Better Year So far: Josh Hamilton or Chase Utley?

[bobbledude25]

This should make for a very interesting debate, personally I say Hamilton the guy is an RBI machine which I feel is probably one of the most important stats. Thoughts?

[JoeHova]

the guy is an RBI machine which I feel is prpbably one of the most important stats. Thoughts?

 

 

way to throw chum in the water. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[homer]

I think saves are more important. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Oldcity]

I'll say Utley because of his position, mainly.

[bullox]

Hitters need their teammates on base to get high RBI numbers, so it's not really a good individual stat. It's more of a team stat.

[M Skjellyfetti]

I think it's Chase Utley by a wide margin. Hamilton's behind him by a good chunk in both on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and Utley has basically the same average. Throw in the fact that Utley's at a more premium position, and I don't think it's really very close at all.

[Brawndo the Thirst Mutilat]

M Skjellyfetti said most of what I would have wanted to say. I'll add that Utley is an elite defender at that premium defensive position.

[nate82]

I'm going to have to go with Utley on this one. Because of his home and away splits are not that far apart compared to Hamilton's. Utley is batting .047 pts higher at home and Hamilton is batting .107 pts higher at home compared to his away average. But to be fair both are taking advantage of their home parks launching pads.

 

Utley and Hamilton are both in a hitter friendly ball park. I believe the Phillies and Rangers ball park for hitting is better than the Rockies home park.

 

Utley

By Breakdown	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Home	120	28	41	6	1	16	35	13	3	19	5	0	.342	.413	.808	1.221
Away	105	20	31	10	0	5	17	14	4	15	1	0	.295	.392	.533	.925

Hamilton

By Breakdown	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Home	108	27	42	8	2	10	39	9	0	9	0	0	.389	.421	.778	1.199
Away	131	15	37	8	1	6	26	11	1	27	2	0	.282	.336	.496	.832

[craigharmann]

Chase better overall (adding defense with hitting) season. Josh Hamilton (with what he's gone through and overcome) the much better story. The thing movies are made of.

[crewcrazy]

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser debated this topic the other day on Pardon the Interruption. Wilbon took Hamilton because he leads the league in RBI, and according to Wilbon "the most important stat is RUNS! BATTED! IN! None of those fabricated stats like OPS or Slugging Percentage."

 

My brain almost exploded.

 

At least Kornheiser had the common sense to realize that the numbers Utley's putting up are insane for a second baseman.

[RU Rah Rah]

Before the season started, I saw an interview with Jimmy Rollins, and he was asked if the Phillies could have three straight NL MVPs. He basically said yes, and that Chase Utley was due for a monster year. I remember thinking, "Oh, there's no way that'll happen," but it's clearly shaping up that way. (Whether Rollins himself deserved the award last year is another question, clearly.)

 

To top it off, Utley is a major babe magnet. My niece (who is in her early 20's and lives in the Philly area) and her friends basically worship him, and I understand that's pretty much par for the course.

 

So I'm going with Utley here (although I really do like the Hamilton backstory).

[crewcrazy]

To add the the 3-straight Phillies MVP thing, Utley probably would have won it last year if he didn't miss so much time with his broken hand. You could probably argue that even with all that missed time, he was far more valuable to the Phillies than Jimmy Rollins was. There were about a million things wrong with Rollins winning the MVP last year, but it's still not as bad as Morneau winning the AL MVP the year before.

 

Back on topic, Hamilton's a great story, but the pace Utley is on is just insane for a second baseman.

[ILuvDaBush]

I'll take Hamilton, as he's been doing it with very little protection, outside of the mercurial Milton Bradley batting behind him. And as for the "Away" numbers for Hamilton, you have to remember that his division boasts Safeco and the Coliseum, not to mention The Wonderful World of Disney.

[danzig6767]

Utley is clearly the better player to me, but the Hamilton story is amazing, it must be killing Tampa fans, he's kinda Johan Santana part two. Santana has to be the best Rule 5 pick in baseball history and Hamilton looks to be the next best.

 

Even the Rangers/Reds trade is pretty amazing. Here the Reds pick up Hamilton for nothing in the Rule 5 draft and then after a good year, they flip him to Texas for Edison Volquez. At this point in the season, Hamilton has been arguably the best player in the AL, while Volquez has been the best young pitcher in the league and maybe the best starting pitcher in all of baseball.

 

It's pretty rare to ever see a trade work out like this one has

[Fatter than Joey]

Even the Rangers/Reds trade is pretty amazing. Here the Reds pick up Hamilton for nothing in the Rule 5 draft and then after a good year, they flip him to Texas for Edison Volquez.

 

And the really crazy thing, is that the Reds aren't missing Hamilton's offensive production with the arrival of Bruce.

 

I vote for Utley.

[TooLiveBrew]

Utley, even without defense considered. With defense, imo it's not really that close.

[BrewCrewForever]

Right now I would say they are there respective league's MVP's. As for who is having the better season. Probably Utley just based on position and his team is in 1st place. However like another mentioned Hamilton has very little protection in that Texas lineup other then Bradley. So I guess it's Utley but both are my MVP's as of now.

 

It is crazy to think how well the Hamilton/Volquez trade has worked for both teams.

[brettac1]

Chase Utley is the best player in the National League.

 

I'll go with him.

[sheetskout]

I'll take Utley's season at an infield position all day long over Hamilton. If only Rickie.....man that would be sweet....

[cwolf2012]

Utley by a fairly significant margin. His VORP is 40.9, while Hamilton sits at 31.9. It's kinda crazy how the AL only has three guys (and only 4 in the top 20) in the top 15 for VORP and they're all on Texas.

 

Source

[ILuvDaBush]

Well by the VORP logic, Xavier Nady is more valuable than Braunski and David Wright. I guess another thing that shifts me towards Hamilton is that this would seem to be Utley's ceiling, while Hamilton's ceiling is.... Just think about where he was two and a half years ago and what he's doing now. For all we know, this could just be Josh Hamilton "getting comfortable."

[pogokat]

what does his ceiling have to do with who's haing the better season?

 

I take chase utley because i might take milton bradley over hamilton

[RyDogg66]

Utley, was the OP really suggesting we use RBI to determine who is having the better season?

[Bring Back the Stein]

Utley's having the better season by the metrics that matter, by my mind, but Hamilton's story is more compelling. I'm not down with throwing Jebus in everyone's face, but I've been won over by how openly he speaks of his weaknesses and addiction and what inspiration he's providing folks who've dealt with it themselves or with loved ones. Plus, Utley's got nothin' on Hamilton's tats.