Outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier received honors Thursday as the best hitters at their positions, the first year since 1995 (Mike Piazza and Eric Karros) that the Dodgers had a pair of winners and the first time they've had two outfielders selected in the same season. It was the first such honor for each player.I'll give my full thoughts later, but my first impression is that Kemp is a well deserving recepient and Ethier was bested by a few other right fielders.
Update-Matt Kemp's .367 wOBA, 101.1 wRC, and .842 OPS led all qualified center fielders, so there is nothing to really argue in his case.
Unfortunately, Andre Ethier's case in right field is considerably more questionable. His wOBA of .370 was fourth behind Justin Upton (.388), Brad Hawpe (.384), and Jayson Werth (.382). Furthermore, Hawpe led all right fielders with a .903 OPS, while Upton (.899), Werth (.879) and Ethier (.869) followed in tow. Due to playing time issues though, Ethier's wRC (105.3) was actually second place to Werth (110.7), while Upton (99.2) and Hawpe (97.6) trailed behind.
The eventual order I settled on in right field was Werth, Upton, Ethier, and Hawpe. Werth is a clear winner to me, and Upton follows behind because his playing time issues were injury related. By contrast, Hawpe commonly sat in the second half for performance related reasoning. Also, despite his ranking of last in this grouping of four, Ethier does get bonus points from me for staying healthy, so i'll give him third place, but even if you're a total homer, second place is the highest you could reasonably go.
