MLB Top 15 Power Rankings: Week 7 (05/13 - 05/19)

It's hard to believe that we're already nearing the end of May and by this time next week, we will be looking ahead to, Memorial Day and the turn of the calendar to the month of June. It always seems like the regular season just flies by once Opening Day happens and this year appears to be no exception to that rule!

Over the past week, there have been a notable of key highlights/moments that have happened, but the main theme from this week was the debut of a couple of impact MLB guys. The callups started with centerfielder, Oscar Mercado of the Cleveland Indians, who is Clevelands 16th best prospect and third best outfield prospect. Beyond Mercado, was the recall of Kansas City Royals second baseman, Nicky Lopez, a guy that looks like he is going to be a staple of the future core of the Royals. The same day that Lopez was recalled, the Milwaukee Brewers decided to join the party and recalled second baseman, Keston Hiura. Hiura has been one of the more touted prospects coming up through the Brewers farm system and it will be a lot of fun to see him develop at the big league level.

If that wasn't enough, the following day the Atlanta Braves elected to recall, Austin Riley, from Triple-A who had an immediate impact on the club. In 15 games dating back to Wednesday over 15 at bats, Riley put up a .533 batting average and a 1.000 slugging percentage. That's like the Braves receiving a mid-season impact bat with 30 homer potential! Finally, if four guys making their MLB debuts in a single week wasn't enough, how about when the Colorado Rockies recalled their own second baseman, Brendan Rodgers, on Friday. Rodgers was the Rockies top ranked prospect and yet another guy, who came up to the big leagues, with a lot of expectations on his shoulders. With his addition, it appears as though the Rockies have solidified their second base outlook for the time being as well as potentially for the next few seasons.

Now that we have gotten all of those debuts out of the way, let's take a look at five key highlights/moments from the past week from around the league.

Five Key Highlights/Moments

• Robbie Reaches 800 Rays of Strikeouts - On Monday night in the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home, Arizona Diamondbacks southpaw, Robbie Ray, recorded his 800th career strikeout. If that wasn't amazing enough, Ray became the 2nd-fastest lefty (by games) to reach that plateau in MLB history. Robbie Ray has always been a guy that the Diamondbacks have relied on heavily and know that he is a fire baller, but this was a key moment for Ray and a signal of how dominate he can be when he's at his best and using all of his pitches effectively.  
• Sale Strikes Out 17 in a Dominating Performance - Another southpaw who dominated over this past week was Boston Red Sox lefty, Chris Sale. On Tuesday night, Sale recorded 17 strikeouts against the Colorado Rockies and joined some elite company. Among other pitchers in Red Sox history, who have recorded 17 or more strikeouts in a single game, are: Pedro Martinez and Rodger Clemens, both of whom accomplished that feat two separate times, along with Bill Monbouquette. 
• Gleyber Day Goes Yard Three Times - Wednesday was a day of pure luck for young Yankees slugger, Gleyber Torres, who ended up going yard three separate times. In fact, Torres became only the second player in New York Yankees history 22 years of age or younger, to record 3 home runs in the same game, joining someone quite famous that you might have heard of before, Joe DiMaggio. This season hasn't necessarily been an easy one for the Yankees given all of the injuries that the team has sustained, but they have been able to stay in the race and a big contributor to those efforts has been Gleyber Torres. 
• Bauer Outage for 1,000 - Cleveland Indians starting pitcher, Trevor Bauer, recorded his 1,000th career strikeout on Thursday, during the fourth inning, against the Baltimore Orioles. Among other active qualified starting pitchers, Bauer now ranks 54th on the list among those starters, who have recorded at least 1,000 strikeouts, over the span of their career. Maybe it was a good thing that the Indians didn't ultimately trade away Bauer this past offseason despite serious interest from a number of different clubs. 
• Springer Dinger Makes History - What a season Houston Astros outfielder, George Springer, has had thus far. Springer Dinger has become quite a popular phrase down in Houston, as well as in many other cities, throughout the country this year. On Friday, Springer became the first player in Houston Astros franchise history to, hit 17 home runs within the teams first 45 games, of the regular season. In case you're wondering, the previous record was set by Lance Berkman in 2008. 

