Monday, July 13, 2015

Brantley's 2015 First Half #s

the All Star break is upon us, and that means it's time to calculate Michael's 1st half numbers of 2015. usually i do a short version of this blog, but this year i decided i would provide all the details using the new format i recently implemented with the split sections. feel free to scroll through everything to find what most interests you, or skim through each section and focus mainly on the bold/italicized parts.


so far in 2015, Michael has a total of 346 plate appearances and 305 at bats in 79 games (617.0 innings). in total, he has 89 hits, 29 extra base hits, 60 singles, 24 doubles, 5 home runs, 46 RBI, 4 sac flies, 35 runs, 37 walks, 5 intentional walks, 9 stolen bases (2nd), 1 caught stealing (3rd), 8 GIDP, 26 strikeouts (16 swinging, 10 looking), 20 first at bat hits, 128 total bases, 129 left on base, 126 putouts, 7 assists, 1 error, and 1 double play.

1st Half 2015 batting average:

Monday, July 6, 2015

Brantley Not Selected For MLB's 2015 All Star Game

i was so excited last year when Michael made the AL All Star team for the first time in his career. unfortunately this season, i will not be repeating that joyous feeling. the All Star reserves were announced today and Michael Brantley is not one of them.

this year's Midsummer Classic starters were revealed on July 5 in the 2015 All Star Starters Selection Show on ESPN. as expected, Michael was not one of the three starting American League outfielders. those honors went to Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, and Lorenzo Cain & Alex Gordon* of the Kansas City Royals. the final AL voting results showed that Michael finished 9th out of 15 outfielders.

then on July 6 in ESPN's All Star Selection Show, the All Star reserves, pitchers, and final vote candidates were disclosed.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Brantley's 2015 #s Through June

before i get into this, let me just say that some of Michael's numbers to this point are not where anyone would have expected them to be. in order to get the full story as to why that is, be sure to read my Brantley's June 2015 #s blog in advance of this blog, which contains his overall statistics thus far.

**blogger's note: even though it's been somewhat difficult personally for me to watch various stats of Michael's decrease on a nightly basis, my blogs for this season are not going to stop. yes, Michael may be playing too much and not getting any significant time off to rest and potentially gain some strength back in his back, and consequently his numbers may be suffering. but i started documenting Michael's numbers years ago for a reason and i am no quitter. granted, it has not been as fun this year as in the past because he's having a rough go due to injury. and while there may not be a turnaround coming for him any time soon, i will support him regardless, defend him continuously, and make sure the truth is out there.

Michael is still doing an overall sufficient job, all things considered, but he certainly had higher expectations put upon him this year because of his outstanding 2014 AL MVP-3 season. so far, many could argue there have been numerous times when he

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Brantley's June 2015 #s

how are ya, Brantley fans? thank you to everyone who read my last 2 blogs, Brantley's May 2015 #s and Brantley's 2015 #s Through May. i noticed i got a lot of views from France in the last month, too. merci! beaucoup d'amour à vous!


June Overview

if i was going to give Michael's June a title, i could easily call it "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." it was just an odd month for Michael. he had good games, he had bad games, and he had games where it looked like his back was killing him. he's no longer the consistent player that he's become known as, but i guess that's to be expected considering he's been battling a back strain since day 1 of spring. still, it's unfortunate.

Michael had at least 1 hit in his opening 9 games from June 2-13, batting .333 (11-for-33). but unlike last month, he didn't have a dominating first half of June. in his first 13 games, Michael bat .319 (15-for-47). by no means is that bad, but it wasn't enough to compensate for the remaining 11 games, when he bat only .273 (12-for-44). all-in-all he earned himself a June batting average of