After a slow start, when he was playing irregularly as a reserve for the Rays, S-Rod has absolutely terrorized the ball for Joe Maddon's club since he began playing full-time due to club injuries (especially Jason Bartlett).
He was on base four times today, with a double and two stolen bases, and is hitting .410 with a 1.208 ops in June. He has a fourteen game hitting streak.
Just to compare the slash lines on the season:
Sean Rodriguez: .288 avg, .328 ops, .472 slg, .800 ops
Brandon Wood: .156 avg .168 ops .213 slg .381 ops
Howie Kendrick: .267 avg .297 obp .398 slg .695 ops
Erick Aybar: .278 avg .343 obp .361slg .704 ops
Maicer Izturis: .247 avg .336 obp .387 slg .724 ops
Alberto Callaspo: .270 avg .299 obp .440 slg .739 ops
I throw in Callaspo because he was the other name in our infield depth chart when Kendrick, Aybar and Wood were moving through the system. We traded him for Jason Bulger as you'll remember.
It's hard to evaluate young talent, but I think it's worth noting that Rodriguez and Callaspo are the ones that got away, the ones with the highest OPSes in this list, and were essentially throwaways in an organization that thought it had "too much depth" up the middle.
The Angels are on a nice run at the moment, so it seems uncharitable to dwell on past moves -- but our success is also fragile, and its durability will be defined by these decisions in the future. S-Rod and Callaspo for Kazmir and Bulger. Still sitting well with everyone?
