The Baseballsphere Blog

To think about who should be the American League player of the Month for August, we could start by looking at those with the highest OPS on the month (and at least 50 plate appearances):

Player	Team	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS▼
Encarnacion, E	TOR	1B	23	86	23	35	11	0	11	35	9	15	0	0	0.407	0.460	0.919	1.379
Ortiz, D	BOS	DH	26	91	17	32	8	0	9	22	16	17	0	0	0.352	0.432	0.736	1.169
Bradley, J	BOS	CF	26	79	23	28	9	3	5	23	11	24	3	0	0.354	0.429	0.734	1.163
Donaldson, J	TOR	3B	27	105	29	34	7	1	11	35	16	25	2	0	0.324	0.408	0.724	1.132
Gutierrez, F	SEA	LF	19	62	12	21	4	0	7	20	4	19	0	0	0.339	0.388	0.742	1.130

Based on offense alone, you have to pick Encarnacion, though Ortiz, Bradley, and Donaldson all show very well here. But can defense close the gap? Not for Ortiz, the DH, but maybe for Jackie Bradley Jr., the defensive wiz in the outfield. Now I haven’t seen Encarnacion’s defense this month, but I have to wonder, how likely is he to have made plays at first base in August like this catch:

Bradley Jr.’s incredible catch

or this catch:

Statcast: Bradley’s great grab

or this throw:

Statcast: Bradley Jr. gets Bird

or this catch:

Must C: Bradley Jr.’s great grab

or this throw:

Bradley Jr. nabs Sanchez

or this catch:

Bradley runs in for catch

or this throw:

Bradley Jr.’s throw nabs Infante

or this catch and throw:

Bradley’s running catch

Given the game-changing, run-saving nature of Bradley’s defense so many times in August, that has to propel him squarely into a two-person discussion for who should be AL player of the Month for August.

Do you think the pick should be Encarnacion, Bradley, or someone else?