Five Key Takeaways

• Minnesota Twins Offense is Comparable to Murderers Row - A lot of attention has been given to the Houston Astros offense this season, but the Minnesota Twins deserve just as much love and attention. Heading into play today, the Twins currently have the second best offense in baseball with a cumulative batting line of: .269/.336/.505 over the span of 1,575 at bats. Many fans and analysts alike expected the Twins to have a much better season offensively this year compared to last season, given the notable acquisitions the team made this past offseason, and it's looking as though each of those acquisitions are paying off huge dividends and helping to create yet another murderers row in baseball! 
• Colorado Rockies Mile High City Funk Continues - A little over a week ago, we wrote on here about the struggles of the Colorado Rockies and the challenges that the team had experienced to that point. Well, things certainly haven't gotten any rosier for the Rockies who have a 4-6 record over their last 10 games, are amid a four-game losing streak, and are currently nine-and-a-half games back of first place in the National League West. It's a big disappointment for a team that many expected would contend this season and challenge the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place. There's still time for the Rockies to hop back into the race for contention, but they gotta be careful because before they know it, it might be too late and the avalanche might have already overtaken them. 
• Cincinnati's Pitching Continues to Impress - Very little fanfare has been given to the fact that the Cincinnati Reds currently have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. Heading into play today, the Reds currently rank second in baseball with a cumulative ERA of (3.31) over 410.2 innings of work. Much of that is due to the outstanding efforts of, Luis Castillo, who continues to impress every time he takes the mound and should be in legitimate consideration for the NL Cy Young Award this season. This ultimately might not lead the Reds towards contention, given the offensive struggles that they continue to experience, but it's a relief to see the Reds pitching excel considering the ballpark they play in. 
• Seattle Mariners Have Sunk Hard - After beginning the season with a 13-2 record, the Seattle Mariners have certainly fallen on hard times and have played terrible since that point. In fact, prior to yesterday (Sunday), the Mariners sat in last place in the American League West, but were able to gain a half-a-game lead over the Oakland Athletics with their win yesterday. Seattle is now focused on the future and starting to sift through some of their impact pieces to see, who they want to be part of that future core, as illustrated by the callup of centerfielder, Mallex Smith, and shortstop, J.P. Crawford, over the course of the past two weeks. 
• Miami Marlins Future Starting Rotation Starting to Come Into the Fold - The Miami Marlins are a team that is in an obvious state of rebuild and are going to challenge the 1962 New York Mets for the worst record in modern baseball history. The Mets finished the 1962 season with a 40-120 record and considering that the Marlins have only recorded thirteen wins, over the span of fourty-four games, that certainly looks plausible. However, through every rebuild there are certain guys who step forward and for the Marlins those guys have been in their starting rotation. So far this season, Caleb Smith a guy that no one seems to talk about, has become one of the top starting pitchers in the National League and Sandy Alcantarra has also joined that charge especially after his complete game, shutout yesterday afternoon against the New York Mets. Things might look a bit foggy at the moment for the Marlins regarding the future, but there are certain lights of hope that are beginning to emerge from that fog. 

Top 15 Power Rankings

1. Houston Astros (31-16) [Ranking Last Week: 1] 

• Division Ranking: 1st Place 
• Winning Percentage: .660 
• Win Streak: L 1 Game (Previous W 10 Games) 
• Run Differential: +92 
• Team ERA: 3.43 Over 412 IP (1st) 
• Team Batting Line: .279/.353/.506 Over 1,597 At Bats (1st) 

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (31-17) [Ranking Last Week: 2] 

• Division Ranking: 1st Place 
• Winning Percentage: .646 
• Win Streak: W 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +65 
• Team ERA: 3.38 Over 426.1 IP (2nd) 
• Team Batting Line: .253/.341/.451 Over 1,584 At Bats (11th) 

3. Chicago Cubs (27-17) [Ranking Last Week: 3] 

• Division Ranking: 1st Place 
• Winning Percentage: .614 
• Win Streak: W 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +59 
• Team ERA: 3.56 Over 391.2 IP (6th) 
• Team Batting Line: .255/.345/.451 Over 1,510 At Bats (7th) 

4. Minnesota Twins (30-16) [Ranking Last Week: 6] 

• Division Ranking: 1st Place 
• Winning Percentage: .652 
• Win Streak: L 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +74 
• Team ERA: 3.90 Over 406 IP (9th) 
• Team Batting Line: .269/.336/.505 Over 1,575 At Bats (2nd) 

