June Overview
if i was going to give Michael's June a title, i could easily call it "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." it was just an odd month for Michael. he had good games, he had bad games, and he had games where it looked like his back was killing him. he's no longer the consistent player that he's become known as, but i guess that's to be expected considering he's been battling a back strain since day 1 of spring. still, it's unfortunate.
Michael had at least 1 hit in his opening 9 games from June 2-13, batting .333 (11-for-33). but unlike last month, he didn't have a dominating first half of June. in his first 13 games, Michael bat .319 (15-for-47). by no means is that bad, but it wasn't enough to compensate for the remaining 11 games, when he bat only .273 (12-for-44). all-in-all he earned himself a June batting average of
.297, which is acceptable, however it didn't improve his overall BA from where it was at the end of May. it actually brought it down to exactly .300, a 2 point decrease. i'd much prefer to see his BA go up after every month, but right now he's continually trending downward.
Michael had a nice 11-game hitting streak that spanned from May 30 - June 13. it was mainly comprised of 1 hit games, so the streak is not one of his most impressive. during the streak, his overall batting average never got above .308 (June 12), and it didn't stay there for very long. after his hitting streak ended on June 14, he was up and down, having some decent games and then struggling in others. the inconsistency is best displayed by the fluctuations of his overall batting average in the second half of June. it dropped all the way down to .289 after an 0-for-4 game versus the Detroit Tigers concluded on June 23. following that, he managed to raise his BA back up to .300 before the month was officially over.
let me sum up the 5 series Michael played once the hit streak was history for you. he had a surprisingly strong interleague series--a 4-for-10 showing in 3 games--against the Chicago Cubs, then faltered versus the Tampa Bay Rays, going 1-for-11. he was 3-for-12 at home versus the Tigers, which was a little low for him because normally he hits better when the Indians face Detroit. when the Tribe went on the road to play the Baltimore Orioles next, Michael went 4-for-13 in that 3-game series. he finished the month going 4-for-8 in the final 2 games against the Rays. his last couple series were the reason he didn't end up with a totally mediocre June, but it was close there for a while.
despite his respectable batting average, several of Michael's stats for June are low. there's no hiding that. he did not have a lot of RBI or runs scored. his power was MIA, evidenced by his inability to hit home runs. he wasn't really hitting many doubles either. he only attempted 3 steals and got caught once. he left a plethora of guys on base again and even committed his first error in the outfield this month. it's just not what Tribe fans are used to seeing from Michael.
i'm not gonna lie--there's not a whole lot about Michael's game to be excited over at the moment. who knows what he's gonna do night-in and night-out; the confidence fans used to have when he'd come to the plate in big game situations has diminished. but he can't help that anymore. he continues to play at less than 100% and sometimes that hurts the team as well as decreases his individual numbers. yet certain people remain blind to it.
you're not going to play well on a regular basis when you're playing with a freakin' back strain, you're just not. but Terry Francona is more than happy to keep playing Michael while insisting he's merely struggling like all ballplayers do at some point in a season, rather than sit him for a couple days and try to give his back a break and/or a boost. makes no sense to me. and so we have another month where Michael doesn't have the stats i know he would have if he was healthy. sorry to say i assume this will continue through the end of the season. and i'm honestly worried about what's to come.
Areas Of Concern
there are a lot of aspects of Michael's game that are a concern right now because many of his statistics are going down by the day as he continues to play with the back strain. but i will only focus on a few areas where i didn't see much progress.
last month i was concerned with Michael's failure to hit in the clutch. he improved on that this month except for when there were 2 outs in an inning. his last hit with a RISP and 2 outs was on June 5. since then, he's gone 0-for-5 in 7 plate appearances.
he had 1 at bat in June with the bases loaded and, as has been the case so far this season, he could not deliver. coincidentally, it was also when there were 2 outs in the inning.
in connection with that, Michael did not get very many 2-out hits this month either, even without anyone being in scoring position. between June 19-24, he was 0-for-8 with 2 outs in an inning before finally hitting a 2-out single in his first at bat on June 26. overall, he did an unsatisfactory job in this category and i hope to see improvement going forward.
Michael had some troubles with runners on base as well. he had 2 games this month when he went 0-for-3 with men on base and also 1 0-for-4 game. being the #3 guy in the order, he's expected to do better than that.
it was also a bit disconcerting that Michael didn't do well at home. and while it's not uncommon for a ballplayer to hit better on the road, i don't like seeing that from Michael, because up until this month he's always been a good hitter in his own ballpark.
More Lineup Changes
as i mentioned in the May blog, Carlos Santana had been struggling mightily at the plate. he was still drawing occasional walks but for the most part, he wasn't hitting his way on. couple that with the call up of Francisco Lindor, and Terry Francona decided another lineup change was necessary. on June 16, he inserted Lindor into the 2 hole and moved Santana back down to the cleanup spot. Santana didn't really like batting 2nd as it was, so the hope was that this would help him get going again. spoiler alert: it didn't.
on this particular night the Tribe was facing a right-handed starter, but what would the lineup be against a lefty? it didn't take long to find out because a southpaw was pitching against the Tribe in the very next game on June 17. when that lineup came out, Lindor was again batting 2nd and Santana was again batting cleanup. Ryan Raburn had been moved down to 5th.
on June 21, Tito played with the lineup again, pushing Santana down to 5th and batting David Murphy 4th against a right-handed starter. the Indians' top 5 against righties for the rest of the month became Jason Kipnis-Lindor-Brantley-Murphy-Santana.
then on June 22 when the Indians were going to face a left-handed starter, Santana was once again batting 5th while Raburn was promoted back up to the cleanup spot. so the top 5 against southpaws for the remainder of June was Kipnis-Lindor-Brantley-Raburn-Santana.
if the initial lineup change last month was made to get more guys on base for Michael, well that doesn't seem to be Francona's concern anymore. (and to be honest, i don't think it really matters now since Michael is having a rough season due to his back strain.) Lindor, being the rookie that he is, is not gonna be the most reliable at getting on base. i'd venture to guess he's most likely going to make more outs than he's gonna get on. so far he's done well, but as time goes on, that could change. either way, Lindor's going to have plenty of time in the 2 hole to prove himself and gain familiarity with big league pitching, so we'll see how he handles it and what it does, if anything, for Michael.
