Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Brantley's August 2014 #s

Michael came into the month of August very close to breaking several personal records. and he did, achieving career highs in extra base hits, total bases, and RBI. that's when it looked like he was going to have an August for the ages. but then he hit the wall in Cincinnati. literally. and despite him insisting that his knee/legs were fine, the numbers say otherwise. Francona gave his legs a rest by having him DH in the NY series. but after that, Michael had trouble at the plate. he had a slump unlike any other this season, in that it took a good 11 games before he really came out of it. as a result, his batting average went from mid-.320s to under .310 for the first time since the beginning of June. he still hit balls hard, had line drive outs, and was robbed of a few base hits, but he had some equally bad at bats as well.

let's face it, Michael Brantley and the word "slump" don't normally go together, but they did for a big portion of this month. he had a very hard time in four straight series, against the Orioles, Twins, Astros, and White Sox. in the 6 games against the O's and Twins, he bat 2-for-22 with just 1 home run, 2 walks, and 2 stolen bases. then he was held hitless in the first game in the Astros series, bringing his slump to 2-for-26 (.077) in 7 total games. he was not swinging the bat the way we've grown accustomed to seeing "Dr. Smooth" swing the bat. he wasn't having many quality ABs and it was also reported that he didn't look comfortable in the batter's box. the overall slump got up to 2-for-27 before Michael finally hit an RBI single in the second game against the Astros. that RBI hit also broke an 0-for-15 slump within the 2-for-27.

the timing of this series against the Astros couldn't have been worse. yes, interleague play for the Tribe was technically over with by this point, but the Astros have only been in the American League for one year and Michael is not that familiar with their pitchers yet. i viewed this Houston series as basically another IL series for him, which he hasn't performed well in this year. thankfully, he got the third game off, combined with a Monday off day to get extra rest. and with a lefty starter pitching that third game, i was really glad Francona let him sit out.

but, already going into the Houston series struggling, this is when his batting average had noticeably dropped. and him going hitless in 5 of the 8 games had me questioning his health. even after that second game against the Astros, when both he and Francona claimed his leg soreness was gone, i still had my concerns. Francona said, "i think during the season you go through periods where, like in Minnesota, he took several good swings and fouled balls back. he just missed them. and then once you sometimes miss your pitch, then you're kind of in the hole."

after the second game against the White Sox, Michael was 4-for-38 (.105) in 10 games. the slump increased to 4-for-41 before he hit an RBI single in the final game of the White Sox series. when that game was over, he was 5-for-42 (.119) overall in 11 games. but it was then that i could tell he was coming out of it. that was proven to be true when Michael had a very good end-of-the-month series against the Royals, going 6-for-15 in 3 games. that's 1 more hit in 3 games than all during his previous 11 games! he needed that desperately because who wants to go into the final month of the year in a slump?

Michael's .286 August batting average is the lowest monthly average he's put up since April. and while that's not terrible a BA, when you compare it to how great he did in each of the preceding 3 months, you realize he had a bit of a tough go 'round this time. it's funny though how Michael still racked up 19 RBI, a normal indication of a very productive month. he also improved his hitting against left-handed pitching, with RISP, with RISP and 2 outs, and with 2 outs in an inning. how about that? it's a good thing he did extremely well in the beginning of the August, as that partially compensated for his struggles over the last 2 weeks.

consequently, for the first time this season, Michael's batting average decreased by 6 points from the end of last month. his current .310 batting average ranks 7th in the American League, 9th in the majors, and 3rd among major league outfielders. all things considered, a slump in August is better than one in April or May, given that it doesn't affect the BA as much. conversely, i think the slump killed any chance he may have had at the AL batting title. because even if he gets a lot of hits next month, hits in September don't help increase BA that much unless you have several multi-hit games in a row. (remember, he had 30 hits in 26 games this month and his BA still went down.) could he still be in the batting hunt if maybe he'd gotten a few extra days of rest? after all, he has played the most games he's ever played in a season right now through August. so that's definitely a thought in my head, but it's hard to say.

before the season, i never expected Michael to finish the year batting anywhere close to .320. but once he got up there during the year, he honestly made me a believer. since May 21, his BA has only been under .300 once, when it was .298 on June 8. the fact that he kept it up for so long made it seem possible that he could finish somewhere in the .320 range. that said, for Michael to be able to boast a BA over .300 going into the final month of the season shows he's done something right, or rather, a lot of somethings right, this year. and really that's all that counts.

i can't be mad at a guy who's batting .310 when that is still a career high for him at this time of year. i know he's going to take that momentum from the KC series and use it to bounce back in the final month. i cannot see him struggling for the whole remainder of the season. that's not happening. in fact, i think it's highly likely that he'll have some more hitting spurts in September. whatever BA he has after that final September game is of little importance. i really don't even care if he ends up in the .290s. Michael's overall performance this year has been nothing short of incredible. he's doing phenomenal and has already put up a year so much better than all of his teammates right now. he's been the MVP of the team, for sure, and i can’t be anything but proud of him.

