Vladdy Triple Crown Watch

Lateral Quicks · Post #1 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Wed Sep 8, 2021 4:15 pm

Vladdy still has a legitimate shot at the triple Crown. If he finishes with a hot stretch, it's definitely possible.

As of September 8th:

Average: .319 (1st in AL, two tied at .320 in NL)
Home Runs: 40 (3rd in AL/majors, Ohtani leading with 43)
RBI: 98 (4th in AL/majors, two tied for first at 103).

He's got a real shot at leading all of the AL - and MLB - in each category.

I'm surprised the media isn't making more of this.

Fairview4Life · Post #2 » by **Fairview4Life** » Wed Sep 8, 2021 4:25 pm

Lateral Quicks wrote:Vladdy still has a legitimate shot at the triple Crown. If he finishes with a hot stretch, it's definitely possible.

As of September 8th:

Average: .319 (1st in AL, two tied at .320 in NL)
Home Runs: 40 (3rd in AL/majors, Ohtani leading with 43)
RBI: 98 (4th in AL/majors, two tied for first at 103).

He's got a real shot at leading all of the AL - and MLB - in each category.

I'm surprised the media isn't making more of this.

Triple crown isn't what it used to be I guess.

The_Hater · Post #3 » by **The_Hater** » Wed Sep 8, 2021 4:43 pm

They might start talking about it now that both he and the team are out of slumps. Nobody wants to talk about this when your team can’t win games and you’ve stopped hitting HR’s.

Parataxis · Post #4 » by **Parataxis** » Wed Sep 8, 2021 5:00 pm

With the way Semien's been hitting, it would be absolutely wild if he missed the 3Crown because he's second in HRs on his own team.

Lateral Quicks · Post #5 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Thu Sep 9, 2021 1:22 pm

HR: Narrowed the gap to 2 behind Ohtani's 43.
AVG: Leads the majors in BA at .3203
RBI: At 99, remains 5 back - Salvador Perez of all people now has the lead at 104.

SharoneWright · Post #6 » by **SharoneWright** » Thu Sep 9, 2021 3:28 pm

Sept. 8: Blue Jays 6, Yankees 3 -- Vlad Jr. vs. Chapman
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s home run gave the Blue Jays some valuable insurance, and anyone watching knew it was absolutely launched. At 114.3 mph, it was actually the hardest-hit ball that Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman has allowed since Statcast began tracking in 2015. The previous high, on a Mike Zunino double in April of this year, was 112.6 mph.

Lateral Quicks · Post #7 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Fri Sep 10, 2021 1:40 pm

After September 9th's games:

HR: 42 (Ohtani with 43)
AVG: .319 (leads AL)
RBI: 100 (4 behind Abreu and Perez)

... and still barely any talk in the local media from what I've seen... bizarre...

canz55 · Post #8 » by **canz55** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:33 pm

What's crazy is that even if Vlad wins the triple he's still not guaranteed the MVP.

Fairview4Life · Post #9 » by **Fairview4Life** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:54 pm

RBI's going to be a problem.

Parataxis · Post #10 » by **Parataxis** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:04 pm

canz55 wrote:What's crazy is that even if Vlad wins the triple he's still not guaranteed the MVP.

Honestly, with Ohtani's season, Vlad needs the Triple Crown to even make it close.

canz55 · Post #11 » by **canz55** » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:29 pm

Parataxis wrote:
canz55 wrote:What's crazy is that even if Vlad wins the triple he's still not guaranteed the MVP.

Honestly, with Ohtani's season, Vlad needs the Triple Crown to even make it close.

I feel like Ohtani is going to start slowing down to finish the season, he has to be tired at this point. If he's on something then its a completely different story obviously.

Lateral Quicks · Post #12 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:31 pm

After September 13th's games:

HR: 1st at 45 (1 over Ohtani)
AVG: 2nd at .318 (Starling Marte leads at .322)
RBI: 4th with 103 (4 behind Jose Abreu at 107)

It's a shame all these recent homers have been solo shots. Still, he's right there. If he plays the next 18 regular season games to his season averages, then I like his chances a lot.

Post #13 » by **Schad** » Tue Sep 14, 2021 9:37 pm

canz55 wrote:I feel like Ohtani is going to start slowing down to finish the season, he has to be tired at this point. If he's on something then its a completely different story obviously.

