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Dodgers: Top 5 First Half All-Star Performances in the Past 10 Years
Over the past 10 years, the Dodgers have sent thirty-six players or managers to the All-Star game. This season alone, six Dodgers have earned the honor and will be representing the ball club at Marlins Park. I will be looking back at all the first half performances of these Dodgers All-Stars and ranking out my top 5. Starting with the Dodgers latest young phenom.
#5 Cody Bellinger (2017)
Scouts all predicted that Bellinger would be called up to the majors in 2017, but no one expected the type of success he has found in the majors to begin his career. Bellinger at only 21 years of age will be headed to Florida as one of six Dodgers All-Star representatives.
Before we even get to his first half numbers, what really impresses me about his early success if the fact that this was truly his first chance at the major leagues. If you recall, prospects like Urias, Seager, and Pederson all got September call-ups the previous season before becoming regular players. Bellinger was different; he made no major league appearances before this season and seized the opportunity.
As of July 8, Bellinger is tied for second in the National League for home runs with 24 with Giancarlo Stanton. The NL leader is Joey Votto with only just one more home run. The amazing part, however, is the fact that Bellinger started in AAA this season and has had over 55 fewer at bats than both Stanton and Votto.
While his average is only at .258, his slugging is a gaudy .613, good for second in the National League. He has provided stability and longevity to the Dodgers lineup, by leading the team in RBI’s with 56, tying him for 14th place in the NL.
The most impressive stat for me regarding Bellinger is his affect on the team success. The Dodgers started off the season very slowly and people were beginning to wonder if this was the year the team would drop off. Since his call up on April 25, 2017, the Dodgers are 50-18. 50-18! While this success cannot all be attributed to his first half performance his power and presence in the cleanup spot as allowed the other Dodgers players to get better pitches to hit.
#4 Zack Greinke (2015)
Zack Greinke was absolutely dazzling in 2015, and he would soon be rewarded that offseason by the Arizona Diamondbacks with an annual salary of upwards of $30 million.
Overall his season was magnificent, but his first half stats were absolutely incredible. He entered the All-Star break with only eight wins in 18 starts, but that was no real indication of how well he was pitching.
In 123.1 innings pitched, Greinke sported a 1.39 ERA with 106 strikeouts to only 20 walks. He faced 466 batters, only allowing 84 hits. While his strikeout per 9 innings ratio wasn’t spectacular at 7.7, this really wasn’t his game at this point in his career.
What really stood out to me was his ERA at only 1.39. To maintain an ERA that low over 123.1 is something that is very rare to see.
#3 Justin Turner (2017)
Justin Turner was almost not an All-Star in 2017. It took a call out of Dodgers fans by Kenley Jansen to get him there as he won the NL Final Vote with a record 20.8 million votes.
Turner’s numbers in the first have of the season are something that I have never seen and couldn’t even imagine from him. While he technically doesn’t have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title due to an injury, he is very close to doing so. Even if you gave him 0 for the number of at-bats needed to qualify he would still be comfortably on top of the N.L.
This season, Turner is batting .380 with an OBP of .477! This ranks him first in those categories in the NL, and he shows no signs of slowing down. While his home run numbers are down with only eight home runs and thirty-three RBI’s this shouldn’t come as a knock against him. He is taking what the pitchers are giving him and getting on base, setting the table for the other batters.
Also, if you watch the Dodgers games every day, you would know there were at least three occasions were Turner just missed a home run by less than a couple feet and ended up at second base instead.
With a batting average closer to .400 then .300, Turner is putting on a show this season and his showing the Dodgers that he is worth every penny of his newly inked $64 million deal.
#2 Clayton Kershaw (2016)
For the sake of this list, I decided to place Clayton Kershaw only once despite the fact that he has started the season off very well on multiple occasions. When it came to Kershaw, I decided to favor the 2016 season over the 2014 season due to his strikeout to walk ratio. However, his 2014 start was just as magical.
In 2016, the southpaw was 11-2 with an ERA of 1.79 with 145 strikeouts with only nine walks! This equates to a strikeout to walk ratio of 16.11 which is incredible for a starting pitcher especially over 121 innings pitched.
At the break, he also had three complete game shutouts while only giving up 79 hits to the 441 batters faced. In addition to only serving up six home runs, he averaged at least seven innings pitched per start.
His ability to go deep into ball games allowed the bullpen to rest, which made it easier for the Dodgers to find success. This was especially important due to the inconsistency of the starting rotation last season.
#1 Matt Kemp
Matt Kemp looked like a franchise player for years to come during the 2011 season that saw him finish second in the MVP voting. His performance in the first half earned him an All-Star nod, and every at-bat seemed to be a must see.
In the first half of the season, Kemp hit 22 home runs, two triples, and 19 doubles. In addition, he scored 55 runs while driving in 67 of his own. These stats alone are stellar but when you couple that with a .313 batting average you get a grasp of how special of a first half he really had.
The deciding factor in ranking Matt Kemp number 1 on this list was because he did everything for the Dodgers in the first half. He saw the ball well not only for power but also for average. In addition, he stole 27 bases while only being caught three times. For the first half of 2011, Kemp was an unstoppable force not only with his bat but his legs.
Next: Top 5 Player Performances In the First Half
His impressive first half was followed my a more impressive second half. In my opinion, his first half performance has been the best for the Dodgers in the past ten years.