as for the team batting race, Michael should have taken that bet with Chisenhall because even while Michael's bat cooled down a little this month, Chiz did not keep up his hitting at all. he finally fell under the .300 mark on August 6 and hasn't gotten back since. Francona claimed he was getting tired and that pitchers were adjusting to Chiz. so then Francona began "picking his spots" again, aka babying him and resting him against some of the tougher lefty starters. sometimes i wish he would do this with Michael, or at least give him more rest against left-handed pitchers. which brings up another issue i want to address.

for the last 2 months, Michael has just not been hitting up to par against lefties. idk what it is. the doubleheader against Arizona this month was an opportunity for him to really improve upon his left-handed pitching stats, since AZ was starting 2 lefties. but Michael could only muster 2 hits total against the starters in both games. fucking interleague. (however, this DH concluded the Indians IL play for the season. so Michael, who struggled mightily against NL pitching this year, will not be plagued by this issue next month.) fortunately, there are way more right-handed pitchers in the league, and he's doing sensational damage against righties. therefore, his lefty problems haven't been much of an overall factor.

speaking of not hitting, the majority of Michael's outs continue to come from grounders, although he is still hitting some laser line drives that result in outs and inevitably rob him of hits. he's now compiled 180 groundouts vs. 143 flyouts so far this season, and he remains the team leader in both categories. Michael also still has the least amount of strikeouts among the regular players. his overall 8.5% strikeout rate in 565 plate appearances barely went up from the end of last month (.1% increase). when you consider that some players on the team have a K rate between 18-23%, Michael is really doing outstanding in terms of making contact in the batter's box.

i read a short excerpt in an article in early August stating that, unlike many hitters, Michael does not take underhand flips in the batting cage. he prefers extensive work off a tee to concentrate on maintaining repetition of his swing, and i believe this is partly why he has such a high contact rate at the plate. Michael said, "good or bad that day, i know i prepared the same way and i was ready for the game. i just try to take the best swings i can and swing at good, quality pitches. i don't always look at results or what happens. my whole goal is to get the barrel to the ball as consistently as possible. the results will come after that."

Michael saw almost equal time in center and left field this month. he returned to left field on August 16 when Bourn was finally ready to play center field again. Michael did a great job filling in as the center fielder and even got himself one assist there this month. but since Bourn's been back, Michael has only played left field. so i don't anticipate him being in center anymore this year, especially with rosters expanding in September. i think it's pretty safe to assume that the total CF numbers as documented here will be his final 2014 numbers as well. and, if that is the case, i can say that i'm happy with the way his CF fielding percentage has improved since the April "error."

ending my search for perpetual regularity for a change, Michael spent the entire month in the 3 hole of the batting order. Kipnis remained the leadoff man until Bourn came back, and the 2nd spot was mostly occupied by either Mike Aviles or Jose Ramirez. Michael didn't have as many at bats with 2 outs in an inning this month versus July, but he still had more than most players. as Bourn got back into the swing of things, he was getting on base more, as was Ramirez once he got more comfortable at the plate. that meant Michael had more RBI opportunities in his first at bat in a lot of games. sometimes he delivered, sometimes he didn't. but all-in-all i've been relatively pleased with the way his 2-out hitting has improved.

during Michael's slump this month, which spanned a solid week and a half, he left a lot of men on base and RBI opportunities went to waste. actually, even when Michael was hitting well and acquiring RBIs, he still left players on base. (let me just make that clear.) but, when a player goes through a significant offensive snag and comes up to bat with men on or runners in scoring position, and then can't deliver, it hurts. it hurts the team and it hurts certain statistical categories for Michael. still, regardless of the rough patch he had this month, he managed to finish with an improved batting average with runners in scoring position, and specifically with 2 outs and RISP. that just might be the toughest time to deliver in a game, and Michael came through quite a bit in that instance in August.

on the flip side, Michael was left on base more than a few times this month when nobody behind him in the lineup could get him home. he only scored 10 runs in August, and 3 of those resulted from his own home runs. Carlos Santana is the designated cleanup hitter batting immediately behind him, and he's recently emerged as the 2nd best runner producer on the team. the 5th spot and below is where things can get dicey. that's usually rotated between Chiz, Yan Gomes, and Kip. Kip's been having a rough season, Chiz is cooling off, and Gomes has his good and bad games. so it's not just Michael who's guilty of leaving men on base. i'm hoping next month that more batters will bring him home after he gets on. i would love to see him finish the season with 100 runs. but this is one category that he really has no control over; it's dependent upon the hitting of his teammates that follow him to the plate.

as i said in the blog last month, Michael's aggressive hitting and first pitch swinging attitude is here to stay. he still jumps on a lot of pitches early in the count and, even though it makes me nervous, he's shown he can get the job done that way. in some cases it was almost like, the quicker the at bat, the better it turned out for him lol i refuse to sit here and complain or argue with his logic because the general results have been favorable. so keep it up!