Ohtani has been in a slump over the past few weeks, but it's likely less about slowing down and more that he's just out of sorts. He's prone to chasing, and pitchers aren't throwing him strikes at current, and his swing is very timing-based given the amount of movement in his approach. He's also an athletic freak, so I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that he has to be "on something"...he's playing more on both sides than he has previous, but he pitched more innings in Japan while also becoming a full-time player later in his tenure there.

And it would be really unusual for Vlad to have a Triple Crown season and fail to win MVP, but Ohtani's doing something that no player has ever done in the majors. Unless he fares really poorly over the next three weeks, he's deservedly the MVP.

The_Hater · Post #14 » by **The_Hater** » Tue Sep 14, 2021 10:52 pm

I don’t think there’s much of an MVP race here, Ohtani already has it in the bag.

Skin Blues · Post #15 » by **Skin Blues** » Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:45 am

Yeah it's crazy to suggest Vlad has a chance at this point. Ohtani is barely worse as a hitter and is also a top 20 starting pitcher. Triple crown mattered in the 90's but I think we're past that now. Nobody in an MLB front office rates players based on their RBI or AVG.

Post #16 » by **Schad** » Fri Sep 17, 2021 3:05 am

Even setting aside the Triple Crown, Vlad's been the most impactful position player in baseball. It's just that he isn't in the top five in offensive runs above average and also a very good starting pitcher, because it's absurd that such a player exists.

Vlad would probably win the NL MVP, and will deservedly finish 2nd in the AL MVP race, but as it stands I'm honestly hoping Ohtani wins it unanimously for the simple fact that all of the 1st-place votes for Vlad will almost definitely be accompanied by nuclear-grade bad takes that make me sad.

s e n s i · Post #17 » by **s e n s i** » Fri Sep 17, 2021 4:29 pm

i do think ohtani's the MVP, clearly, over vlad. but this isn't an outlier season for ohtani either. this is who he is and who he was pegged to be, so unless he can't stay healthy or either his hitting or pitching falls off suddenly, i just hope everyone in baseball is prepared for a 5-6 year run with him taking that award home every year. what he does is kind of novel, but it would only be fair to vlad (and let's say mike trout were he healthy) if ohtani won every year from here on out if he performs as expected and people don't say "ah well he's won the last 3, time to give it to someone else".

Vampirate · Post #18 » by **Vampirate** » Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:43 am

s e n s i wrote:i do think ohtani's the MVP, clearly, over vlad. but this isn't an outlier season for ohtani either. this is who he is and who he was pegged to be, so unless he can't stay healthy or either his hitting or pitching falls off suddenly, i just hope everyone in baseball is prepared for a 5-6 year run with him taking that award home every year. what he does is kind of novel, but it would only be fair to vlad (and let's say mike trout were he healthy) if ohtani won every year from here on out if he performs as expected and people don't say "ah well he's won the last 3, time to give it to someone else".

The issue with Ohtani is because he's a pitcher, especially a power pitcher, there's more of a chance for his arm to get injured, thus limiting his overall value.

If Ohtani can stay healthy and produce to what he can do, he's the MVP in that year.

The Angels have 2 legit MVP type players and nothing to show for it......

Vampirate · Post #19 » by **Vampirate** » Sat Sep 18, 2021 1:51 am

Skin Blues wrote:Yeah it's crazy to suggest Vlad has a chance at this point. Ohtani is barely worse as a hitter and is also a top 20 starting pitcher. Triple crown mattered in the 90's but I think we're past that now. Nobody in an MLB front office rates players based on their RBI or AVG.

Ohtani is clearly a worse hitter than Vlad, it's not close this year.

There are also pitchers that are clearly better than him.

There is however, no pitcher that has anywhere close than has his value of a bat, and also none of the top tier hitters can pitch.

Skin Blues · Post #20 » by **Skin Blues** » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:54 am

Vampirate wrote:
Skin Blues wrote:Yeah it's crazy to suggest Vlad has a chance at this point. Ohtani is barely worse as a hitter and is also a top 20 starting pitcher. Triple crown mattered in the 90's but I think we're past that now. Nobody in an MLB front office rates players based on their RBI or AVG.

Ohtani is clearly a worse hitter than Vlad, it's not close this year.

There are also pitchers that are clearly better than him.

There is however, no pitcher that has anywhere close than has his value of a bat, and also none of the top tier hitters can pitch.

Ohtani is second in the league in wRC+ and is a top 20 base runner. Let's not get carried away with the difference in their offense. While it's technically correct that no pitcher has anywhere close to his batting value, that's an absurd way to frame it since 99% of the hitters aren't close to his batting value either.