Baseball is a unique sport and one of the great things about it is that low payroll teams always have a chance to win.
Currently in second place and sitting in good position to make the playoffs is a team with the third lowest payroll in baseball,
the Tampa Bay Rays.
Wil Myers and Chris Archer are two of the newest stars to emerge out of Tampa Bay’s organization.
In 2012, Myers batted .304 with 24 homeruns while playing for the Kansas City Royal’s AAA affiliate in Omaha.
In his rookie year with the Rays, Myers is batting .283/.346/.450 with 9 home runs, 39 RBIs, 32 runs and 5 stolen
bases in 63 games played.
The right-handed Myers has power to all parts of the field. He has hit 3 of his 9 home runs to right, one of which was a
grand slam off CC Sabathia. Along with power, his outfield spray chart is phenomenal for a rookie, especially when he
pulls the ball to left field. When this is the case, Myers is 31 for 43 (.720) with 10 of his 13 doubles to the left of
center field.
Although Myers has had a great rookie season, he will quickly learn that performing late in the year is a necessity,
especially when playing in the AL East. He batted .352 in July with 31 hits in 101 at-bats, but only had 11 hits with
the same amount of at-bats in August. During the last three weeks, Myers has hit into an out 11% more frequently when
hitting a fly ball. If Myers can turn his production back to where he was July, he will be a key asset to the Rays
playoff push. Below are Myers’ monthly splits.
Myers isn’t the only rookie to shine in Tampa Bay, 24-year-old Chris Archer is pitching like a veteran in the league.
To compliment his 8-6 record and a 3.14 era, Archer has two complete game shutouts and has beaten the Yankees three
times this year.
Archer mostly sticks with two pitches, a fastball (61%), and a slider (32%). He has plus control of his slider and
most of the hits off this pitch are when he keeps it over the middle of the plate. This is Archer’s most efficient
pitch and batters hit just .288 when hit into play.
Archer’s slider stands out for a rookie pitcher, but he also has some heat on his fastball, which mostly comes in at
94-96 MPH and has reached 99 MPH once this year. The average speed of his fastball is 94.8 MPH and batters have swung
and missed on this pitch 14% of the time (MLB Avg. 10%). He gets a wide variety of horizontal break on his fastball,
making it difficult to batters to pick up.
Both Chris Archer and Wil Myers have given themselves a name in the Rookie of the Year running, but September will be a
crucial test to see if they have what it takes to help their team secure a playoff spot. Only one player can win the
Rookie of the Year Award, but they both have a chance to win a World Series ring.
NOTE: All statistics accurate as of 9/3/13
By Danny Malter
AriBall.com
