Who Really is the Best Player in the MLB?

In every sport, there is always the question, "Well who is the best player? And year in and year out nobody can agree on the same player. In the MLB this season, the question is raised who is better Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez or Joe Mauer. Many highly educated baseball people believe Pujols is the best. Almost every fantasy baseball fanatic says that Ramirez is the best player in baseball. I guess only myself and all of Minnesota believe that Mauer is the best player in baseball.

Albert Pujols is called by many to be a machine. What they mean by machine is that he can do everything. Don't get me wrong, the man can hit and he can hit the ball hard and far. Pujols consistently hits over .300 every years since his rookie season in 2001 and he has hit over 30 home runs and had over 100 RBIs in every season in the MLB. Pujols has been dubbed the next one to win the Triple Crown, or hit .400 in a season. The Triple Crown could be possible, but more likely will be doubtful then possible. Especially with Hanley Ramirez in the National League for a long time and other great average hitters in the NL. There is also no way Pujols will hit .400 because he is a home run hitter, and when those fly balls start getting caught at the warning track, that average is going to fall. A line drive hitter has a better shot at reaching the .400 mark. After all that about Pujols, you would think, "How can you not say Pujols is the best player in baseball?" The reason is because he plays 1st base. Now Pujols is a good defensive 1st basemen, but when a guy has bad back, or bad knees or is just too old to play the field and he’s not in the American League, where do they stick him? First base. Pujols could be the best hitter in baseball, even though that is up for debate as well, but he is definitely the best power hitter in baseball.

Hanley Ramirez who is the youngest out of the 3 I named before, but he can do it all. He can hit for a high average, hit home runs, steal bases and has a rocket arm at the shortstop position. Also Ramirez plays a decent shortstop but again shortstop is a more demanding position the first base is, but Ramirez is making strides to becoming a solid shortstop in the MLB. Ramirez has the best tools out of him, Pujols and Mauer, but again he is youngest like I said and is put in a real bad spot. Ramirez is on the Florida Marlins and is the face of the franchise already, and didn't have anybody to help him mature in the game of baseball. He was on his own from the beginning of his career, as I am sure many of you read in the recent weeks when Marlins manger Fredi Gonzalez benched Ramirez for not hustling on a ball that he accidentally kicked into left field, and allowed the runner to go to 3rd base. Is the fact that Ramirez didn't have anyone to help him mature, no but I know I wouldn't want that kind of attitude on my team. Now he is so young and he is slowly becoming the leader the Marlins organization wants him to be, but it could take a few years. The sky is the limit for Ramirez and I wouldn't be surprised in a few years to re write this article and say that Ramirez is the best player.

Joe Mauer is flat out the best player in baseball, this really shouldn't even be a question. He is flat out the best hitter in baseball, he hits for very high average and hits line drives, he never strikes out and he uses the whole field. As of last year, he found the power stroke that the scouts said that he had. Mauer doesn't hit towering homeruns; Mauer's home runs are line drives that are hit so hard that they leave the park. Unlike Pujols, Mauer has a better shot at batting .400 because of all the line drives he hits as oppose to the fly balls Pujols hits. Mauer also has 3 batting titles in 4 seasons as a professional and was the first catcher to lead the MLB is batting average and the first catcher to lead the AL in batting. That’s right Mauer is a catcher, catching is easily the most demanding position in baseball and he has been able to put up better batting averages the both Pujols and Ramirez. Last season Mauer also hit more home runs than Ramirez and had more RBI's then Ramirez. Mauer also has 2 gold gloves as oppose to one by Pujols and none by Ramirez. He is feared both at the plate and in the field, other then hitting and catching, Mauer also controls a pitching staff, which is an overlooked quality of a catcher.

I hope that this will help push more people to the Joe Mauer bandwagon, because even though he did win the MVP last season in the AL, I believe he hasn't received enough credit for what he brings to the table. Never has there been the combination of gold glove fielding and hitting for average and power to come from the catcher position. Not saying Ramirez and Pujols aren't great because they are, but neither of them bring the complete game that Mauer brings to the table.

Let me know, if you agree, disagree or think I should have included any other players.

Thanks

Stephen Strasburg The Real Deal?

Never in Major League Baseball Draft history did it feel like the NFL, NBA or NHL draft, but in 2009 that all changed. For the first time, people actually wanted to watch the first round of the MLB draft, and for the first time they actually could, because the first round was aired on MLB Network. The reason that it was aired on TV was because Stephen Strasburg was projected to go 1st overall in the draft. The hype surrounding Stephen Strasburg was rivaling that of any player taken number 1 overall in any of the other professional sport drafts. Strasburg was taken number 1 overall by the Washington Nationals.

For those who don't no much about Strasburg, you might want to keep your eye on him, but he is dubbed by many in baseball as the greatest college-pitching prospect in the history of baseball. He is a right-handed pitcher, whose fastball ranges between 95mph and 100mph on average and he also has a very good curve ball ranging between 79mph and 81mph. He is as close as a "can’t miss prospect" then anyone has ever been, though he only pitched 3 years at San Diego State University, he made his last 2 count. In his sophomore year he finished at 8-3 with a ridiculous 1.57 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 97 and one-third innings. His sophomore season was what really put him on the map as possibly being a high draft pick. But it was his junior year that cemented him at the number overall pick in the 2009 MLB draft. You thought his sophomore year numbers were nuts, he finished his junior year 13-1 with a better ERA standing at 1.32 and a outrageous amount of strikeouts, finishing with 195 strikeouts in only 109 innings which is a 10 strikeouts per 9 innings which for those who do not know is absolutely amazing.

Before the 2010 MLB season, where Strasburg would begin the season was a big topic, because you had many people saying that he is ready to pitch in the big leagues and then you have people saying that yea his stuff is defiantly pro ready but he is mature enough to pitch in the pros. What they mean by being mature enough to pitch in the pros is we don't know how Strasburg will handle defeat. Granted he has lost before in his career but he has always been the big fish in the little pond, now he will be on the same playing field as everyone else. The Nationals decided to start Strasburg in the minor leagues, and the result has been the same. Whether it was Double-A or Triple-A, Strasburg has still been light outs, he didn't allow a run, earned or unearned, until his 4th start in Triple-A.

The real question is, is Strasburg ready to pitch in the big leagues. Many pitchers who have been rushed to the bigs have failed miserably, the odds are completely against him, but again no other pitcher has had the stuff he does and the numbers to back it up. It will be interesting to see how he does, but I believe he will win 20 games in the future and win a Cy Young award in his career. But it will not be easy for Strasburg to do that, because remember he does play for the Nationals and even though they have a bright future they have along way to go to be a contender in the National League, but drafting Strasburg was a step in the right direction. The sky is the limit for the kid and if he keeps his head on straight and does and says all the right things, he has an extremely bright future.

On May 26th, the Nationals announced to MLB Network that Strasburg's first major league start would be in June against the Pittsburgh Pirates, those dates are June 8th, 9th or 10th, mark your calendars.

Let me know what you guys think Strasburg will do when he comes up, and how do you see his career going? Thanks for the input.