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Jason Kipnis Indians

AL All-Star Report: 2B Jason Kipnis Carries Cleveland Offense

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The Cleveland Indians are hanging in the AL Central race, only 1.5 games back of Chicago coming into Monday’s games. And while a big part of that is the division they play in—at 33-32, the Tribe are only a half-game better than the Boston Red Sox or Miami Marlins, both of whom are fighting for their lives against tougher competition—another big part of it is the play of second baseman Jason Kipnis. The 25-year-old in his first major league season is having a year that would measure up against any caliber of competition and he leads up our discussion of American League second baseman on The Road To Kansas City and the July 10 All-Star game.

Kipnis started to make a splash last year when he came up and had an on-base percentage/slugging percentage line of .333/.507, including seven home runs, in just 136 at-bats. This year the graduate of Arizona State’s storied baseball program had the job from the outset and there’s been no letup. The stat line is at .339/.455 and he’s popped 11 home runs. What I like most about Kipnis is the run production. He’s got 41 RBIs and 46 runs scored, the highest combined total among AL second baseman. And this is not a case of someone just stumbling into a ton of opportunities. The Cleveland offense ranks ninth in the American League, so Kipnis is clearly making the most of the chances he gets to help the team put runs on the board. He’s also an asset on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage, so to speak, and deserves a trip to KC in July.

But while Kipnis deserves a trip, someone else deserves to start, and that someone will have no problem generating the votes. New York’s Robinson Cano may have gotten off to a slow start, but he’s blazing right now, as his team’s fortunes are tracking his own. Cano’s .367 on-base percentage and .534 slugging percentage both lead his second base contemporaries in the AL. He’s a solid defender. There is really no credible reason to pick against him other than an anti-Yankee bias. And believe me, this site holds that bias dear to its heart, so even though Cano’s on my Fantasy team I’d go against him if there was a logical reason to do so. But there isn’t. He’s playing the best baseball of any American League second baseman just based on this year and if you factor in his track record compared to Kipnis’ I think a fair-minded fan has to choose the Yankee second baseman (But I’m still choosing someone else when I go vote on MLB.com later this month).

Cano and Kipnis are the bright spots in a position that has almost as many disappointments as the first base spot does in the American League. After a fast start, Texas’ Ian Kinsler has cooled off and while his .338/.448 slugging line isn’t bad, it’s also not particularly noteworthy and when you consider the quality of the lineup he hits in and the friendliness of the ballpark for a hitter, it looks even worse. And we haven’t even talked about Kinsler’s terrible defensive range at a position where such can’t be overlooked. But say this for the Ranger second baseman—he’s swinging a better bat than Dustin Pedroia in Boston. If you watched last night’s Red Sox-Cubs game on ESPN (which would have required audibiling down from the U.S. Open or the NBA Finals to watch two last-place baseball teams), you heard  Terry Francona say that Pedroia could put a team on those skinny little shoulders of his. The fact I heard Francona say this gives me away as one of the people who really did audible down, and having watched enough Red Sox games I know Francona is right. But this year hasn’t had many of those times. Not with a .326/.400 stat line. At least Pedroia is an excellent defender.

Two other disappointments are Kelly Johnson in Toronto and Howie Kendrick in Los Angeles. Johnson, like Kinsler, got off to a hot start, but has tailed off to a .344/.400 line and like Kinsler, he’s a defensive liability. Kendrick has never gotten started and his up-and-down career is in a down cycle right now.

Still four more second baseman have to qualify as at least mild disappointments. After a terrific rookie year, Oakland’s Jemile Weeks is hitting .222 with no power. Seattle’s Dustin Ackley gives some good glovework, but is hitting .247 with no power. Chicago’s Gordon Beckham is batting .236 with no power. And Minnesota’s Alexi Casilla? You guessed it. Batting .247 and nary a home run to be found. Furthermore, Ackley is the only one who helps his team defensively.

Then there’s four more teams who have had enough instability at the spot that we can’t even put a name in the All-Star discussion. Well, I suppose we could put Baltimore’s Robert Andino in the group. But after a poor performance at the plate, he’s now lost the job to veteran Brian Roberts who just got back from the disabled list. The return of Roberts, who was once every bit the equal of Cano—if not superior—is one of the intriguing stories going forward in Baltimore. Tampa Bay’s Ben Zobrist is another such story. He’s had to play a majority of his games in the outfield thus far due to injuries, but now he’s back at second and starting to hit for the first time this year. The Orioles and Rays could be getting as good a second base work as anyone in the game—and if Pedroia and Johnson pick it up, the entire AL East could be strong at this position. The same can’t be said for the AL Central, where Kansas City and Detroit have instability due to incompetence and no reason to think anything will improve, at least internally.