5. Boston Red Sox (24-22) [Ranking Last Week: 4] 

• Division Ranking: 3rd Place 
• Winning Percentage: .522 
• Win Streak: W 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +22 
• Team ERA: 4.36 Over 411 IP (17th) 
• Team Batting Line: .254/.338/.423 Over 1,568 At Bats (10th) 

6. Tampa Bay Rays (27-17) [Ranking Last Week: 5] 

• Division Ranking: 2nd Place 
• Winning Percentage: .614 
• Win Streak: L 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +54 
• Team ERA: 2.98 Over 401.2 IP (1st) 
• Team Batting Line: .251/.330/.428 Over 1,512 At Bats (13th) 

7. New York Yankees (28-17) [Ranking Last Week: 8] 

• Division Ranking: 1st Place 
• Winning Percentage: .622 
• Win Streak: W 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +48 
• Team ERA: 3.67 Over 402.1 IP (7th) 
• Team Batting Line: .253/.330/.435 Over 1,497 At Bats (12th) 

8. Milwaukee Brewers (28-31) [Ranking Last Week: 9] 

• Division Ranking: 2nd Place 
• Winning Percentage: .571 
• Win Streak: W 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +14 
• Team ERA: 4.24 Over 445.1 IP (14th) 
• Team Batting Line: .247/.331/.431 Over 1,685 At Bats (14th) 

9. Philadelphia Phillies (27-19) [Ranking Last Week: 7] 

• Division Ranking: 1st Place  
• Winning Percentage: .587 
• Win Streak: W 3 Games  
• Run Differential: +30
• Team ERA: 3.94 Over 417.2 IP (10th) 
• Team Batting Line: .244/.331/.408 Over 1,562 At Bats (17th) 

10. Atlanta Braves (25-22) [Ranking Last Week: 10] 

• Division Ranking: 2nd Place 
• Winning Percentage: .532 
• Win Streak: L 1 Game 
• Run Differential: +6 
• Team ERA: 4.35 Over 418 IP (16th) 
• Team Batting Line: .262/.337/.443 Over 1,597 At Bats (3rd) 

11. Cleveland Indians (25-20) [Ranking Last Week: 12] 

12. Arizona Diamondbacks (25-22) [Ranking Last Week: 11] 

13. Pittsburgh Pirates (24-20) [Ranking Last Week: 13] 

14. St. Louis Cardinals (24-23) [Ranking Last Week: 15] 

15. San Diego Padres (23-24) [Ranking Last Week: 14] 

Summary of Thoughts

Biggest Jump: This week's ranking report is eerily similar to last week's as there arguably hasn't been much change around the league. However, for ranking purposes, the Minnesota Twins are the team that experienced the highest climb this week going from sixth last week to fourth this. The bump-up is well deserved for the Twins, who as previously mentioned, are smoking the baseball and have received some stellar pitching especially from their relievers. It should be no surprise to see the Twins having a dominate season like this because of the moves the team made this past offseason and the analytical influence of new skipper, Rocco Baldelli, and his entire staff. 

Biggest Fall: The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays both dropped a spot this week and the Philadelphia Phillies dropped two spots, but none of the three had anything that docked them significant points over the past week. The shift was basically due to a realigning to get the, Minnesota Twins back into the Top 5 and a simple switch of moving the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers up a spot, which ultimately forced the Philadelphia Phillies down two spots. Regardless, all three teams are still very strong and should all be taken seriously as the regular season continues to roar ahead. 

New Entries: There were no new entries into the Top 15 Power Rankings list this week. The same teams from last week all made the list, in varying positions, but many of the teams below the 15th mark of the list haven't shown enough to deserve consideration to move into the Top 15. We'll see what happens this coming week and if that ends up changing during next weeks report. 

Cool Stat of the Week

Top 5 Active Batters Based on BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play): 

1. David Dahl (Colorado Rockies) - .442 

2. Javier Baez (Chicago Cubs) - .417 

3. Cody Bellinger (Los Angeles Dodgers) - .408 

4. Brandon Lowe (Tampa Bay Rays) - .407 

5. Jose Martinez (St. Louis Cardinals) - .393