Kipnis carried his hot May into June and kept hitting and getting on base at a riKIPulous rate. so again, Michael had plenty of chances to add to his RBI total. sometimes Michael drove Kip in, and sometimes he left him on. it is what it is (re: the back strain continues to linger and affect his ABs). the #2 hitter makes no difference for Michael any longer at this time.
as for Michael's position in the outfield, that remained unchanged. he would play left field when right-handed pitchers started for the opposition, and play center field when left-handed pitchers were starting. although, there were some games when a lefty started and Francona actually had Michael Bourn in the lineup and playing center. Bourn had been hitting better after being pushed down into the bottom of the order--he's since began struggling again--so maybe Tito was rewarding him by letting him play a few games against lefties. regardless, Michael doesn't see nearly as much time in center as left because the league generally has more righty starters than lefties.
with the Tribe's current erratic offense, i would not be surprised to see more BOP changes in July, so stay tuned.
Back Strain Woes
let me preface this section of the blog by saying Michael hasn't been "forced" to miss any games since April, but maybe he should be forced to take a series off because he's really played like shit in some games, as has been reflected in his numbers that keep decreasing and decreasing and decreasing. smh. it's admittedly hard to take. seeing him play and have more poor, non-quality at bats than quality ABs, and knowing this wouldn't be happening if something wasn't the matter with him, is exasperating. i'm disappointed in the manager, who should know better.
i'm also starting to get upset with Michael, who keeps pushing himself to play. he says he doesn't care about individual stats, but is he really happy with the results he's yielding? i don't get why you would want to endure playing when you're not even close to playing at your best. i sure as hell wouldn't. at first, i respected Michael for it, but now that it's caught up to him and he's shown that he's no longer a key asset to the team, i'm disheartened.
the Indians had the first day of the month off, then began a 3-game road series at Kansas City on June 2. so when Michael got the June 3 game off, i really didn't understand it. true, Michael had played 42 of the Indians' last 43 games before getting this day off, but i couldn't comprehend the timing of it. Terry Francona explained it like this, "i fought him on it. he wasn't happy about it. he really wanted to play. i just thought this would be really good for him. he's a little beat up. i told him i'd rather give you one day than maybe lose you for a week because i was stubborn. i just think a day of not playing would be really good for him."
this is the exact same thing Tito said the last time he gave Michael a day off, 10 days ago on May 23, and also in April regarding Michael and his back. so i guess he's gonna be sticking to the same script all year. but why didn't he just give Michael the June 2 game off for 2 consecutive days of rest? that's not something he has the ability to take advantage of very often, so why not utilize the opportunity when it presents itself? to let him play June 2 and give him off June 3 seems like it was done more out of necessity than anything else. i mean the Tribe just had off on June 1, then Michael plays June 2, but on June 3 he's all the sudden beat up and needs a day off (again)? "beat up" must be code for the back was barking again.
then on June 4, in the last game of this series against KC, Michael was the DH. Francona's thinking this time was to get his bat in the lineup while still giving him a bit of rest. he also thought it would be particularly helpful since the team had a late flight after the game. (déjà vu from last month.) Tito continued to do what he could to keep Michael healthy (ha!) and in the lineup.
it's a known fact that Michael doesn't enjoy DHing and up to this point, he hasn't been very productive in the role this season. then again, that might simply be due to the timing of his games as the DH--this is twice now that Michael has DH'd after getting a day off. (not playing and then DHing when it's not his regular job could be relatively taxing.)
Michael was the DH for a second day in a row on June 5 in the first game of a home series versus the Baltimore Orioles. once again, Francona justified the decision with a tune we've all heard before, "i just think it can help him a little bit." and i just think his back had been flaring up and he needed to take it easy.
in the final game of the Orioles series on June 7, Michael's name was nowhere in the lineup. the Indians had the next day off, so Francona chose to sit Michael for this specific game in order to give his back more rest and 48 hours to relax. "as hard as it is not to play him, then i think, 'as hard as it is for him to not play today, how about if we lost him for a week or two weeks?' so, i talked to him about it. he's never in favor of it, which i absolutely love. but i think this will really help him." why didn't Francona also use this frame of thinking at the beginning of the month to give Michael 2 consecutive days of rest, just like i said?!
Tito continued, "we've tried to give him some rest here and there. i think two days off in a row will really do him some good. we need him so bad. missing him for one day is hard, but we need him, so i'll try to give him two days where he can really bounce back." here we go again. the same spiel from April and May and a few days earlier.
no wonder Michael hates being out of the lineup. despite the fact that his back issue is still an active problem, when he hears that his manager keeps saying the team really needs him, of course he's going to want to fight through the pain and play every day possible even more. he's probably putting that unnecessary pressure on himself to help the team, while neglecting his own health and making things worse. i don't like that.
when asked if Michael's back strain will need to be managed the whole season, Francona answered with, "i hope not. i don't anticipate that. he's been working so hard, but when you're playing every day, you get beat up."
excuse me, Tito, but it's not that simple. he's already "beat up" from playing every day with a back injury. playing too much with said injury is only going to him hurt more. and remember, we were told that "medical experts" didn't expect Michael's back strain to linger all season back on April 14. (refer to my Brantley Lower Back Strain Timeline blog for more.) we're almost at the All Star break now and the media continues to ask questions in relation to Michael and his back because it's clearly still affecting Michael in a negative way. i'm personally getting tired of hearing the Tribe sing the same song, especially when it's starting to look like a bunch of BS.
okay so let's do a first week of June recap:
June 1 - team off day
June 2 - Michael played left field
June 3 - Michael gets day off
June 4 - Michael was the DH
June 5 - Michael was the DH
June 6 - Michael played left field
June 7 - Michael gets day off
June 8 - team off day
summary: the team being this cautious with Michael is all the proof you need to know that his back strain is still serious enough to require off days that Michael wouldn't otherwise need or get.
in the game on June 10 versus the Seattle Mariners, Michael was subbed out defensively after playing 7 innings in left field because the Indians were getting trounced, 9-1. this gave Michael 2 extra innings of "rest" that Tito has become obsessed with providing Michael whenever possible.
on June 15, Francona was thinking about making more changes, this time in regards to team fielding. because the Indians had recently called up Giovanni Urshela and Zach Walters, he was pondering putting Walters at 3rd base when Urshela wasn't starting. that would enable Mike Aviles to play in the outfield. Francona told the media that he might have "Aviles start some games in center field versus left-handed pitchers to ease the burden on Brantley." there was never any burden on Michael when he played center field last season. this just adds more evidence that his back is something that needs to be catered to, which i've been saying all along. the thing that sucked most about this was, Michael had actually been hitting better against lefties than righties this year, .326 vs. .281 at the time of Tito's news. after his announcement however, Francona had yet to implement this notion.
