A position-by-position OPS breakdown - MLB

A.k.a.: American League left fielders really stink this year.

Earlier this month, I looked at what positions were producing worst on a team-by-team basis (here’s the AL and the NL). This time, I’m going through the positions for each league as a whole and breaking them down by OPS:

NL RF: .796
AL 1B: .786
AL RF: .783
NL LF: .769
NL 1B: .768
AL DH: .744
AL CF: .733
NL CF: .730
NL C: .725
AL SS: .702
NL 3B: .691
NL 2B: .689
AL 2B: .681
NL SS: .677
AL 3B: .676
AL C: .670
AL LF: .648
NL P: .337

What really stands out is just how terrible American League left fielders have been. The Royals, using Alex Gordon, are the only AL team getting even a .750 OPS out of their left fielders. They’re at .817. The Yankees, with Brett Gardner, are second at .747. The A’s, with Josh Willingham, are third at .713. After that, it drops all of the way to Baltimore at .668. The Twins, with Delmon Young, are getting a .503 OPS. The Mariners are at .570. The Red Sox were down there too until Carl Crawford suddenly got hot last week.

Last year, AL left fielders had a .768 OPS.

Some other points of interest:

– AL shortstop had largely been a black hole of late, but it’s actually besting the NL with Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Reyes and Stephen Drew right now. The Indians and Asdrubal Cabrera lead the way there with an .897 OPS, but the Angels, Tigers and Blue Jays are also getting fine performances.

– The shortstops are also beating the second basemen and third basemen in the AL. AL third basemen are getting dragged down by horrible performances from the Mariners (.483) and Blue Jays (.495).

– When I did the aforementioned NL team-by-position list earlier this month, I noted that NL catchers had matched first basemen almost exactly for five weeks. There’s a significant split now, but it’s still not nearly what one would expect. That’s because there are still four NL teams out there getting sub-.650 OPSs from first basemen: the Nationals, Padres, Giants and Dodgers.

Of course, it should increase further as time goes on, especially with Buster Posey down. One would always expect catcher OPS to decrease as the season progresses, given that catchers deal with more injuries than other positions and tend to wear down anyway.

– One more oddity: AL pinch-hitters are actually hitting better than the league as a whole, coming in with a .730 OPS. Last year, they had a .631 OPS, and in 2009, it was .622. NL pinch-hitters have a .572 OPS this year, down from .641 last year.

LOS ANGELES — Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, and Tommy Kahnle were activated by the New York Yankees ahead of their weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

New York cleared three roster spots after a 1-0 loss at Seattle, optioning infielder-outfielders Oswaldo Cabrera and Franchy Cordero to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre along with left-hander Matt Krook.

Stanton, Donaldson and Kahnle all played in a rehab game for Double-A Somerset. Stanton was hitless in three at-bats in his first appearance since injuring his left hamstring on April 15.

Donaldson went 1 for 4 in his fourth rehab game as he comes back from a strained right hamstring originally sustained on April 5.

Kahnle pitched one inning, giving up one run and one hit and walking two. He has been out since spring training with right biceps tendinitis.

Aaron Boone said he wasn’t concerned about Stanton returning after playing in just one rehab game. He did say that Stanton likely will be a designated hitter for a couple of weeks after rejoining the Yankees.

New York is missing centerfielder Harrison Bader, who strained his right hamstring against the Mariners and went on the injured list the next day.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón, sidelined since spring training by a sore left forearm and an ailing back, was transferred to the 60-day injured list.