Bryan Reynolds (PIT): 2-3, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB.
Presented without comment:
Okay, presented with some comment. That leaderboard is surprising in a few different regard, but last night ought to remind people that Bryan Reynolds is, uh, really freakin’ good. Don’t say you didn’t see it coming when he gets traded this winter for a prospect package you probably think is way too heavy.
Let’s see how the other hitters did Saturday:
Dansby Swanson (ATL): 3-5, 2 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI.
Ozzie Albies (ATL): 3-5, 3B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Starting in the National League, Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies tag-teamed to wreck the Nationals last night, each going three-for-five and combining to drive in nine of Atlanta’s 12 runs. Swanson led the way with two home runs and six RBI, the most around the league last night, but it was Albies who really punished the baseball, homering, tripling, and recorded two of the game’s three hardest-hit batted balls, breaking 105 MPH each time he made contact.
Joey Gallo (NYY): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.
The American League also saw a smattering of multi-homer efforts, and none was as important as Joey Gallo’s two-homer night, as his 430-foot tank in the 10th inning proved to be the difference-maker in the Yankees’ 7-5 win over the White Sox. Whereas his first bomb was the definition of a cheapy with just a 7% hit probability, the second was nothing of the sort, leaving the bat at 114 MPH. It was just the second time in 15 games with the Yankees that Gallo has driven in a run, but despite his scuffle, he’s been getting on base plenty, walking 13 times in that span against just nine hits.
Ronald Torreyes (PHI): 3-4, HR, R, RBI.
Torreyes delivered his second three-hit game of the season on Saturday, belting his sixth home run and helping drive the Phillies to their 6-1 win over the Reds. After barely even making a dent in the big leagues over the last several seasons—just 126 plate appearances between 2018 and 2020 after playing in 108 games for the 2017 Yankees—Torreyes has carved out a nice utility role for himself on a Phillies time that’s perhaps higher in the standings than expected, running a more-than-acceptable .271/.321/.400 batting line (98 OPS+) and making appearances at six different positions.
Bobby Dalbec (BOS): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
The first multi-homer game of Dalbec’s career helped put Boston’s 16-2 thrashing of Baltimore into high gear on Chris Sale Day, launching a sky-high green monster home run (expected batting average: .200) in the fifth inning and then getting his money’s worth with a 445-foot laser beam (expected batting average: 1.000) against Cesar Valdez an inning later.
Dalbec has struggled to live up to his hot September last season, running just a 91 wRC+ with a BB-K greater than 30%, though he’s now homered in two consecutive games for the first time since that hot September.
Rafael Devers (BOS): 2-3, HR, R, 4 RBI, BB.
Somebody who’s not struggling to live up to a hot start? Rafael Devers, whose four-RBI effort last night put him at 89 on the season, giving him a turn in pole position over Vladdy Jr., José Abreu, and Shohei Ohtani for the AL RBI title. Devers got the action going early on Saturday, taking Jorge López deep in the bottom of the first inning with a three-run moonshot that he and the Red Sox never looked back from. Now slashing .284/.360/.569 (145 wRC+), Devers looks assured of some upper-ballot MVP votes barring a substantial collapse.
José Abreu (CWS): 4-5, 2 2B, HR, R, RBI.
Speaking of RBI leaders with a penchant for the dramatic, Abreu had another huge day on Saturday, homering for the second consecutive game and doubling twice in the White Sox eventual loss to the Yankees. The loss wasn’t for his effort, as the game would have ended about half an hour earlier than it did were it not for his two-out, two-strike blast off a hanging Chad Green curveball to tie the game.
Though he’s not quite at his MVP peak from last season, Abreu has still been as productive as ever this season with a 127 wRC+ right around his career mark, and with 86 RBI, he looks poised to break a 100-RBI pace for the seventh time in eight seasons. Also perhaps in the cards? A third consecutive season at the top of the league RBI leaderboard, a feat that’s only been accomplished twice since World War II, most recently by Cecil Fielder in 1989-91.
Kevin Newman (PIT): 4-4, 4 2B, 4 R, 2 RBI.
Saturday was a rare good time for the Pirates’ offense in their 14-4 rout of Milwaukee in game one of their doubleheader, with Kevin Newman leading the way for the Bucs by doubling in every single one of his four plate appearances. It’s just the seventh four-double game in the major leagues since 2010, and the first since Rafael Devers back in August of 2019. A 2015 first-round pick out of Arizona State, Newman had a promising 2.5 WAR campaign as a rookie in 2019 but has since fallen pretty far down on the list of “four-doubles-in-a-game” candidates, posting a putrid 49 wRC+ in 150 games since the start of last year.
Shohei Ohtani (LAA): 2-5, HR, R, RBI, SB.
Yawn. Another day, another dinger for the AL MVP-elect; and not only that but another combo meal—one of five he’s had already this season. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to hear that he absolutely murdered the ball last night. His homer left the bat at 109 MPH, and it wasn’t even his hardest-hit ball of the game, a 115 MPH laser that somehow found a glove. Just another day in the life.
Jake Meyers (HOU): 2-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI.
Who? Tyler Gilbert is getting all the accolades for last night’s debutantes, but he’s not the only one doing impressive things—last night was Meyers’ second career start in the major leagues, having played in four games as a defensive replacement and picked up a smattering of at-bats before yesterday’s explosion for the first real offensive production of his career. A 13th-round pick in 2017 out of the University of Nebraska, Meyers has absolutely destroyed Triple-A pitching in his age-25 season, slashing .343/.408/.598 (144 wRC+) over 304 plate appearances. With Kyle Tucker going on the injured list, Meyers stands to pick up quite a few at-bats down the stretch here. Looking at his minor league and early major league production this year, the Myles Straw trade makes a lot more sense.
Brian Anderson (MIA): 1-4, HR, R, 4 RBI.
Anderson had just a single hit in Miami’s win over the Cubs, but it was indisputably the biggest one of the day, a two-out, three-run homer against Zach Davies in the sixth inning to end the latter’s shutout bid and give the Marlins a 3-1 lead. When the Cubs eventually erased that lead on a Frank Schwindel double, Anderson drove in the game-tying run an inning later on a fielder’s choice. Run production, folks: it’s good!
Featured Imaged by Ethan Kaplan (@DJFreddie10 on Twitter)