June 20 brought more concerns my way vis-à-vis Michael and his bad back. first, in the early morning hours prior to the Indians game versus the Tampa Bay Rays, Paul Hoynes answered someone's question in his Hey, Hoynsie! article and point blank period made the statement that Michael's back has limited his range in the outfield. fortunately, he's still been able to get some assists by throwing out base runners.
second, when i went to the game later that night, i kept a close eye on Michael because i wanted to see if he was favoring his back at all. what i observed left me unsettled. aside from the fact that he went 0-for-4 at the plate and 0-for-3 with RISP, Michael did not look good. after his final at bat of the night, something was up. he went back out to left field for the top of the 9th and during the inning he bent over several times in between pitches. i'm talking hands on his knees, looking down at the grass hunched over.
but the kicker was what i saw during a pitching change. as is commonplace, when the new pitcher comes out and warms up, the left fielder and right fielder always walk over to center field, and all the outfielders chat with each other. well, Brandon Moss went over to Michael Bourn in center, but Michael didn't move from left. he was hunched over again. then after when he stood up straight and took off his hat, the expression on his face was a combination of unhappy/sad/pissed. he just didn't look right at all. i don't know if he was physically hurting, but don't me tell he was fine because clearly he was not.
i also saw his father, Mickey Brantley, at the game. (he was probably in town to spend Father's Day with Michael.) during Indians batting practice, Michael and Mickey were talking but i was a couple sections away so i didn't get to hear their conversation. i wonder how Mickey feels about Michael continuing to play hurt and what advice he gives Michael since he's been playing with a back strain this season.
after Michael got on base during the game on June 24 versus the Detroit Tigers, Tom Hamilton commented on the radio how Michael was a threat to steal but only had 8 stolen bases at the time. he also stated how Michael's not running as well this year now that he's been dealing with his bad back since spring training. Hammy told listeners that he's still able to play through it, but he's not healthy like he was a year ago. no kidding.
also during one of Michael's at bats, Hammy talked about how Michael has been in a recent slump with his bat. though when he said that, he made it sound like it was just a regular slump and there was no reasoning behind it. obviously his back is affecting his offense just like it's affecting his running and his defense. note to Hammy: please make that more apparent on your future broadcasts.
on June 25, an Indians off day, i was listening to Sports Insider on cleveland.com, and Hoynsie was a guest on the show. he was asked by Chris Fedor if Michael's back strain is responsible for the fact that he's "not even the top hitter on the club anymore," or something similar to that. (side note: i don't take Fedor seriously. he's the one who called Michael "replaceable" a few years back so i've really just tuned out all his opinions since then.) but Hoynsie openly said how when someone who's been very consistent in his career all the sudden is struggling like Michael has been, it's gotta be because of injury or something. something's going on with him. he mentioned it's likely that Michael is overcompensating for his back strain and may have changed his swing to try and accommodate that, and therefore it's producing different results than we're used to seeing. i can't speak on that since i don't get to watch all the games, but that sounds like it could be a realistic theory.
after the game against the Orioles on June 26 and a 1-for-5 showing for Michael, he was sitting alone in the dugout looking sad. (click the link to see the photo for yourself.) it's hard to tell if he was upset because of his own performance on the night, mad about his ailing back that continues to restrict his abilities, disappointed in the team's losing record, or a combination of all of that.
when the Indians game on June 27 against the Orioles got rained out and was rescheduled for a day-night doubleheader on June 28, i knew right away that Michael would not be playing both games in the field, if he even played both games at all. i guessed that he would play left field in the day game and probably DH in the night game, and that's precisely what happened. if Michael is healthy, he's playing left in both games, especially since they just had a day off prior to this doubleheader.
the final 2 games of June took place in St. Petersburg against the Rays on AstroTurf. ugh. that's the last thing Michael needed. he played a few games on 'turf last season and experienced mid-back tightness, so to have to go play at Tropicana Field on AstroTurf already having back issues was certainly not ideal. i expected Michael to either completely sit out 1 of the 4 Tampa games, or once again be a DH in 1, if not 2. because of the way the series fell on the calendar, the Tribe only played 2 games of the series in June, and he was the left fielder in both. will Tito have him DH 1 of the 2 games in July? i'd bet yes.
i am not privy to seeing all of Michael's at bats. i only see the hits that mlb.com deems important enough to post a video of online, and outs that come at big moments in the games. so i can't comment on whether or not Michael still pulls up short of the 1st base bag on groundouts and plays it safe and such to go easy on his back. but i'd imagine he does.
the only way this back strain is going to go away is with significant time off, and let's be real, that's not gonna happen until the 2015 season is over. and it's anyone's guess as to how much (or how little) Michael's going to contribute to the team in these last 3 months. the back could just get worse and he may be forced into a DL stint at some point. i wouldn't be shocked if that ends up happening, but i would be sad. nothing i can do or say is going to help his situation, so all i can do is keep supporting him no matter unconditionally. and that's what i'm gonna do, no matter how hard that might become.
Team Batting Title Competition
Jason Kipnis had another high-level month while Michael's was simply decent. so that's 2 points to Kip, 1 for Michael (who beat out Kip in April despite missing several games).
i think it's safe to say that Kipnis has this thing on lock. he continues to rack up hits in almost every game like they're going out of style while Michael continues to play too much while fighting through the back strain that's undoubtedly hurting him at the plate and taking hits away from him. unless Michael has a second-half surge, i can't see him ending the year with the highest team BA for a fourth straight season. and truthfully, that's not really something Michael cares about achieving anyways because he's a team-first player, a quality i undeniably love about him.