Michael had a hit in 19 of the 26 games he played in August and reached base safely in 21 games. Michael reached base in 11 straight games from July 25 - August 5. he had 7 0-fers this month, including 5 in 7 games from August 15-22. he only managed to reach base in 2 of the 7 games he went hitless in, by way of a walk and a fielding error.

Michael had 5-straight multi-hit games, for the 3rd time this season, from July 31 - August 4. during his streak, he bat .524 (11-for-21) with 11 hits and 18 total bases. he hit 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 1 home run, totaling 4 extra base hits. he also had 6 RBI, 4 runs, 2 walks, 2 stolen bases, and 2 strikeouts. his OBP was .565 and his SLG was .857, giving him a 1.422 OPS. no Indian has had 3 5-game multi-hit streaks since Albert Belle in 1994. furthermore, Michael's 3rd streak of this nature was the most multi-hit game streak in the majors since 2009, when Ichiro Suzuki had 4 streaks of 5+ multi-hit games with the Seattle Mariners.

Michael is now batting .333 (116-for-348) against right-handed pitchers and .259 (42-for-162) against left-handed pitchers. his average against righties went down a little bit this month, which should have been expected considering the length of time that he was slumping. but his average against lefties actually went up a tiny bit. very tiny. i still don't think Michael's hitting at his full potential against southpaws, and he may not get there before the season ends. but he's better than this, so it's hard to see him get more outs than hits against those lefties. that said, i would consider it a huge success if he could bump that average up to .280 by the time 2014 is over.

Michael's batting .343 (83-for-242) at home, with 51 RBI and .280 (75-for-268) on the road. he's still wearing his bats out at Progressive Field as he continues to be one of the best home hitters in the American League. and i'm particularly satisfied that he can also hit away from home. there are some players who, for whatever reason, cannot spread their hitting around all the different ballparks. but Michael is not intimidated by the road, and his BA there remains steady.

it's fairly obvious that Michael is leading the team in RBI because he knows how to deliver when runners are on base and in scoring position. he's now batting .354 (45-for-127) with runners in scoring position, totaling 66 RBI, a large increase from the end of last month. that increase is mainly due to his much improved batting average of .315 (17-for-54) and 24 RBI with 2 outs and RISP. he's also hitting .304 (7-for-23) with 0 outs and runners in scoring position, a little decrease from a month ago, as well as a steady .420 (21-for-50) with 1 out and RISP. additionally, Michael is batting .341 (71-for-208) with 71 RBI with runners on base, and .545 (6-for-11) with 18 RBI when the bases are loaded. once again, Michael had several at bats with 2 outs, and also once again, he's been excelling at that, now batting .290 (53-for-183) with 30 RBI with 2 outs in an inning.

Michael hit 3 more home runs in August. so if we add that to his home run total through July, his new career high is 18 home runs. i knew this would most likely be the month that Michael finally passed his father's career high home run total, and he did it pretty quickly by hitting his 16th home run on August 3. that home run was also his 2nd walk-off homer of this season. but honestly, i was kinda more excited about it making Michael the new Brantley in the family with the most home runs in one season.

Michael hit his 18th home run on August 16, which just happened to be a 2-run homer--his first 2-run homer since his 6th home run of the season back on May 8. that means he hit 11 straight solo homers (#7-17) before someone was finally on base again during his "swing and a drive to deep right field!" lol my only question now is, can he acquire at least 2 more homers next month to give him a total of 20 for the year? i think he can.

another thing that excited me was when Michael got his career high 74th RBI on August 9. he finished the month leading the team with 85 RBI, his current new career high in this category. his 85 total RBI rank 4th among American League outfielders, 6th among major league outfielders, 9th in the American League, and 13th overall in the majors. whatever his RBI total for the season ends up being, i will be so proud of him. but it would be absolutely astounding if he finished the year with triple digit runners batted in. i would be completely flabbergasted with amazement.

Michael's 19 RBI this month was much improved from the last 2 months. he still left 38 guys on base in the 26 games he played, but if that somehow equals 19 ribbies, i can't care too much about it lol he's not going to drive every guy home, and if he had, he definitely would have set a record. i'm just glad that other guys in the lineup are hitting and getting themselves on base, to take some of the pressure off Michael.

because Michael hit 3 more home runs this month, it's time to update his HR/RBI ratios. 14 of his 18 home runs have been solo, while the other 4 were 2-run homers. this means that 14 of his 85 RBI (16.5%) have come from solo homers, and 22 of his 85 RBI (25.9%) have come from all 18 of his home runs. both of those percentages decreased from last month, proving Michael doesn't need to go yard to be effective. and while i'm still waiting for that 3-run homer, i'd love it more if he could just total 20 home runs by the end of the season.