AL Central Report: Cleveland Blasts Its Way To The Top

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No one’s doubted that the Detroit Tigers have been struggling for a while now, at least after a strong first week of the season. The relevant question was whether anyone in the AL Central could take advantage and make it a race. The Cleveland Indians are looking to give some answers, as they’ve surged to the top of the division and hold a three-game lead on the Tigers coming into Tuesday’s games. Cleveland took two of three in a key separation series in Chicago last week, then won a weekend series in Texas, then got the White Sox back in Jacobs Field and swept a day-night doubleheader on Monday. At 17-11, is it time to take the Tribe for real as a contender?

While the pitching has been respectable, it’s the bats that have keyed this recent hot streak, as Cleveland is fourth in the American League in runs scored for May. What is concerning though, is that this is very top-heavy. The middle infield tandem of shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera and second baseman Jason Kipnis are on fire, producing every which way you can imagine. No one else is doing much of anything, at least over the past several games. Let’s take a brief look at the overall performance so far of the Cleveland hitters

CLEAR ASSETS: Cabrera and Kipnis have been getting at done at the plate all year. Kipnis’ .366 OPB and .509 slugging is a sustainable season-long rate. Cabrera’s .437 OBP is going to come down and his .556 slugging will at least nudge down somewhat. And though Travis Hafner hasn’t been part of the recent offensive barrage, his outstanding plate discipline always makes him an asset, with an on-base percentage of .400, and while the power isn’t what it was in his heyday, he’s still got pop.

CLEAR LIABILITIES: Michael Brantley in center and Casey Kotchman at first have done nothing and are deadwood. Both are capable of more, but neither has a track record so good that we can just assume improvement. If nothing else, Brantley’s struggles make it easier to move him out in June when Grady Sizemore makes his latest attempt at a comeback from the disabled list.

CAN GO EITHER WAY: Carlos Santana is cut in Hafner’s mold as a hitter. He’s got this power streak that you hope would unleash, but even when he doesn’t hit, he does take his walks. Jack Hannahan’s done a nice job at third base, but after a hot start, he’s starting to cool down. The next month will be key in determining if he’s got a summer bounceback in him. And the big question mark in this offense is Shin Soo-Choo. From 2009-10 he was the best rightfielder in the American League. Injuries made a mess of last season. This year, he’s hanging on the fringes of respectability, but is one more bad week from being an outright liability. Are we watching the end of his productive days as a starter? How you answer that question  also answers how you feel about the long-term prospects of the Cleveland offense. And my answer is ringing, bold, “I have no freakin’ idea”.

The Indians have signed Johnny Damon and he’s now slotted to play every day in left, although at this point in Damon’s career his value is more intangible than anything. The team can use the veteran leadership that he, and his former Red Sox teammate Derek Lowe on the pitching staff, can provide. But overall, I still see more question marks than anything and would lean toward this current hot streak being a mirage.

A look at the rest of the AL Central…

Detroit (14-14): I think the Tigers’ worst days may have passed. They got Doug Fister back from the disabled list and even though he lost last night, the #2 starter pitched well in Seattle and at least the staff has an option on non-Verlander nights. Offensively, the rest of the lineup beyond Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera is kicking in. Alex Avila, Jhonny Peralta and Andy Dirks are all swinging good bats and went a combined 23-for-61 in the last week. Austin Jackson continues his hot hitting as the table-setter.

Chi Sox (13-17): Since April 23 this team is 3-11, including losing six of eight to Detroit and Cleveland. Since his perfect game, Phillip Humber’s been hammered each time out. John Danks is pitching lousy. Paul Konerko is slumping. The positive to the lack of offense is that at least all of Adam Dunn’s strikeouts aren’t preventing him from moving up baserunners. Though in fairness to Dunn he has returned to his old form of at least balancing all the K’s with home run power and a good chunk of walks.

Kansas City (9-19): I’ve said it before in this space, and I’m going to keep saying it. Don’t sleep on this team. As bad as the record looks, the Royals have stabilized, splitting their last 12 games after a hideous start, including a four-game split with the Yankees over the weekend—although I suppose you can argue New York wasn’t feeling like themselves after Mariano Rivera’s injury. But they’ve got hitters, the bullpen is at least respectable, and Alex Gordon is really locked in right now after a slow start. Ned Yost needs Luke Hochevar to give him some consistency in the rotation, because Bruce Chen and Danny Duffy are already pitching well. Three good starters will be enough to key a Kansas City move.

Minnesota (7-21): The one positive the Twins had going for them in this miserable year is that Denard Span, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer were hitting the ball well. Then came last week. Morneau went to the disabled list with a wrist injury. Span and Mauer combined to go 6-for-47, all singles. No one else picked up the slack. The Twin Cities must be longing for the glory days of 2002 when their team was under threat of contraction.