Home Runs, RBI, K Rate, and Outs
just like in April, Michael didn't hit any home runs in June. the last homer he hit was on May 14. his power is nowhere to be found right now and i think i can correctly attribute that once again to his back issue. but it still bums me out. so i can't do a June HR:RBI ratio.
accordingly, Michael's RBIs went down this month compared to his swell last month. he only totaled 8 RBI for June. oddly enough, he had a decent average with RISP. and, in an improvement from last month, he only left 40 guys on base. yeah, that's still too many for my liking. the RBI opportunities always seem to be there for Michael and it kind of agitates me knowing that he could be killing that RBI category right now.
one of the better portions of Michael's month came in the strikeout department. his K rate in June was 9.0% (9 K/100 PA). anytime i see his strikeout rate under 10%, i cannot complain.
in June, Michael hit 30 groundouts versus 28 flyouts, so it was pretty even this time around. besides that, he had 8 lineouts, including lining into one double play this month.
Streaks and Situational Statistics
Michael had a hit in 20 of the 24 games he played in June and reached base safely in 21 games. he had 4 hitless games, but reached base in 1 of those. Michael had 6 multi-hit games, 1 3+ hit game, and 0 multi-RBI games. he had at least 1 RBI in 8 games. in addition, he had 4 go-ahead hits and 4 go-ahead RBI this month. the Indians were 11-13 in games that Michael played in and 0-2 in games he sat out.
Michael had an 11-game hitting streak over 15 days from May 30 - June 13. it was his 2nd such streak this season, except the numbers weren't as great this time. he mostly had 1-hit games consisting of singles. he bat .302 (13-for-43) with 13 hits and 15 total bases. his 2 extra base hits were doubles. he totaled 4 RBI, 4 runs, 5 walks, 1 intentional walk, 1 GIDP, 4 strikeouts (3 swinging, 1 looking), and 3 first at bat hits. he also left 19 men on base in 48 plate appearances and 43 at bats. his OBP was .375 and his SLG was .349, giving him a .724 OPS. (that slugging percentage is unusually low for someone who hit in 11 straight games, but again, it validates that the majority of his hits were singles.) on the defensive side of things, Michael had 18 putouts and 2 assists in 81 innings between left (50 innings) and center field (31 innings). he was part of a defensive switch in 2 games, moving from center to left field, and was subbed out early in 1 blowout loss. therefore, he played 10 complete games. he DH'd in 2 games during this streak as well.
this was the longest hitting streak by an Indians player so far this season (and also since Michael's 15-game hitting streak in September 2014) until Jason Kipnis' career high 20-game hitting streak from June 3-26--also the longest in the AL and in the majors this season. Kip's streak was the longest by an Indians player since Michael's 22-game hitting streak from May 20 - June 15, 2012.
additionally, Michael had an 11-game on-base streak between May 30 - June 13.
in June, Michael bat .327 (16-for-49) against right-handed pitchers and .262 (11-for-42) against left-handed pitchers. this emulates April, when he did quite well against righties and had some troubles against southpaws. he seems to be specializing in one or the other every month, not both, so i'd like to see some more consistency from him in the back half of the season.
Michael bat .265 (13-for-49) with 4 RBI at home and .333 (14-for-42) with 4 RBI on the road in June. he hit safely in 10 of the 13 home games he played and safely got on base in 11 of them. he was hitless in 3 home games but still reached base in 1 game. he also hit safely in 12 of 14 road games and got on base in 12 games as well. he was hitless in 2 road games, not reaching in either.
Michael hit .421 (8-for-19) with runners in scoring position, producing 8 RBI this month. breaking that down, he hit .333 (1-for-3) with RISP and 0 outs, .714 (5-for-7) with RISP and 1 out, and .222 (2-for-9) with RISP and 2 outs. he's still struggling in those 2 out-RISP situations, though that was a bit of an improvement from May...
speaking of, with 2 outs in an inning in June, Michael bat .206 (7-for-34). this was another poor showing for Michael this month.
furthermore, he bat .250 (11-for-44) with 8 RBI with runners on base and .000 (0-for-1) with bases loaded in June. Michael had a few more at bats with no one on base and performed much better in those cases. he bat .340 (16-for-47) with bases empty this month, with 4 doubles and 4 walks.
finally, Michael had a 0.1 fWAR (wins above replacement), a 101 wRC+ (weighted runs created plus--the ability to create runs compared to the league average), and a -0.3 BsR (baserunning runs above average with stolen bases and caught stealings) in June. his BsR ranked 6th, wRC+ ranked 7th, and WAR ranked 8th among American League left fielders. [these stats are courtesy of fangraphs.com.]
Versus AL Central Division Teams
vs. the Kansas City Royals, Michael bat .333 (2-for-6) in 2 games in June. (he got 1 game off to rest his back.) he had 2 singles, 2 RBI, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 2 total bases. he left 3 guys on base and recorded 2 putouts in 9 innings in left field. (he was the DH for 1 game.)
vs. the Detroit Tigers, Michael bat .250 (6-for-24) in 6 games in June. he had 2 doubles, 2 RBI, 2 runs, 2 walks (1 intentional), 1 first at bat hit, and 8 total bases. he grounded into 1 double play, had 2 strikeouts (1 looking and 1 swinging), and left 12 men on base as well. in 52 innings in both center and left field (26 innings each), Michael recorded 7 putouts.
the Indians did not face the Minnesota Twins or Chicago White Sox this month.
June Team Leads, Career Highs, and League Rankings
Michael's struggles due to his back woes caused him to have a pretty pedestrian month statistically, so he doesn't boast many June team leads.
in June, Michael led the team with 3 intentional walks. that's it. he also had the least amount of strikeouts among the regular starters with 9. in addition, he was tied for the lead with 2 outfield assists.
he was 2nd on the team with 27 hits, 6 doubles (tied), and 2 stolen bases (tied). he was also 3rd with a .300 batting average, .360 OBP, and .723 OPS. he was tied for 3rd with 8 RBI and 33 total bases.
i checked my stats several times, but Michael only set career highs for himself in June with 3 intentional walks. he also had a career low 9 strikeouts.
when comparing his June numbers to various players around the league, Michael did not rank very high in the majority of categories. if he didn't place in the top 10, i did not include those stats here.
among qualifying players in the American League, Michael ranked tied for 6th in intentional walks (3).