before Michael achieved that new personal best in RBI, he set career highs in extra base hits and total bases this month. he got his career high 48th extra base hit on August 7, then followed that up with career high 223 total bases on August 8. he led the team in both categories on those dates and still leads the team with 57 and 253, respectively. Michael will no doubt add onto these highs right up until the season comes to a close and i'm very anxious to see what his final numbers turn out to be.

besides leading the team in RBI (85)*, extra base hits (57)*, and total bases (253)*, Michael leads the team with: 158 hits*, 101 singles*, 37 doubles*, 81 runs*, 7 hit by pitches (tied)*, 130 games*, 565 plate appearances*, 510 at bats*, .310 BA*, .368 OBP*, .496 SLG*, and .864 OPS*. he currently has the best stolen base:caught stealing ratio (17:1)* on the team. he also leads the outfielders with 11 assists*, 226 putouts, and 1096.1 innings.

he's 2nd on the team with 18 home runs*, 5 sac flies, and 17 stolen bases*, and he’s tied for 2nd with 43 walks*. he has the least amount of strikeouts with 48* as well.

(*denotes these are also career highs for Michael through August. these rankings include qualifiers only.)

Michael surpassed his previous August highs in several categories. after doing my research, i found that Michael set career highs for himself in the month of August with the following: 30 hits, 13 extra base hits, 49 total bases, 10 doubles, 3 home runs, 19 RBI, 1 intentional walk, 113 plate appearances, 105 at bats, .467 SLG, and .794 OPS.

time for other fun facts about Michael's season through August. he's hit safely in 49 of 61 home games and 99 of 130 games overall. he now has 44 multi-hit games, or he's multi-hit in 33.8% of the games he's played in. he's recorded an RBI in 57 of 130 games (43.8%), and has 20 multi-RBI games. plus, Michael has 24 go-ahead hits and 27 go-ahead RBI, the latter ranking near the top in the American League. he also has a team high 13 games with 3+ hits this season.

compared to other qualifying outfielders in the American League, Michael is ranked 1st in doubles (37); 2nd in batting average (.310); tied for 2nd in runs (81); 3rd in hits (158), extra base hits (57), and OPS (.864); 4th in RBI (85), OBP (.368), and SLG (.496); 5th in total bases (253); and tied for 7th in home runs (18). in addition, his doubles rank tied for 3rd, total bases 7th, OPS 8th, SLG 9th, and OBP 10th in the AL. among all major league outfielders, Michael is 1st in doubles, and he's tied for 5th overall in the majors in 2-baggers as well.

ready for the highlights and lowlights portion of my blog? well let me start with the biggest change for Michael this month. on August 1, i learned that Michael's request to move his locker in the clubhouse was approved by clubhouse boss Tony Amato. he's taken over the locker once occupied by Justin Masterson, who was just traded 2 days ago, which is considered one of the most desired spots in the locker room. Michael's locker is now in a corner that's somewhat hidden by a post. that seems to suit his personality more, as opposed to where his old locker was, right in the middle of the action on the open wall near the clubhouse entrance. new locker, new Michael?

on August 3, Michael hit his 2nd walk-off home run this season, making him the first Indians player to have 2 extra-inning walk-off home runs in one season since Jim Thome's 3 in 2001. Michael led off the bottom of the 12th inning with the game tied at 3, and on the 7th pitch of a 3-2 count from Phil Klein, he hit a fastball into the visitors' bullpen to win the game. it marked the Indians' 7th walk-off win of the year, 5th walk-off win in extra innings, and 75th walk-off home run in Progressive Field history. in spite of all that, the best thing (in my opinion) about Michael's 16th home run this year was that he finally passed his father's career high 15 home runs. i wrote a blog with more details about all this here.

but it wasn't all smiles and excitement this month. it rarely is. this is the time of year when it's common for ballplayers to be banged up, but you especially hate it when it happens to your favorite player. during the August 6 game against the Cincinnati Reds, Michael made a running catch in the bottom of the 3rd inning for the 2nd out. after the putout, he banged his right knee into the wall in right center field. he grimaced but stayed in the game and had 2 more at bats, one of which he GIDP'd. it was easy to see that he was not running normally down the line and if he was healthy, he might have beat it out. he was removed from the game in the bottom of the 7th inning as part of a double switch/pitching change. Francona insisted that Michael was fine, claiming he could use a rest because he'd been on his legs a lot lately. my response to that was, 'hasn't everybody, though?' so i was worried.

