2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2012/2613332.html


Ben Badler at BaseballAmerica with a good story on how Latin American prospects are now trying to scam MLB. Now, it's not just the players assuming new identities. The mothers are doing it as well.

 

I'm going to throw you a bone here because I am too lazy to look this up, but does any one in baseball have a higher batting average since last July 4th than Jeter?

 

A Tuesday night against Arizona on May 1 for an everyday player. I predicted 25K before the game. Turned out, it was a shade under 23K. Sounds about right. Pretty lively 23K, though.

 

Jetes is batting .355 since July 9, 2011 (the date of his 3000th hit).

 

His career average is .314. Declining hitter suddenly gets better at age 36. Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.

 

Yeah, I'm biased, but that's pretty remarkable.

 

38

 

His slugging did not spike last year, but this year it is. That could come down to normal in a few weeks since we have a short sample size, but if it does not, it is suspicious.

But if he if just making more good contact, then that does not seem iffy to me, and if this was not drug-inflated, he is having a remarkable stretch.

 

It's not unfair to question it. I don't believe Jeter would risk tainting his legacy, especially knowing it's the one thing he has over A-Rod, but the players put themselves in the situation that nobody is above questioning.

Jeter or Rivera juicing would be crushing to me as a Yankees fan. Nobody else surprises me.

 

My bad. He had turned 37 by the day he got his 3,000th hit. Unless baseballreference.com has his birthday wrong, he turns 38 next month.

 

Sammy Sosa started "making better contact" when his number surged, too.