among qualifying outfielders in the American League, his intentional walks ranked 2nd; his doubles (6) ranked tied for 5th; and his hits (27) and walks (9) ranked tied for 10th.
among qualifying left fielders in the American League, Michael was 1st in intentional walks; 2nd in doubles; tied for 3rd in plate appearances (100); 4th in hits, walks, and OBP (.360); tied for 4th in stolen bases (2); 5th in at bats (91) and batting average (.297); 7th in total bases (33); tied for 7th in runs (8) and games played (24); 8th in OPS (.723); tied for 8th in extra base hits (6); and 10th in SLG (.363). (i also wanted to note he was tied for 11th in RBI (8).)
among all major league left fielders, Michael ranked 1st in intentional walks; tied for 3rd in doubles; tied for 6th in hits; tied for 7th in plate appearances; 8th in OBP; 9th in batting average; tied for 9th in at bats; 10th in walks; and tied for 10th in stolen bases.
among all major league outfielders, Michael was tied for 2nd in intentional walks.
June Standout Games, Spotlights, and Quotes
Michael began his month of June by getting a very timely hit, a 2-out go-ahead RBI single that won the game for the Tribe. in the game on June 2 against the Kansas City Royals, Michael faced setup man Wade Davis with 2 outs in the top of the 8th inning. the score was 1-1 with Jason Kipnis at 2nd base and Carlos Santana at 1st.
Michael was down in the count 1-2 when he fouled off the next 3 pitches, breaking his bat on the last one. then on the 7th pitch of the at bat, he hit a line drive single to center field, scoring Kipnis and giving the Indians a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish.
it was a hit that i was surprised Michael got, quite frankly. preceding this at bat, Michael had gone 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position in his previous 15 plate appearances. (at the end of May, he was 0-for-11 and went 0-for-1 in this game before the top of the 8th.) said Terry Francona, "i know he's been struggling, but we always love to see Brantley in those situations." struggling because of his back. why does everyone always fail to acknowledge that? there's a reason behind his troubles... grrr.
not only that, but before Michael's RBI hit, Davis had a 0.00 ERA. so on top of Michael's difficulties, he had to face the toughest reliever in the league. yet he delivered. the line drive Davis gave up to Michael that scored Kipnis marked his first run allowed in 22 innings of work this season.
Michael's at bat took a total of 1 minute and 47 seconds. here is a break down of the pitches he saw. pitch #1: 93 mph cutter, called strike, 0-1 count. pitch #2: 97 mph fastball, outside, 1-1 count. pitch #3: 92 mph cutter, foul, 1-2 count. pitch #4: 96 mph fastball, foul off Michael's foot, 1-2 count. pitch #5: 96 mph fastball, foul, 1-2 count. pitch #6: 96 mph fastball, foul that shattered his bat, 1-2 count. Michael then replaced his broken black bat with a two-toned one for pitch #7: 87 mph breaking ball, single to center. (thanks to Dennis Manoloff for providing this information.)
after the game, Michael recalled his at bat. "i was thinking, 'keep battling, keep battling.' i wanted to try and spoil a couple of pitches because i knew he was going to make some pitcher's pitches at that time. a great pitcher like that doesn't leave too many balls over the plate.
"i don't remember how many pitches i fouled off. i was just up there trying to do the best i can. i know he's a great pitcher. that's why he doesn't have an ERA. i was just looking for a ball over the middle of the plate."
the pitch Michael ended up hitting was "middle away, a breaking ball. it was still a good pitch. he has three-plus pitches. i was just able to get the barrel on it."
on the subject of him going 0-for-12 with RISP in his last 15 plate appearances prior to this hit, Michael said, "it's baseball. this is a tough game. you have to be mentally tough, physically tough. you have to go out there each and every day. i don't think about the past. i think about today. we got a victory today and that's what matters." well that attitude confirms to me that he's never going to ask Francona for extra time off to try and strengthen his back lol
did Michael consider it a special hit because it came off Davis? ever the team-first player, Michael simply said, "it makes it special because it was a team win. it was a team win all the way around. they pitched great on both sides tonight. we played flawless defense, they played good defense. to go out there and play a game like that and get a win is huge for our team." so professional.
during the game on June 5 versus the Baltimore Orioles, Michael hit a game-tying RBI single in the bottom of the 5th inning. that gave him a total of 28 games with an RBI which, at that time, was the most games with an RBI in all of baseball.
on June 11 in the game versus the Seattle Mariners, Michael recorded his first multi-hit game since May 28 with 2 singles. he also scored his first run since June 4. he'd been getting himself on base all month, but nobody was bringing him home the majority of the time. during one of his at bats in the game, radio announcer Jim Rosenhaus brought up how in spring training, Michael said his only goal was just to play as many games as possible. i figured he said that because he knew his back was messed up and possibly feared he wouldn't be playing a full season this year...
the next night in the June 12 game against the Detroit Tigers, Michael had another multi-hit game, with both hits coming on an 0-1 count. in fact, he saw a total of 9 pitches from David Price in his 4 at bats of the game. his single, double, and flyout came after an 0-1 count, while his groundout came on an 0-2 count. being aggressive resulted in success for 50% of Michael's ABs that night.
Michael ended his perfect streak of stolen bases this year on June 16. with the Tribe up, 4-0, in the game against the Chicago Cubs, Michael hit a 1-out RBI double off Edwin Jackson in the top of the 7th inning on a 1-2 count. then during Carlos Santana's at bat, Michael took off for 3rd base as Jackson threw a first pitch strike to Santana. Cubs catcher Miguel Montero threw the ball to 3rd baseman Kris Bryant and Michael was out, no argument. it was his first caught stealing in 8 attempts. and it ended his streak of 19 consecutive successful steals dating back to July 19, 2014.
