Morales starts September with a bang.(42.24)

[niles08]

Emilio Morales has had a pretty pitiful year at the plate, being 5% lower than the average player in the BBA in wRC+, compared to his career average of being 25% better than the average player. His batting average is down nearly .050 points can be to blame for that. With a lower batting average, the OBP for a player who doesn’t walk much follows quickly behind as that is also down .047 points compared to last season.

Well, Morales welcomed the month of September with a bang. In 6 games, Morales has belted 4 home runs and put up a 1.153 OPS. His batting average hasn’t improved, sitting at .292 during those 6 games, as he only has 7 hits in those 6 games, but 4 of those have been round-trippers.

Despite a relatively poor showing at the plate this season, Morales still can flash his glove as shown by his 3.6 ZR on the season at 3rd base, probably one of the key things that have allowed him to produce a 1.4 WAR this season, which would be his lowest since his rookie season in 2032.

While many watched Morales drop off significantly in home runs from 66 in 2040 to just 39 last season, Morales has officially passed that number by hitting home run number 40 last week. Morales, who began the season with an even 500 home runs and ranked 25th on the BBA all-time leaderboard, has found himself in the top 15 now with 540 career home runs. It would be nearly impossible for him to climb higher than that this season, however, 23 additional home runs next season would place Morales in the top 10 all-time ranks.

It looks like Morales will likely drive in over 100 RBI’s this season as well for the 9th consecutive time as he sits just 3 short of that number currently.

Maybe concerning is that Morales is swinging and missing now more than ever as he has 71 strikeouts on the season, a career-high with nearly a full month to play.

Regardless, it seems that Morales is hitting them out of the park at just the right time as the Hawks find themselves currently in the thick of the wildcard race, having jumped Chicago for the third wildcard this week.

[RonCo]

Morales carrying the Hawks into a deep playoff run would be a great story.