Is there a better all-around player in baseball than Bryce Harper? The 23-year-old Washington Nationals outfielder batted .330 with 42 home runs last year. But it’s too early to say he’s as good as Mike Trout. Last year was the first in which Harper hit more than 22 home runs in a big league season and batted over .300.
Mike Trout is certainly the best player in the American League. He can win a game with a great catch even if he doesn’t hit. The owner of a .304 career average in four full big league seasons, Trout batted .299 with 41 homers for the Los Angeles Angels in 2015 and the righthanded batting center fielder is only 24.
Chris Davis led the American League with 47 home runs and drove in 117 while batting .262 for the Orioles. Now 30, the power-hitting lefty has 203 career homers and a batting average of .255. No reason not to expect 40 homers and .260 from him this year.
Fenway favorite David (Big Poppy) Ortiz is retiring after this season. The 40-year-old lefty swinger posted good numbers last year (.273, 37 homers, 108 RBI) for the Red Sox. Ortiz hit his 500th career homer last year and has a respectable .284 lifetime average.
Byung-Ho Park hit over 50 home runs for the past two years in the Korean Professional Baseball League. And the 29-year-old first baseman batted .343 last season. But it’s a far cry from Korea to the major leagues but the Minnesota Twins thought the righthanded batter is good enough to play for them.
The only player whom I search the box scores for on a daily basis is Jose Altuve. The 5-feet-six (or less) second baseman of the Astros is my favorite. Twenty-six this May, Altuve collected 425 hits over the last two seasons, leading the league each year. His 58 stolen bases in 2014 and 38 last year also led the league. His .313 average and 15 homers last year are big numbers for baseball’s smallest player.