Michael had never tried stealing 3rd base this season, and i'm not exactly sure why he deemed it necessary in this instance. maybe he thought Santana would fly out and figured if he was at 3rd, then it would go as a sac fly and the Tribe would get one more run added to their lead. idk. and the thing that had me worried was that before Michael's attempt, the Indians had stolen a total of 3 bases in the game. (Kipnis had 2 and Francisco Lindor had 1 and there was no question they were safe.) i didn't see Michael's attempt, so i'm not sure if he simply didn't have a good enough jump when he took off, or if his back kept him from running with his normal speed. here i go again, thinking his back was the cause. but, that could very well have been the reason why he hadn't tried stealing a base in his previous 17 games.
and get this. i tweeted earlier in the night that Michael did not have one stolen base yet this month and hadn't even attempted to steal since May 24. then he finally goes for it and gets caught. can you say jinx? lol
this was a strange game for another reason, too. Michael is quite familiar with defensive switches in games, but never in the 4th inning. before heading out to center field for the bottom of the 4th, Michael Bourn made a comment to home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi about the called strike 3 on him in the top of the 4th. Cuzzi didn't like that Bourn approached him at that point in the game and he threw him out. so Michael had to move to center and played the last 6 innings of the game there after playing the first 3 innings in left. he got 3 official at bats as the center fielder (and went 1-for-3).
Michael had a nice 2-hit game on June 18 at home versus the Cubs. he went 2-for-4 with a single, double, and stolen base (ah, redemption!). in the bottom of the 1st inning with runners at the corners and no outs, Michael hit what looked to be a foul ball to the deep left field corner. but it dropped fair just inside the line and then bounced up into the seats. it was ruled a ground-rule double, scoring the runner from 3rd (Kipnis). had it not been a "ground-rule" double, it's likely that the runner on 1st (Lindor) would have scored, too. it was also a go-ahead hit and RBI (giving the Tribe a 1-0 lead), his first go-ahead hit and RBI since June 2.
Michael's other hit in the game came in the bottom of the 8th inning with the Indians up, 4-3. he led off by laying a bunt down the 3rd base line on lefty James Russell's first pitch. he probably did that because the Cubs had just subbed in Jonathan Herrera, who could not field a simple grounder thrown to him at 3rd while warming up and who also made a bad throw to the 1st baseman before the Indians' home half of the inning. in addition, Herrera was playing back at 3rd. it was close, but Michael beat out the throw. later in the inning, Michael safely stole 2nd base, making him 8 of 9 for the season. he actually did good in the Chicago series, batting .400 (4-for-10) in 3 games, which impressed me because he's been known to struggle against those National League teams during interleague play.
on June 20 in the game versus the Tampa Bay Rays, Michael went 0-for-4 and was 0-for-3 with RISP for the night. that brought his overall batting average down to .299. it was the first time he'd been batting under .300 since April 24. as i mentioned in the Back Strain Woes section above, i went to this game and saw Michael talking with his father, Mickey Brantley, during Indians batting practice. i'm sure he had some things to say about Michael's ABs on the night.
then in the June 21 game versus the Rays, Michael had another hitless game, going 0-for-3 with an intentional walk. this marked Michael's first back-to-back 0-fer games this season.
i routinely tell the tale of a bogus called strike 3 on Michael at least once a month, and the time has come for one yet again. on June 22 in the game versus the Tigers, Michael came to bat in the bottom of the 5th inning to face Blaine Hardy with 1 out and the Tribe down, 7-3. on the 4th pitch of a 1-2 count, home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom called strike 3 on Michael even though my GameDay showed the pitch was outside. Michael didn't agree with the call either.
on June 23, Michael turned in another hitless game, going 0-for-4 versus Detroit's pitching. it was his 3rd hitless game in his last 4 games and i had to blame this specific 0-fer on his back strain. why? because Michael typically hits David Price fairly well, and in this game he went 0-for-3 against him with a swinging strikeout and GIDP.
Michael saved face in the final game versus the Tigers on June 24 by going 2-for-4, his 4th multi-hit game of the month and first since June 18. he hit an RBI single against rookie Buck Farmer in the bottom of the 3rd inning on the 4th pitch of an 0-2 count to break the scoreless game. this was his first go-ahead hit and RBI since June 18. he also scored a run later in that inning, hit a double in the bottom of the 5th inning, and drew a walk in the bottom of the 8th.
Michael's first at bat in the June 26 game against the Orioles was quick. he swung at the first pitch from Wei-Yin Chen with 2 outs in the top of the 1st inning and hit a single into center field. that marked his first 2-out hit since June 17--he had gone 0-for-8 prior.
in the day game of a doubleheader against the Orioles on June 28, Michael had a 2-hit game with 2 singles against Ubaldo Jimenez. he did not do well against Jimenez when he pitched against the Tribe in Cleveland earlier in the month, so to see this performance was encouraging. it almost made me think he might be feeling better, but i chalked this game up to the off day he got due to the rainout the day before. his first single came in the top of the 4th inning with 1 out and no one on. sadly, the next 2 batters could not advance Michael past 1st base. his second single in the top of the 6th came with 2 outs and a runner at 1st, but again, he did not advance.
when Michael was the DH in the night game of the doubleheader against the Orioles on June 28, he was about to finish the night hitless, as he went 0-for-3 against starter Chris Tillman. as luck would have it, he was able to get a hit in the top of the 9th inning when he faced T.J. McFarland. on a 2-2 count, Michael hit the ball so that it bounced off the 2nd base bag and into center field for a base hit. i was more than happy to take that. i had been worried that playing 2 games in 1 day would produce poor results in the 2nd game, fearing it would be too much on his back. honestly, it may have been.
on June 29, in the first game of the series against the Rays, Michael shocked me with what i will call almost his best game of the entire month, going 3-for-4. he went 3-for-3 against starter Nathan Karns and stole a base. (he was also intentionally walked by Ronald Belisario in the top of the 9th inning with RISP and 1 out.) the last time Michael had a 3-hit game was his perfect birthday game on May 15. in his first at bat in the top of the 1st inning, he hit a 1-out, go-ahead RBI single to right field on a 1-1 count. when he led off the top of the 3rd, he hit another single to right field after a 3-1 count and also stole 2nd base during the inning. then in the top of the 5th, he swung on the first pitch and hit a ground ball single to short.
the only blemish on Michael's night was the defensive blunder he committed in the bottom of the 7th inning, which is why i can't exactly say this was his best game of June. (refer to the In The Field section of this blog below for those details.)
