So we "royally" like Prince for the dingers and Reyes on the basepaths ... who leads MLB'08 in batting avg.?
| Matt Holliday |  19 (13.19%) |
| Derek Jeter | 7 (4.86%) |
| Chipper Jones | 2 (1.39%) |
| Magglio Ordonez | 5 (3.47%) |
| David Ortiz | 1 (0.69%) |
| Hanley Ramirez | 15 (10.42%) |
| Edgar Renteria | 1 (0.69%) |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 58 (40.28%) |
| Chase Utley | 16 (11.11%) |
| Other (who?) | 20 (13.89%) |
144 votes | 8 featured comments
Of the Top 10 BA finishers in MLB'07, the only ones not listed here are Placido Polanco (.341) and Jorge Posada (.338) ... both nice players, I'd take either on my team any day, but color me unconvinced that either will get anywhere near .340 ever again. Replacing those two in our poll are Jeter (who's finished out of the Top 10 just twice in the past decade, when he hit "just" .292 and .294) and "Other."
Now, someone please tell me that you got (and appreciated) the "royally" pun in the question -- and no, it has zero to do with Kansas City baseball! And who in this poll can keep the string going? I'm not seeing a candidate ...
P.S. What happened to A-through-G in 2007?
I voted for Pedroia. He's got a good eye, which I think helps, reasonable speed (no Ichiro, but no Posada), hit .317 in his rookie year, was remarkably consistent through his rookie year, and is 24 through most of the season.
Going off the board... Placido Polanco. He hit .341 last year, career .305 and only has 302 strikeouts in his career(4713 PA)
well, in regards to the pun, Prince and Reyes (comes from the Spanish Rey (king) and latin "regis" (royal)) are both "Royalty". I believe "Ichiro" is Japanese for first-born son, which could indicate a crown prince, so I would go with him!
Damn, hugo, that's awesome. I didn't know about that -- and so far, Ichiro is winning the poll on merit, too -- so we'll have to find an ERA candidate named Queen or somesuch ...
Well, the obvious royal answer plays in a massive pitcher's park in a very light-hitting division... so he might make the ballot and even get a few votes.