Writing the Pine

Welcome to the second edition of the Asian Guy Power Rankings, headlined by a brand spanking new banner, courtesy of FiveToolPlayer’s artistically talented brother. I have made a few minor tweaks to the AGPR format. AGPR will now be released every other Monday morning and feature the top five performers (thanks to reader Warrior13 for the insightful suggestion) as well as the three worst performers during the two week span.

It was an eventful two weeks for the AGPR candidates, highlighted by  Shin-Soo Choo smashing a seagull for a walk-off single, Hideki Matsui blasting a few homers, and Ichiro Suzuki on his hottest streak to date this season after his 27-game streak came to an end on June 5th against the Minnesota Twins. Let’s take a look at this week’s Power Rankings.

Stats to June 14, 2009, last week’s ranking in parentheses):

1. (1) Ichiro Suzuki, OF, SEA. .360 BA, .882 OPS, 5 HR, 17 RBI
After having his 27-game hitting streak rudely halted last weekend, Ichiro is now the owner of a new eight-game hitting streak, six of which have been multi-hit games.  He is now leading the majors in hits and raising his average to .360 – good for first in the AL and second in the majors behind David Wright. He’s been the catalyst on an inconsistent Seattle Mariners team, reaching base safely 19 times and scoring seven times in his last ten games.

2. (2) Shin-Soo Choo, OF, CLE. .288 BA, .842 OPS, 8 HR, 38 RBI
After watching Choo’s games the past two weeks, I was ready to drop him a spot or two in the rankings. But that was before he single-handedly won consecutive games against the Kansas City Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals with a now notorious walk-off single that smashed a seagull and a game-changing two-run single in respective games. I’m not too sure what to make of his plate discipline — he’s been striking out at a high rate (21st in the majors) but also walks a ton (12th in the majors).

3. (4) Hideki Okajima, RP, BOS. 3-0, 2.48 ERA, 29 IP, 32 K, 10 BB, 0.93 WHIP, .168 BAA
Since the last installment of AGPR, Okajima has a win and three holds, striking out seven and walking one in 7 IP. Okajima, along with fellow countryman Takashi Saito, has really been phenomenal for the Boston Red Sox this season as a main contributor to the absolutely stacked BoSox bullpen.

4. (5) Hideki Matsui, OF, NYY. .257 BA, .844 OPS, 10 HR, 28 RBI
He celebrated his 35th birthday this past Friday with an unforgettable gift from Luis Castillo, but unfortunately his knees did not get any younger. At this point in his career, he’d probably lose in a footrace to my grandmother. Matsui has been making the most of his opportunities as of late, hitting two homeruns, batting in five runs, walking three times in the last three games, and somehow managing to score three runs on his bad legs in yesterday’s 15-0 blowout against the New York Mets in possibly the most anticlimactic finish possible to a rather dramatic subway series.

5. (-) Chan Ho Park, SP/RP, PHI. 3-1, 6.08 ERA, 47.1 IP, 37K 23 BB, 1.67 WHIP, .299 BAA
Park makes his AGPR debut this week, thanks to his hottest stretch of pitching this season. His last four appearances included wins against the Red Sox and the Mets in important long relief situations and a three-inning hold against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Park’s late success is encouraging to see in a relatively shaky Phillies bullpen, but he probably won’t be able to unseat young southpaw J.A. Happ for his spot back in the rotation.

The Asian Guy Lower Rankings

1. (10) Chien-Ming Wang, SP/RP, NYY. 0-4, 14.34 ERA, 21.1 IP, 17 K, 12 BB, 2.67 WHIP, .446 BAA
After Wang successfully stabbed my back with a woeful five-earned run outing in four and two-thirds after I placed him tenth on last week’s inaugural rankings, he followed the embarrassing outing with another chode of a performance: four runs and three walks in two and two-thirds pitched for a loss after Joe Girardi regretfully inserted Wang in the rotation. What’s next for Wang? Relief appearances for the next month or so? Minors?

2.  (3) Kosuke Fukudome, OF, CHC. .266 BA, .824 OPS, 5 HR, 20 RBI
After a barrage of clutch hitting performances in May, Fukudome has cooled off in epic fashion – 3 hits in his last 36 at-bats – and his latest cold spell has perhaps contributed to the firing of the Cubs’ hitting coach.

3. (-) Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP, Bos. 1-4, 7.55 ERA, 31.0 IP, 32 K, 14 BB, 2.10 WHIP, .372 BAA
Dice-K was just average in his start against the Detroit Tigers on June 3 when he earned a win with six strikeouts and a single earned run. But he threw 96 pitches in just five innings. He followed this win with forgettable consecutive appearances against the Texas Rangers and the Philadelphia Phillies where he gave up a total of 17 hits, nine earned runs and three homeruns.

Asian Guy Power Rankings:  Every two weeks, the top five and worst three major league baseball players of Asian descent will be ranked in accordance to their most recent performances.  Here are the necessary requirements to qualify for the list: (a) must be an active player on a major league baseball team’s roster; (b) must be of at least three-quarters Asian descent.

*note: Middle Eastern countries qualify as Asian, Russia does not qualify as Asian (they compete in international events as a European country) and India qualifies as an Asian country.