By Josh:
It is unbelievable to me that we are already more than a week into the season but regardless of that I wanted to do a recap of what stood out to me from Monday April 1st to Monday April 8th.
Clayton Kershaw- Can you guess who is #1 on ESPN’s Cy Young predictor for the NL at the present moment? None other than the most dominating pitcher in baseball right now. Kershaw came out on opening day and pitched an absolute gem of a game and topped it off with his first career homerun. So you know what he does in his second start of the season? He goes 7 innings, giving up only two hits and striking out 9. There is only one person who can stop Kershaw, and that is Kershaw himself.
Chris Davis – The season has barely started and Davis has already had a great season for some guys. With 4 homeruns and 17 RBIs already, Davis is quickly showing that the potential that everyone once saw in him while in the Rangers system may actually be there. If he can just hold steady from here until the all-star game he could be the starting 1st baseman for the all-star game.
Carl Crawford- When the Dodgers made the blockbuster trade last season Crawford seemed like a throw in player because of his injury and big contract. Now he is looking like an amazing pickup in that trade. Gonzalez is doing great as well but Crawford turns an already strong Dodger outfield into one of the best in the game right behind the Braves.
Cliff Lee- Lee has two wins already. That doesn’t seem that important given that Lee is one of the better pitchers in all of baseball but given the fact that it took him until July 4th of last year to get his first win, and he wasn’t hurt and wasn’t pitching bad, just shows you how much a pitcher needs his team to hit to help him win.
Barry Zito- Not only is Zito showing the amazing form he once had in Oakland but he is doing it with a Giants team that already has Cain and Bumgarner who are great pitchers in their own right. With Zito suddenly showing up as a top pitcher again these Giants are going to make it really hard for the Dodgers to take over the NL West.
Will Middlebrooks- How does a young player make himself known to the baseball world in a big way? That’s simple you hit 3 homeruns in one game and just miss hitting a fourth. Middlebrooks is batting .286 on the season and has helped Boston to a 5-2 record in their first 7 games.
This season has already had some great moments and I can’t wait for what is coming next. I have to admit it is so nice being able to go to mlb.com and seeing new highlights from games, instead of plays I’ve seen a hundred times from last year.