Morning Dump — Babe Tulowitzki

Dating back to last September, Troy Tulowitzki has 20 homeruns in 158 at-bats. That is a homerun every 7.9 at bats, a stat that would make even the great Babe Ruth jealous. So far this season, Tulo has 11 hits and eight of them have been for extra bases — 5 HRs, 3 2Bs.

Last night, Terry Collins should’ve pitched around Tulo in the fifth inning, but he chose to risk it. Tulo immediately deposited an outside fastball 10 rows deep into the right field bleachers. Later in the game, when Tulo came up again, Collins simply held up four fingers.
Collins is not the only manager to give up on trying to get Tulo out. Currently, the Rockies’ shortstop leads baseball in intentional walks. Overall, he has ten total walks, one less than he has hits. His OBP is approaching .500 — that’s Barry Bonds early 2000s territory.

Clipped from: mlb.mlb.com (share this clip)

What’s the point of all these numbers? They are indication that Tulo is taking his game to the next stratosphere. Assuming he stays healthy, it’s almost guaranteed that he will hit 40 bombs this year. This kind of offensive production for a shortstop is almost unprecedented. A-Rod is the only player that has done anything like what Tulo is doing right now. While A-Rod had a terrific glove at short, he wasn’t as good as Tulo.

Obviously, we are watching something special develop right before our eyes. At the tender age of 26, Troy Tulowitzki is becoming one of the greatest shortstops we’ve ever seen. I think he’s robo-shortstop, assembled from all the best attributes of baseball’s finest players at the position. He has Shawon Dunston’s arm, A-Rod’s bat, Ozzie Smith’s range, and Ernie Banks’ intangibles. And, of course, he’s bringing something unprecedented to the table — the rat tail. Now, if we could just get him to stay healthy and improve his taste in music.

Doug Glanville wrote a piece about centerfielders. While I understand what Glanville is getting at, I think he’s really just making a case for guys that play center like he once did. He seems to miss the fact that the offensive revolution in center field started with Griffey, who was also a great defender.

The Rockies have a double header with the Mets today. If they win one, they win the series. Either way, they are coming home with a winning record on the road.

This morning, I decided that I hate this song. I don’t know why, but I definitely hate everything about it.

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