I don't think the speculation is fair. Was Barry Larkin up to something when he hit 33 homers?
"I am your child from the future. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier." - Dylan Easton
"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
Good lord, it's 27 homers, not 50. I have no idea if he's clean or not, but this guy always made good contact and got on base when healthy. He doesn't look appreciably bigger. The most likely explanation is a change in approach. It's not like he was a weakling his whole life and showed up to camp ripped.
I think Ichiro could have hit 20/year a until a few years ago just by trying to.
He's a former first round pick and top prospect. Scouts are not surprised by this.
Stick to your guns.
Tell you what, it is absolutely unheard of that a right-handed hitter could have a power spike in Fenway. That part really suppresses right-handed power...
Oh, wait.
Go ahead and criticize......that what message boards are for, to discuss things out. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm not advocating we throw him out of baseball, all I said was he's a prime candidate in my book.
"I can make all the stadiums rock."
-Air Supply
"Reality tells us there are no guarantees. Except that some day Jon Lester will be on that list of 100-game winners." - Peter Gammons
What? Doug, you're missing the point unless you are just being smart. I know you are educated on who he is, but your comment makes no sense. He is the ultimate point your finger at him candidate. If someone like Brian McCann hit 50 HR's and someone called him out for possible juice, then I could see you saying "no one is safe these days."
Prior to this year:
07-10 = 1372 AB's with 20 HR; 69 AB per HR
2011 = 596 AB's with 27 HR; 22 AB per HR
Even in the minor leagues he had 10 HR in 1049 AB's; 105 AB per HR
This guy had 30 power at best! Now he's dropping serious bombs, and hitting them very far.
Certainly not saying he's on anything, but if they do HGH testing in the bigs next year and he gets popped, I wouldn't be surprised one single bit. There are a lot more players out there doing stuff that people just don't expect.
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