Dodgers First Half Awards
By Alex Campos
Worst Offensive Player- Yasmani Grandal/Early-Season Justin Turner
Despite what has been a generally bad offense, there’s not really one major culprit for the Dodgers’ offensive struggles this season. It’s been a mix of Yasmani Grandal struggling and getting BABIP’d, Adrian Gonzalez losing his power, pretty much everyone but Corey Seager having an elongated slump, injuries.
I can’t be too hard on Grandal. He’s been bad for most of the season so far on offense, but that is a thing that can be said about most catchers. Catchers generally don’t get paid to do things on offense. Every team wants a Buster Posey or a Jonathan Lucroy who can be a big bat in the middle of any lineup, but there are like three of those guys every couple years.
I had to cheat a little bit to get a decent number of catchers, but among 32 catchers with 150 or more plate appearances this season, Grandal is tied for 11th in WAR. His batting average is an abysmal .212 (and it only got that high in the last couple weeks), but he’s in the upper half of catchers in OBP and Slugging and his 106 wRC+ is 11th. Grandal has been the weak part of the Dodger offense, but as a catcher he isn’t expected to be a slugger.
Turner looked like a runaway candidate for the biggest disappointment on offense, but he’s turned it around as well. His triple slash is the lowest it’s been as a Dodger, but it’s trending upwards of late and he’s only three home runs away from matching his career high, which he set last year. A strong second half could go a long way not only for the Dodgers, but for getting Turner a big pay raise in free agency.
Dishonorable Mentions- Adrian Gonzalez’s power, Carl Crawford, Enrique Hernandez, A.J. Ellis, Scott Van Slyke
Next: Best Pitcher