Texas Rangers

Calling Josh Hamilton’s 2010 a magical year, to date, would be an understatement.  His MVP-like campaign seemingly gets better and better as the season progresses.

Have doubts about his performance? 

All you have to do is look at the numbers (through Saturday) to settle your nerves…  Or maybe not:

After losing four games in a row, Rangers fans are fearing the worst. It's all too familiar of a scenario for a Rangers fan. The trend usually involves the Rangers battling for first place until around the All-Star break, and then a slow and painful collapse ensues.

In baseball, the art of being able to recognize and take pitches out of the zone is key to success. Although hitting statistics like home runs and batting average are glorified, walks greatly contribute to wins.

Here are the five least disciplined hitters, based on their O-Swing % (the amount of pitches out of the zone at which they swing). For some players, however, this strategy yields success (i.e. Vladimir Guerrerro)

Here's the Five Most Disciplined Hitters

WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is a statistic often used to determine the value of a player based on their position, offensive production, and defense. Here are the Major League's 10 Most Valuable Players based on the WAR they have produced.

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In a recent CNNSI.com column, Tom Verducci posits that Josh Hamilton is now the best player in baseball. The premise for this supposition is laid out nicely in the following passage from Verducci's column:

With the playoff races heating up, and everything starting to take shape, I am here to put in my opinion on who will win each MLB division, who will win each pennant, and who will win the Fall Classic.

The only division in the MLB right now with possibly a clear outlook is the AL West, but anything can happen.

I'll keep it short and sweet, so here we go.

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As the baseball season nears its end, and the playoff races begin to heat up, everybody is debating about who will make the playoffs and who won't.

Well, I am here to talk about the AL MVP race and who I think will win it.

As of right now, the two main candidates for the AL MVP are obviously Miguel Cabrera and Josh Hamilton. They are both having outstanding season for the teams which are both in playoff races.

Alot of people think it's all about the batting statistics that determines the Most Valuable Player, but that is not true.

The Rangers seem to have the AL West all but locked up. They have by far the largest lead in any division in baseball, yet some things just don't seem right at the moment.

With Ian Kinsler and Joaquin Arias on the disabled list, the Rangers are a little thin at second base. Ron Washington seemed to think that we may need a bit more help in that area so Christian Guzman was introduced as a Ranger.

On December 21, 2007, news broke that Josh Hamilton had been traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Texas Rangers for Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera.  

At the time, it was a fairly big trade; Hamilton had hit .292 with 19 home runs and 47 RBI in just 298 ABs for the Reds, while Volquez was a top prospect in the Rangers organization.  Herrera was not a top prospect, but he has gone on to be a solid bullpen arm.  

But we all know what became of Hamilton and Volquez.  

Let's call the American League West for what it is, over. Pull out the white flag, hook it up, and raise it to the top of the flag pole and let it fly proudly.

That's the note that I would write to the front office of both the Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. It's time for these two teams to call it a season, pack it in, and start planning their off season capabilities.