Michael's last hit of the month came in his final at bat of the game against the Rays on June 30. in what was unmistakably his longest at bat of the year, Michael hit a line drive double to center field on the 12th pitch of a 3-2 count off Kirby Yates in the top of the 8th inning with 1 out and the Indians ahead, 4-0. (he later scored when David Murphy hit a home run.) for someone who likes to be aggressive and doesn't always feel that working the count is necessary, this was kind of a monumental occurrence lol so let me break down the at bat. the first pitch was a called strike, then Michael fouled off pitches 2, 3, and 4. the fifth pitch was a ball. next, Michael fouled off pitches 6 and 7. pitches 8 and 9 were balls, running the count full. Michael fouled pitches 10 and 11 before finally putting the ball in play and safely getting himself to 2nd base. quality AB. and it brought Michael's overall batting average back up to .300.
In Indians History
last season on May 30, Michael set a new franchise record when he hit in 19 straight home games at Progressive Field. i wrote a blog about that special occasion here. at the time, i didn't think anyone would even come close to that record for a long while. regrettably, i was wrong.
on June 9 in the game versus the Seattle Mariners, Jason Kipnis hit a single in his 4th at bat, tying Michael's club high 19-game home hitting streak. then the next night in the June 10 game versus Seattle, Kipnis got lucky and hit a double, which officially broke Michael's record. i say Kip "got lucky" because he had previously gone 0-for-3 in 4 plate appearances. with the Indians down, 9-2, he had one final chance in the bottom of the 9th inning against recently demoted closer Fernando Rodney. there are many, many games where players don't get a 5th plate appearance, so the stars were clearly aligned for Kip on this night. (FYI--Michael had already been taken out of the game by this point due to the blowout, as is now common practice by Terry Francona.)
Mike Aviles, batting 9th, led off with a single. Kip was behind in the count, 1-2, before hitting a line drive down the left field line and formally earning his place in the Indians' history books all by himself with a 20-game home hitting streak. the Tribe still lost the game by a score of 9-3, but some took solace in Kip's accomplishment.
not only did Kipnis break Michael's record, he annihilated it. Kip extended the new franchise record to 28 games because he continued to hit in consecutive home games between June 11-24 after initially breaking the record. he also broke Elvis Andrus' old record of 27 consecutive games played at Progressive Field with a hit. additionally, Kip now holds the 2nd longest home hitting streak in the history of all ballparks the Indians ever played at, behind only Hal Trosky's 31-game streak back in 1936.
and this is still potentially an active streak because the Indians played their last home game of June on the 24th. their next home game is on July 6, so if Kipnis gets a hit then, he can add onto the new club record yet again. but no matter what happens, i think i can say with confidence this time that it will be a very long time before anyone ever comes close to re-setting this franchise record. could be decades.
In The Field
Michael again played both left and center field in June as Michael Bourn continued to mostly sit against left-handed starters. unfortunately however, Michael committed his first error of the season--a fielding error--on June 29 when the Indians were playing the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. blame it on the AstroTurf...
the Indians were leading, 2-1, in the bottom of the 7th inning when Evan Longoria hit a 1-out line drive single off Cody Anderson to left field on an 0-1 count. i have not seen video of the play, but i gathered from Tom Hamilton on the radio that the ball bounced off Michael's glove after it fell into left field, or something to that effect. that allowed Longoria to advance to 2nd base and Michael was charged with the error. and my heart sank because that ended Michael's errorless streak and his bid to re-set the 247-game franchise record he achieved just last season. while i'm sure Michael doesn't care about records, i know he prides himself on his defense, so i know he was disappointed with himself when the incident occurred. luckily, it had no bearing on the game and the Tribe kept its lead once the inning ended.
Michael did somewhat redeem himself an inning later with this nice sliding catch in the bottom of the 8th inning. it was as if he wanted to show everyone, yeah i just made an error but i'm not letting it affect me and i can still make some impressive defensive plays. on a 3-1 count, Steven Souza, Jr. hit a sinking liner to left off Anderson, but Michael raced in, got low, and made the catch.
the inopportune error gave Michael an overall .975 fielding percentage for the month. if you want to get technical, he still had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage as the center fielder, but a .966 fielding percentage as the left fielder.
Michael had 37 putouts this month. there were several games in June when he only caught one ball or less for an out. he played back-to-back complete 9 inning games on June 23 and 24 versus the Detroit Tigers without recording one putout. he actually went 22.1 innings from the top of the 9th inning on June 22 to the bottom of the 3rd inning on June 26 without a putout.
once again, Michael continued to make some remarkable catches, including this diving catch in the game against the Kansas City Royals on June 2. he ran in from left field and dove to catch a line drive from Omar Infante in the bottom of the 7th inning, keeping the game tied at 1. (he would later hit the game-winning go-ahead single for the Indians, so the catch proved to be important.)
Michael also had 2 more outfield assists in June. the 1st assist came on June 10 in the game versus the Seattle Mariners at Progressive Field. Mike Zunino was facing Austin Adams and hit a ball off the left field wall after a 1-1 count in the top of the 6th inning with 1 out and the Mariners winning, 6-1. Zunino tried to stretch his single into a double, and inconveniently for him, Michael quickly fired the ball in to 2nd baseman, Jason Kipnis. Kip then applied the tag on Zunino's leg before he even reached the 2nd base bag lol
Michael's 2nd assist occurred in the game versus the Tampa Bay Rays at home on June 19. it was the top of the 7th inning and Logan Forsythe led off against Carlos Carrasco with the Rays up, 2-1. on a 2-1 count, Forsythe hit a line drive single to left field, but thought he could make it to 2nd base. Michael ran over to the line to get the ball, then pivoted and threw it to 2nd baseman, Kipnis, who applied the tag on Forsythe for the out and Michael's assist. Rays manager (and former Indians bullpen coach) Kevin Cash decided to challenge the call, and he had a legit beef because it did seem as though Forsythe may have gotten a hand on the bag ahead of Kip's tag. however, after a 3 minute and 23 second review, it was decided that the out call would stand. it was the 2nd time this year that a tag was challenged after Michael's throw and so far he's 2-for-2.
now let's break down the numbers. i am going to document his June #s, the 3rd spot #s, and the DH #s, as well as the left field #s, the center field #s, and overall outfield #s.
