have a higher batting average. He already has a career high in HRs with 10, and is the linchpin on offense and defense for his team.
He;s been a model of consistency, never going more than 2 consecutive games without a hit throughout the entire 2012 season. And most impressively, he has 3 stolen bases so far with his catcher's fram (5'10", 200 lbs).
For more statistical goodness, he is 10th in the league in runs created, 8th in the league in intentional walks, 3rd in the league in WAR (5th for the offensive component and 6th for the defensive component), and first in the league in hit by pitches.
So, elect a well-deserving player to this year's game. And he's not come out of nowhere (having received MVP votes the last two years, including with a .400 OBP in 2010). His body of work says he deserves an all-star appearance in his career, and with these top of the line stats, he's even harder to ignore than before. There is no more players overshadowing him, since he casts such a long one himself in 2012.
I've voted 25 times for Chooch. Have you? (fans of teams of Phillies' rivals can be exempt if claiming mental hardship)
1 comment:
Voted for Chooch (25x), and nobody else!
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