By Ron Kaplan, contributor

They call the All-Star break the midpoint of a baseball season. It’s not really, since teams have played well over half of their 162 games. But it’s still a good time to look back and see how everyone is doing.

As you know, Alex Bregman killed it at the All-Star Game, winning MVP honors for his go-ahead home run in the 10th inning. And that’s on top of what so far has been a very good season both for the second baseman and his Houston Astros, who have the second-best record in the American League at 64-35 and lead the Western Division by five games over the Seattle Mariners.

Bregman’s stats so far, courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com:

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
96 434 371 67 107 31 1 20 64 8 4 56 53 .288 .389 .539 .928 159 200

Gabe Kapler started out slowly as the new skipper for the Philadelphia Phillies. His unorthodox (no halacha intended) manner had some calling for his ouster after just a couple of weeks. But now he’s got the Phils in first place in the NL East at 53-42, a half game ahead of the Braves.

Jeremy BleichJeremy Bleich, Oakland A’s (55-42, third in AL West). The latest Jewish player to hit the major leagues, the 31-year-old lefty pitcher made his debut on July 13, and it did not go well. He entered the game against the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and gave up a two-run double then hit the next batter. Bleich was then relieved and his two runners came around, leaving him with no innings, one hit, one HBP, and an ERA of infinity. (By the way, during my vacation I was reading Keith Law’s fascinating book, Smart Baseball: The Story Behind the Old Stats That Are Ruining the Game, the New Ones That Are Running It, and the Right Way to Think About Baseball. It’s given me a whole new perspective on evaluating players. Highly recommended.)

Richard Bleier, Baltimore Orioles (28-39, fifth in AL East). Bleier was probably the best pitcher on the woeful O’s. He hit a bit of a snag shortly before an injury put him on the disabled list for the rest of the year.

 
W L W-L% ERA G SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BF ERA+ FIP WHIP
3 0 1.000 1.93 31 0 32.2 36 7 7 0 4 1 15 1 133 215 2.68 1.224

Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers (55-43, second in NL Central). We can all agree this has been a disappointing half-season for the Hebrew Hammer, who has appeared in just 71 of the team’s 98 games, suffering through a bunch of nagging injuries and currently on the DL (20 days missed).

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
71 255 234 31 55 13 1 10 35 7 3 17 55 .235 .283 .427 .711 87 100

Max Fried, Atlanta Braves (52-42, second in NL East). The second year hurler has been up and down with the Braves. He had one brilliant game then went on the DL with blister issues on July 6 and hs yet to return (14 days lost).

 
W L W-L% ERA G GS GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO BF ERA+ FIP WHIP
1 3 .250 3.92 7 3 3 0 20.2 17 10 9 3 13 25 87 101 4.64 1.452

Ty Kelly, NY Mets (39-55, tied for last in NL East). Kelly — who played for Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic and has been deemed “kosher” by the powers that be — rejoined the Mets as a free agent in January. They brought him up on July 9.

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
7 10 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .100 .100 .100 .200 -44 1

Ian Kinsler, LA Angels (49-48, fourth in AL West) also spent some time (13 days) on the DL with an ab muscle problem. Some teams offer “mid-season report cards.” Here’s his (and it’s pretty harsh).

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
82 354 324 37 71 15 0 11 26 8 4 24 34 .219 .280 .367 .647 79 119

Speaking of Kinsler, on this date in 2009:

Joc Pederson, LA Dodgers (53-43, first in NL West). A slow start — when he did actually start as opposed to coming in as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement — didn’t prevent Pederson from having a great June in which he hit 10 of his 13 home runs.

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
88 265 231 35 57 17 3 13 36 1 4 28 40 .247 .333 .515 .848 128 119

Kevin Pillar, Toronto Blue Jays (43-52, fourth in AL East) is the latest JML to go on the DL after jamming his shoulder just before the break. Of course it came making one of his fine defensive plays. Looks like he’s going to be out a considerable amount of time. A shande.

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
93 366 344 42 85 27 2 8 37 11 1 14 66 .247 .279 .407 .686 86 140

Ryan Sherriff, St. Louis Cardinals (48-46, third in NL Central) is also out for the year, having appeared in just five games.

 
W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP
0 0 6.35 5 0 0 0 0 0 5.2 8 4 4 1 2 0 3 66 5.97 1.765

Richard Stock, San Diego Padres (40-59, fifth in NL West) made his MLB debut on June 24, striking out two and allowing one hit against the host San Frsancisco Giants. He was sent down after three more appearances.

 
W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO ERA+ FIP WHIP
0 0 3.00 4 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 5 1 1 0 0 5 150 1.81 1.667

Danny Valencia, Orioles, has had a pretty good season considering.

 
G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB
68 240 215 25 54 7 1 9 27 1 1 20 45 .251 .308 .419 .727 101 90

Zach Weiss, Cincinnati Reds (43-53, fifth in NL Central). Like Bleich, Weiss had an inauspicious debut in 2018. He gave up back-to-back home runs to the first two St. Louis Cardinals he faced on April 12 then walked two more before departing. ERA: Infinity. That was his only outing in the bigs so far, but we expect him back.

 
W L W-L% ERA G GF SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF ERA+ FIP WHIP
0 0 inf 1 0 0 0.0 2 4 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 4

season stats

Ron Kaplan (@RonKaplanNJ) hosts Kaplan’s Korner, a blog about Jews and sports. He is the author of three books, including The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games and Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War.

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