Michael played center field again in the August 7 game, and hit a double in the top of the 1st inning. but after the game, in the D-Man report, Plain Dealer writer Dennis Manoloff wrote, "Michael Brantley, hitting with 99-percent hands because something is not right with one of his legs, doubled to right." Michael maintained his legs were fine though, downplaying his contact with the wall in Cincy.

the next day on August 8, Francona put Michael in the lineup as the DH, saying, "he's been on his legs a lot. i just wanted him to get off his legs a little bit." when Michael was asked about it, he remained stoic, replying, "i'm fine. what are you talking about?" but he continued to DH for the entire series against the Yankees and went 5-for-10, with 4 RBI.

it was reported on August 10, during the final game of the Yankees series, that Michael was dealing with leg soreness but really wanted to keep playing and was okay enough to stay in the lineup. finally, the truth came out. the hope was that 3 days in a row of DHing plus the August 11 off day would be a big help in combating the issue.

the game against Arizona on August 12 ended up being rained out after the guys played just a few innings. they rescheduled it to be played as part of a doubleheader the following day. because of that, Michael played center in the first game and DH'd in the second game. going into the game on August 12, it was again said that his legs were fine and he was okay. (and i was hopeful that that was true, until the slump began on August 15, that is.) but because the team had to play a traditional DH--2 games in a row in 1 day--Francona decided it was best to not have Michael in the field for both games.

now let's go back because despite Michael's knee/leg issue, he set a couple career highs for himself over 3 days. it began on August 7, when Michael set a new career high of 48 extra base hits after hitting a 2-out double in the top of 1st inning in the game against Homer Bailey and the Cincinnati Reds. his previous career high was 47, and he accomplished that back in 2012. i wrote a short blog about this here.

on August 8, Michael set a new career high with 223 total bases when he hit a leadoff double in the top of the 6th inning against former Cleveland Indians pitcher, David Huff, now of the New York Yankees. his previous career high was 222, set back in 2012. i wrote a short blog about this here. oh and he also tied his career high RBI total by drawing a bases loaded walk in the top of the 7th inning.

for the 3rd day in a row, Michael set a new career high, this time in the RBI category. on August 9, he hit a solo home run off the top of the right-field foul pole, in the top of the 8th inning against New York Yankee Chase Whitley, driving himself in for his record-breaking 74th RBI. and, i think you know by now, i wrote a blog about it with pictures and a video here.

going into the first game on August 13, Michael's 25 go-ahead RBI ranked 3rd in the American League. he was behind only Jose Abreu, who had 26 go-ahead RBI, and Miguel Cabrera, who had 28. i came across this stat from one of my trusty Tribe scribes. i personally don't know where to find this particular ranking online, so i could not get an updated rank once the month ended. but i thought it would still be nice to include here.

after the doubleheader on August 13, it was pointed out on twitter that Michael saw a total of 48 pitches. out of those 48 pitches, he only swung and missed at one pitch. one of 48. that means that of the other 47 pitches, Michael either swung and made contact for a hit, swung and made contact that resulted in a foul, or the pitches were thrown outside for balls. i'm just documenting this here because it was made known to me lol

on August 15, it was reported that no player has had a bigger offensive improvement than Michael this season other than Devin Mesoraco of the Cincinnati Reds. Michael's not only increased his power, but he's reduced his strikeouts as well, which only helps him more considering he already hits for a good average. his increase in power is somewhat due to the fact that Michael's become more of a pull hitter against fastballs. and as i mentioned a few blogs ago, he's also been swinging at more strikes this year than he has in the past.

on August 16, Michael had acquired at least one RBI in 52 out of the 118 games he had played in. at that time, it was the 3rd most games with an RBI in the American League. again, i regretfully can't update this stat because i don't have access to that specific ranking.

after the game on August 16, Michael was the only player in the major leagues batting at least .300 with 18+ home runs, 80+ RBI, and 10+ stolen bases. think about that for a second. no other player in the big leagues had those stats. i'm so proud of Michael!

Michael had 2 strikeouts in the August 21 game against Minnesota for just the second time this season, the first being all the way back on April 25. you and i both know that Michael doesn't strike out much, so it's extremely rare that he do it twice in one game. a red flag should go up any time you see that in the stat line. one strikeout was definitely his fault, as he swung and missed for strike 3. but the other one was a result of a shitty called strike 3. typical.

so remember in June when i talked about how Michael was bogusly called out on strikes, and then gave the home plate umpire what for in a rare display of emotion? well he did it again in this game. the count was full in the top of the 8th inning with a runner on 1st and 2 outs. according to the strike zone on my GameDay, the 4th and 5th pitches were outside, and that made the count full. so when i saw that the 6th pitch, also outside, was called strike 3, i was pissed. and so was Michael, who threw his bat on the ground and stared at the home plate ump. this could have been a turning point in the game for the Indians, who ended up losing, 4-1. and just so nobody thinks i'm being stupid here, the ump also "claims" that Corey Kluber walked 4 people in this game. how often does Klubot walk anybody let alone FOUR people? clearly the strike zone that day was a fucking mess.

after the game, i read that STO showed an angry Michael sitting alone in the dugout. i obviously didn't see it but it reminded me of Michael sitting in the dugout at Target Field after the game on September 20, 2010, when his 22-game hitting streak came to an end. Target Field has not been a kind park to Michael. he once hit a "home run" into the flowerbeds in right field, which was overturned to just a double. i know he considers it a special park because that's where he made his All Star debut, but i personally hate that place because of how it's fucked him in the past.

