As the 2006 season comes to a close, I started going through the stats and saw what a historic season Indians’ CF Grady Sizemore is having this season. Sizemore leads the AL in runs scored and extra base hits which is great, but in terms of the Cleveland franchise, the 24 year old CF is having one of best years in club history.
Sizemore has 50 doubles on the season, the most since Albert Belle belted 52 two baggers in 1995. The club record is 64 by George Burns back in the late 1920’s, so that appears out of reach, but Grady could wind up with 55 doubles which would put him in the top five totals for a single season with the Tribe all time. In addition, the lefty hitter has 84 extra base hits, putting him in the top 10 on the all time Tribe list for the most in a single season. The club record is again held by Belle in 1995, when he added 50 HR’s and a triple to his 52 doubles mentionned earlier for a grand total of 103.
Sizemore could wind up with more than 90 extra base hits, which again would put him in the top five totals for one season in club history. In addition, he is trying to become the first Indian to reach 200 hits since Carlos Baerga in 1993. The scary thing for the American League is that he’s only 24 years old.
The centerfielder still has things to improve on, and based on his early career, there’s no doubt he will get better in these areas. Sizemore is only hitting .210 against left handers and still strikes out too much. Look at how Travis Hafner has gotten better against southpaws since his first year with the Indians. The same type of improvement from Sizemore makes him a superstar.
Let’s face it, if the Indians were in contention this year, both Hafner and Sizemore would be MVP candidates. Baseball Prospectus rates the Tribe CF as one of the best players in baseball this year. If Mark Shapiro can find a lead off hitter down the road, Sizemore will drop to the #2 or #3 spot in the order. His RBI total will increase in that spot. If he avoids injury and his career path continues down the same path as it is now, we will be talking about one of the greatest players in Indians’ history.
Now, about Kevin Kouzmanoff. DiaTribe pointed out that Kouzmanoff is not being used as the DH with Hafner sidelined for the rest of the season. Why? This guy should get as many at bats as he can get this month to find out what he can or cannot do. I don’t think the lack of action is for trade reasons as they speculated, it because Eric Wedge wants to continue to play Casey Blake and Jason Michaels. Blake has not hit since coming back from his second stint on the DL, and Michaels is a platoon player. Kouzmanoff has a chance to be a special hitter, and he should be getting at bats.
This is the kind of stuff that is going to cause problems in the "partnership" between Mark Shapiro and Wedge. I’m sure Shapiro knows what he has in Blake and Michaels. He needs to see what the young 3B/1B/DH can do. Fans would rather see Kouz as well. Again, I’m not saying the Indians shouldn’t try to win, but they may have a better chance to do that with Kouzmanoff. I just think Wedge has a blind spot when it comes to Blake and others.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 