1. Nationals: Daniel Murphy (.394 BA, 9 HR, 34 RBI, 31 runs scored)
Daniel Murphy may be the greatest Plan C of all time. I think if the Nationals knew how the signing would turn out, they would go ahead and make him Plan A, as he’s been an absolute force at the plate for Washington, leading the MLB with his .394 batting average. It’s even more impressive seeing him fill in the gap that has been forming in the Nats offense since Bryce Harper began getting paid millions of dollars to be a power walker. Murphy found himself in the cleanup spot after the fateful Sunday at Wrigley where Ryan Zimmerman left 14 men stranded on base, and the Nationals figured they needed to put someone behind Harper who could punish teams more for pitching around him. Needless to say that has worked out for him and the Nats. He’s hitting .402 in his last 30 games (ok so some of them didn’t have him at cleanup, sue me) with 23 RBIs in that timeframe. He showed in last year’s NLCS that pressure doesn’t get to him easily, but we’ll see how he responds to the increased workload while the Nats try to figure out what’s wrong with Bryce Harper, who took a Jeremy Hellickson pitch off the knee on Monday. The good news is, Murphy immediately rose to the challenge, hitting homers on both Monday and Tuesday, while totaling four RBIs.
1 Comment
Daniel Murphy totally deserves this No. 1 slot. What a wrecking ball! RBIs all over. If only Harper was batting well…