okay, let me lighten the mood and tell you a happier story now. i saw Michael's father, Mickey, at the August 23 game when i was there and pointed him out to my parents. after the game, my mother went to the Horseshoe Casino while i went to the players parking lot with my dad. mom called us once she got to the casino to tell us that she walked to the casino with Mickey and actually started a conversation with him. Mickey told my mother that he's very proud of Michael, among other things.

maybe an hour went by before my mom called us again, this time saying she saw Michael playing poker with his father, and he was drinking. so we then rushed over to the casino so i could check this out for myself. i (rightfully) assumed Michael was getting the August 24 game off (which i was happy about because i knew he could use a day off), or else he probably wouldn't be drinking. i took a few pictures of him at the table (LOL! sorry), which you're not allowed to do (#badass) before we left to go home. that might not have been a highlight for Michael, cause idk if he won any money or lost money or what, but it was a definite highlight for me. it was cool to see him in that setting, outside of Progressive Field and not being a ballplayer for once. and now i know he likes poker lol =D

on August 30, Michael acquired his 5th stolen base and 10th run of the month, and on August 31, he got his 13th extra base hit and 19th RBI of the month. that allowed him to finish August with 13 extra base hits, 19 RBI, 10 runs, and 5 stolen bases, becoming just the fifth Indians player in the last 10 years to have at least those stats in one month. the last player to do so was Jason Kipnis in both May and June of the 2013 season. before Kip, there was Asdrubal Cabrera in May 2011, Shin-Soo Choo in September/October 2010, and Grady Sizemore in May 2006. (thanks to Jordan Bastian for this info.)

moving on to defense, as i mentioned earlier, Michael split time between both center and left field this month. for the fourth straight month, he did not commit any errors, giving him a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in August. he didn't have a whole lot of balls hit to him though, so he only had a total of 36 putouts. there were several games where Michael only recorded one putout, and sometimes none. and because he was the DH for 4 games, he lost out on putout opportunities then, too.

Michael added 1 more assist to his total this month. his 11 total outfield assists are tied for 4th most in the American League and in the major leagues. Nick Markakis of the Baltimore Orioles also has 11 assists. Melky Cabrera of the Toronto Blue Jays is 3rd in the AL with 12 assists, while Jackie Bradley, Jr. of the Boston Red Sox is 2nd with 13. the leader right now is another Boston Red Sox outfielder, the incomparable Yoenis Cespedes with his 14 outfield assists.

Michael tied his career high in assists with his 11th outfield assist on August 7. the Indians were playing against the Reds in Cincy, it was the bottom of the 2nd inning, and Michael was manning center field. after Nick Swisher misplayed a triple that was hit to him in left, yes, Swisher was playing left, Michael ran over, picked up the ball, and threw it to shortstop Jose Ramirez. Homer Bailey had already scored on the Billy Hamilton triple, and when Michael threw the ball in, Hamilton was caught up in a rundown trying to go home. Ramirez threw the ball to Chiz at 3rd, who threw the ball to Gomes coming up the 3rd baseline, who then tagged out Hamilton. the inning was over and Michael was credited with the assist.

it appears that less guys are running on Michael now, as his arm continues to get more respect around the league, so i'm not sure if he'll get any more assists this year. though i can't deny i would like to see him get at least one more to set a new career high for himself. i mean, why not? he's set career highs in just about every other category this season lol in any case, that doesn't take away from the fact that he's the best left fielder the Indians have had in quite a while and i will be pretty pissed off if he's not considered for a Gold Glove this year.


let me end this with some expectations, hopes, and wishes for Michael in his final month of the 2014 season. i want to see Michael start tearing the cover off the ball against all the southpaws he faces, and i want that batting average against lefties to get up into the .280s. anything less than that will be disappointing in what otherwise is going to be the best all around season he's ever had in the big leagues.

Michael has already set a number of new career highs, and he's also close to setting a few more. as i said above, i wish for him to set a new career high in outfield assists. but additionally, i want career highs in hits, doubles, walks, and stolen bases. that might seem like a tall order but he really is on the cusp of new records in all those categories. and again, i think it would be amazing if Michael put up a 20-20 season. he's almost there, and i believe he can do it.

lastly, i wish for Michael to get his slugging percentage back up to .500. i'm not gonna harp on his batting average, but i want that SLG at .500. so good luck, Michael! close this year out with a bang!



now let's break down the numbers. i am going to document his August #s, the 3rd spot #s, and the DH #s, as well as the center field #s, left field #s, and overall outfield #s.


August batting average: .286

OBP: .327

SLG: .467

OPS: .794


Michael played in 26 (of 27) games, 24 complete, in August. he started and played center in 9 games, completing 7 of those games. he was subbed out of 1 game after 5 innings because the Indians had a solid lead. he left 1 game early after banging his right knee into the right-center field wall and played 6.1 innings. he started and was the DH for 4 games. he started and played left in 13 complete games. the 1 game he did not play in was just Tito giving him a much needed day off.


Michael bat 3rd in 26 games.


