Who's Hot, Who's Not in Major League Baseball

by Bodog Sportsbook | May 21 2008

As the MLB season is now in full swing, we take another look at who is hot and who is not.

Hot Or Not

Hot

Lance Berkman
It would take something special to knock Chipper Jones out of the top Hot spot. Special might be the only adjective to describe what Lance Berkman has been doing at the plate in the month of May. What began as a 17-game hitting streak turned into a furious offensive explosion which saw Berkman hit for a stretch going 36 for 66 and batting .545. Oh, and Berkman leads the majors with 16 home runs. You can’t get any hotter than that.

Chipper Jones
Chipper is still on fire. Even though he is now being overshadowed by Berkman, Jones is still tearing apart opposing pitchers. At this point in the season Jones means everything to the Braves offensively. The man is batting .409, he leads the team in home runs with 11, in runs with 34 and in RBIs with 33. Jones is almost always on base and seems to be in the middle of every Braves rally. Jones is on a hot pace, but what may be the most impressive aspect of his season thus far is that his performance doesn’t appear to have peaked.

Dan Uggla
Uggla is tearing the cover off the ball. He has 14 home runs, good for second in the Show, and 32 RBIs. Uggla is sizzling hot right now, as he has already hit 10 home runs in May alone.

John Lester
You come back from cancer, you regain your position in the rotation on one of baseball’s best teams and then you throw a no-no to the Kansas City Royals. You’re on the Hot list, no questions asked.

Brandon Webb
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb currently leads all major league pitchers with nine wins. At this point in the season, Webb has looked unhittable.

Chicago White Sox
Don’t look now, but the Pale Hose have won six straight and are tops in the American League Central. Ozzie Guillen finally has his boys, the “Good Guys,” playing solid baseball, a refreshing change from last year’s tank job. Interleague play seemed to jumpstart the team as they went 3-0. If the White Sox want to stay on top they will have to start getting consistent offensive production from big bats like Jim Thome and Paul Konerko; both players are capable of hitting upwards of 30 home runs in a season without breaking a sweat.

Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are only one game back of the Boston Red Sox for top spot in the American League East. They have looked impressive in many instances this season and might be for real. The strength of the young players like Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford, coupled with their efficient pitching from an underrated pitching staff has been key to their early success. Scott Kazmir is starting to find his form and if he can get it going he’s one of the best in the business at shutting down opposing bats. Andy Sonnanstine continues to impress as he already has six wins with only a single loss on the season. 


Not Hot

New York Mets
After the Mets’ massive collapse at the end of last season, this season was supposed to be a rejuvenation period for New York’s other baseball team. Particularly with the signing of “Johan the Man” Santana, the news of a returning Pedro Martinez and a strong offensive lineup, the Mets looked promising. Keeping in mind that it’s still relatively early in the season, it’s safe to say that sitting 2.5 games back of the first place Marlins and fourth in the division is not where the Mets thought they’d be at this point in the season. As losers of their last two games, it’s time for the Mets to stop all the talking and play some baseball.

New York Yankees
It’s a little surprising to see that both New York teams have made the Not Hot list, but the numbers don’t lie. The Yankees have lost four straight and they look more like the Bronx Boomers than Bombers. Pitching has been atrocious for the Yankees and they haven’t found the run support in the games where they need it the most. The Yankees look out of sync. A-Rod is back in the lineup and has already hit a home run in a losing effort, but his presence and news of Jorge Posada’s return should lift this team and at least restore their hitting power. But the Yankees will need more than bats to compete in the American League East; their pitching has simply not been up to par.

Adam LaRoche
Here is a case where a good player with a sweet swing is just flat out struggling. In his career, LaRoche has never hit under .250. He’s currently batting .203 with only five home runs and a whopping 45 strikeouts in 42 games played.

Ryan Howard
You know it’s bad when your own fans, fans for whom you hit 58 home runs in a single season as a baby, fans from a team that you once carried, now start to boo you. That is one heck of a bad slump that Ryan Howard has found himself in. He leads the majors in strikeouts, he does have 10 home runs, but he’s only batting .183. Given his age and maturity level in the majors, its highly questionable whether he deserves the treatment he’s receiving from the Philly faithful. But as they say, it is what it is, and it is Philly. And at .183 for average at this point in the season, Howard is better than that.

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