Michael played left field in 13 games. (13 complete)

Michael played center field in 9 games. (7 complete, 2 started: 11.1 innings)

Michael was the DH in 4 games.

Michael played in 24 complete games.



in August, Michael had a total of 113 plate appearances and 105 at bats. here is how he fared:

30 hits

17 singles

10 doubles

3 home runs

19 RBI

1 sac fly

10 runs scored

6 walks

1 intentional walk

1 hit by pitch

5 stolen bases

2 GIDP

10 strikeouts (6 swinging, 4 looking)

7 first at bat hits

49 total bases


38 left on base

36 putouts

1 assist

197.1 innings, 26 games

(24 complete games)

August batting average: .286 (30-105) (26 games)


now let's break down his numbers based on where he hit in the lineup.


when Michael bat 3rd in August, he had a total of 113 plate appearances and 105 at bats in 26 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

30 hits

17 singles

10 doubles

3 home runs

19 RBI

1 sac fly

10 runs scored

6 walks

1 intentional walk

1 hit by pitch

5 stolen bases

2 GIDP

10 strikeouts (6 swinging, 4 looking)

7 first at bat hits

49 total bases


38 left on base

36 putouts

1 assist

197.1 innings, 26 games

(24 complete games)

August batting average in the 3rd spot: .286 (30-105) (26 games)
overall batting average so far in the 3rd spot: .316 (128-405) (100 games) (853.1 innings)


when Michael bat 3rd and played center in August, he had a total of 37 plate appearances and 37 at bats in 9 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

12 hits

8 singles

3 doubles

1 home run

8 RBI

3 runs scored

1 stolen base

1 GIDP

3 strikeouts (looking)

4 first at bat hits

18 total bases


11 left on base

18 putouts

1 assist

78.1 innings, 9 games

(7 complete games)

August batting average in the 3rd spot while playing center: .324 (12-37) (9 games)
overall batting average so far in the 3rd spot while playing center: .289 (39-135) (36 games) (300.2 innings)


when Michael bat 3rd and played left in August, he had a total of 57 plate appearances and 53 at bats in 13 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

11 hits

5 singles

5 doubles

1 home run

7 RBI

4 runs scored

3 walks

1 intentional walk

1 hit by pitch

4 stolen bases

1 GIDP

6 strikeouts (5 swinging, 1 looking)

1 first at bat hit

19 total bases


23 left on base

18 putouts

119 innings, 13 games

(13 complete games)

August batting average in the 3rd spot while playing left: .208 (11-53) (13 games)
overall batting average so far in the 3rd spot while playing left: .323 (81-251) (63 games) (552.2 innings)


when Michael bat 3rd, he was the DH in August for 4 games. he had a total of 19 plate appearances and 15 at bats. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

7 hits

4 singles

2 doubles

1 home run

4 RBI

1 sac fly

3 runs scored

3 walks

1 strikeout (swinging)

2 first at bat hits

12 total bases


4 left on base

August batting average in the 3rd spot as the DH: .467 (7-15) (4 games)
overall batting average so far in the 3rd spot as the DH: .421 (8-19) (5 games)


overall batting average so far as the DH: .421 (8-19) (5 games)


now let's break down his outfield numbers.


when Michael played the outfield in August, he had a total of 94 plate appearances and 90 at bats in 22 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

23 hits

13 singles

8 doubles

2 home runs

15 RBI

7 runs scored

3 walks

1 intentional walk

1 hit by pitch

5 stolen bases

2 GIDP

9 strikeouts (5 swinging, 4 looking)

5 first at bat hits

37 total bases


34 left on base

36 putouts

1 assist

197.1 innings, 22 games

(20 complete games)

August batting average while playing the outfield: .256 (23-90) (22 games)
overall batting average so far while playing the outfield: .303 (148-489) (124 games) (1097.1 innings)


now let's break down his numbers specific to where he played in the outfield.


when Michael played center in August, he had a total of 37 plate appearances and 37 at bats in 9 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

12 hits

8 singles

3 doubles

1 home run

8 RBI

3 runs scored

1 stolen base

1 GIDP

3 strikeouts (looking)

4 first at bat hits

18 total bases

11 left on base

18 putouts

1 assist

78.1 innings, 9 games

(7 complete games)

August batting average while playing center: .324 (12-37) (9 games)
overall batting average so far while playing center: .282 (46-163) (46 games) (373 innings)


when Michael played left in August, he had a total of 57 plate appearances and 53 at bats in 13 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:

11 hits

5 singles

5 doubles

1 home run

7 RBI

4 runs scored

3 walks

1 intentional walk

1 hit by pitch

4 stolen bases

1 GIDP

6 strikeouts (5 swinging, 1 looking)

1 first at bat hit

19 total bases


23 left on base

18 putouts

119 innings, 13 games

(13 complete games)

August batting average while playing left: .208 (11-53) (13 games)
overall batting average so far while playing left: .313 (102-326) (84 games) (724.1 innings)




August #s while playing center: 18 putouts, 1 assist, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage (78.1 innings, 9 games)

overall #s so far while playing center: 106 putouts, 2 assists, 1 error, 0.991 fielding percentage (373 innings, 46 games)

August #s while playing left: 18 putouts, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage (119 innings, 13 games)

overall #s so far while playing left: 120 putouts, 9 assists, 1 double play, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage (724.1 innings, 84 games)

August #s while playing the outfield: 36 putouts, 1 assist, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage (197.1 innings, 22 games)

overall #s so far while playing the outfield: 226 putouts, 11 assists, 1 double play, 1 error, 0.996 fielding percentage (1097.1 innings, 124 games)




now my game-by-game numbers and notes.

Game 105/Game 1, August 1: 3-4, RBI double (first at bat), single, run scored, RBI single. AVG: .320
(3rd/CF/GS5)

Game 106/Game 2, August 2: 2-4, single (first at bat), single. AVG: .322
(3rd/CF/CG9)

Game 107/Game 3, August 3: 2-6, double, home run, run scored. AVG: .322
(3rd/CF/CG12)


Game 108/Game 4, August 4: 2-4, RBI groundout (first at bat), single, run scored, RBI single, stolen base. AVG: .324
(3rd/CF/CG9)

Game 109/Game 5, August 5: 1-4, RBI single (first at bat). AVG: .323
(3rd/CF/CG9)

**Michael's 11-game reached base streak ends**

Game 110/Game 6, August 6: 0-3. AVG: .321
(3rd/CF/GS6.1)

^^Michael was removed from the game as part of a double switch during the top of the 7th inning. he banged his right knee into the wall in right-center field after making a running catch in the bottom of the 3rd inning^^

Game 111/Game 7, August 7: 1-4, double (first at bat). AVG: .320
(3rd/CF/CG8)

Game 112/Game 8, August 8: 1-3, walk, double, run scored, RBI walk, run scored. AVG: .320
(3rd/DH/CG)

Game 113/Game 9, August 9: 3-4, single (first at bat), single, home run, run scored. AVG: .324
(3rd/DH/CG)

Game 114/Game 10, August 10: 1-3, RBI single (first at bat), RBI sac fly, reached on fielder's choice, walk. AVG: .324
(3rd/DH/CG)

August 12: rain delay/game postponed, to be made up August 13 at 4 pm in a traditional DH.
(3rd/CF)

Game 115/Game 11, August 13 (Game 1): 1-4, 2-run single, reached on fielding error. AVG: .324
(3rd/CF/CG9)

Game 116/Game 12, August 13 (Game 2): 2-5, single, double. AVG: .325
(3rd/DH/CG)

Game 117/Game 13, August 15: 0-4. AVG: .322
(3rd/CF/CG11)

Game 118/Game 14, August 16: 1-4, 2-run home run, run scored. AVG: .321
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 119/Game 15, August 17: 0-3, walk (first at bat), stolen base. AVG: .319
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 120/Game 16, August 19: 1-3, walk (first at bat), single, stolen base. AVG: .319
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 121/Game 17, August 20: 0-4. AVG: .316
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 122/Game 18, August 21: 0-4, reached on fielding error. AVG: .314
(3rd/LF/CG8)

Game 123/Game 19, August 22: 0-4. AVG: .311
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 124/Game 20, August 23: 1-4, RBI single. AVG: .311
(3rd/LF/CG9)

August 24: not in lineup.

Game 125/Game 21, August 26: 1-4, hit by pitch (first at bat), run scored, RBI double. AVG: .310
(3rd/LF/CG10)

Game 126/Game 22, August 27: 0-4. AVG: .308
(3rd/LF/CG8)

Game 127/Game 23, August 28: 1-4, RBI single, stolen base, intentional walk. AVG: .307
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 128/Game 24, August 29: 3-5, single, run scored, double, double. AVG: .310
(3rd/LF/CG9)

Game 129/Game 25, August 30: 2-5, double (first at bat), RBI single, stolen base, run scored. AVG: .311
(3rd/LF/CG11)

Game 130/Game 26, August 31: 1-5, RBI double. AVG: .310
(3rd/LF/CG10)
^^game suspended due to rain, resumed at 6 pm on September 22 in the bottom of the 10th inning.




so far in 2014, Michael has a total of 565 plate appearances and 510 at bats in 130 games (1097.1 innings). in total, he has 158 hits, 101 singles, 37 doubles, 2 triples, 18 home runs, 85 RBI, 5 sac flies, 81 runs scored, 43 walks, 2 intentional walks, 7 hit by pitches, 17 stolen bases, 1 caught stealing, 14 GIDP, 48 strikeouts (34 swinging, 14 looking), 39 first at bat hits, 253 total bases, 184 left on base, 226 putouts, 11 assists, 1 double play, and 1 error.

2014 season batting average: .310 (158-510)

OBP: .368

SLG: .496

OPS: .864

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