June batting average: .297
OBP: .360
SLG: .363
OPS: .723
Michael played in 24 (of 26) games, 22 complete, in June.
he started and played left in 14 games, completing 12 of those games, appearing in 15 total. he was subbed out of 1 game after 7 innings because the Indians were losing by a lot.
he started and played center in 7 games, completing 5 of those games, appearing in 8 total. he was subbed out of 1 game after 6 innings because the Indians were getting blown out.
he was part of a defensive switch in 2 games, moving from center to left in 1 game and moving from left to center in 1 game.
when moved over to left, he played:
2 innings with no official at bats in 1 game.
when moved over to center, he played:
6 innings with 3 official at bats in 1 game.
he started and was the DH for 3 games.
he got 2 games off to give his back some extra rest.
Michael bat 3rd in 24 games.
Michael played left field in 15 games. (12 complete, 1 subbed out: 7 innings, 1 started: 3 innings, 1 defensive switch: 2 innings)
Michael played center field in 8 games. (5 complete, 1 started: 7 innings, 1 subbed out: 6 innings, 1 defensive switch: 6 innings)
Michael was the DH in 3 games.
Michael played in 22 complete games.
in June, Michael had a total of 100 plate appearances and 91 at bats. here is how he fared:
27 hits
6 extra base hits
21 singles
6 doubles
8 RBI
8 runs
9 walks
3 intentional walks
2 stolen bases (2nd)
1 caught stealing (3rd)
3 GIDP
9 strikeouts (7 swinging, 2 looking)
6 first at bat hits
33 total bases
40 left on base
37 putouts
2 assists
1 error
180 innings, 24 games
(22 complete games)
June batting average: .297 (27-91) (24 games)
now let's break down his numbers based on where he hit in the lineup.
when Michael bat 3rd in June, he had a total of 100 plate appearances and 91 at bats in 24 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
27 hits
6 extra base hits
21 singles
6 doubles
8 RBI
8 runs
9 walks
3 intentional walks
2 stolen bases (2nd)
1 caught stealing (3rd)
3 GIDP
9 strikeouts (7 swinging, 2 looking)
6 first at bat hits
33 total bases
40 left on base
37 putouts
2 assists
1 error
180 innings, 24 games
(22 complete games)
June batting average in the 3rd spot: .297 (27-91) (24 games)
when Michael bat 3rd and played left in June, he had a total of 57 plate appearances and 50 at bats in 15 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
15 hits
4 extra base hits
11 singles
4 doubles
4 RBI
5 runs
7 walks
3 intentional walks
2 stolen bases (2nd)
5 strikeouts (4 swinging, 1 looking)
2 first at bat hits
19 total bases
25 left on base
26 putouts
2 assists
1 error
118 innings, 15 games
(12 complete games)
June batting average in the 3rd spot while playing left: .300 (15-50) (15 games)
when Michael bat 3rd and played center in June, he had a total of 31 plate appearances and 31 at bats in 8 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
9 hits
2 extra base hits
7 singles
2 doubles
2 RBI
1 run
1 caught stealing (3rd)
2 GIDP
4 strikeouts (3 swinging, 1 looking)
4 first at bat hits
11 total bases
11 left on base
11 putouts
62 innings, 8 games
(5 complete games)
June batting average in the 3rd spot while playing center: .290 (9-31) (8 games)
when Michael bat 3rd, he was the DH in June for 3 games. he had a total of 12 plate appearances and 10 at bats. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
3 hits
3 singles
2 RBI
2 runs
2 walks
1 GIDP
3 total bases
4 left on base
June batting average in the 3rd spot as the DH: .300 (3-10) (3 games)
overall June batting average as the DH: .300 (3-10) (3 games)
when Michael played the outfield in June, he had a total of 88 plate appearances and 81 at bats in 21 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
24 hits
6 extra base hits
18 singles
6 doubles
6 RBI
6 runs
7 walks
3 intentional walks
2 stolen bases (2nd)
1 caught stealing (3rd)
2 GIDP
9 strikeouts (7 swinging, 2 looking)
6 first at bat hits
30 total bases
36 left on base
37 putouts
2 assists
1 error
180 innings, 21 games
(19 complete games)
June batting average while playing the outfield: .296 (24-81) (21 games)
now let's break down his numbers specific to where he played in the outfield.
when Michael played left in June, he had a total of 57 plate appearances and 50 at bats in 15 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
15 hits
4 extra base hits
11 singles
4 doubles
4 RBI
5 runs
7 walks
3 intentional walks
2 stolen bases (2nd)
5 strikeouts (4 swinging, 1 looking)
2 first at bat hits
19 total bases
25 left on base
26 putouts
2 assists
1 error
118 innings, 15 games
(12 complete games)
June batting average while playing left: .300 (15-50) (15 games)
when Michael played center in June, he had a total of 31 plate appearances and 31 at bats in 8 games. breaking down the numbers are as follows:
9 hits
2 extra base hits
7 singles
2 doubles
2 RBI
1 run
1 caught stealing (3rd)
2 GIDP
4 strikeouts (3 swinging, 1 looking)
4 first at bat hits
11 total bases
11 left on base
11 putouts
62 innings, 8 games
(5 complete games)
June batting average while playing center: .290 (9-31) (8 games)
June #s while playing left: 26 putouts, 2 assists, 1 error, .966 fielding percentage (118 innings, 15 games)
June #s while playing center: 11 putouts, 1 assist, 0 errors, 1.000 fielding percentage (62 innings, 8 games)
June #s while playing the outfield: 37 putouts, 2 assists, 1 error, .975 fielding percentage (180 innings, 21 games)
now my game-by-game numbers and notes.
Game 44/Game 1, June 2: 1-3, walk (first at bat), RBI single. AVG: .302
(3rd/LF/CG9)
June 3: not in lineup.
Game 45/Game 2, June 4: 1-3, RBI single, run, walk, run. AVG: .303
(3rd/DH/CG)
Game 46/Game 3, June 5: 1-3, walk, RBI single. AVG: .303
(3rd/DH/CG)
Game 47/Game 4, June 6: 1-4, single. AVG: .302
(3rd/LF/CG9)
June 7: not in lineup.
Game 48/Game 5, June 9: 1-4, single. AVG: .301
(3rd/CF/CG9)
Game 49/Game 6, June 10: 1-4, double. AVG: .300
(3rd/LF/GS7)
Game 50/Game 7, June 11: 2-4, single (first at bat), single, run. AVG: .304
(3rd/CF - 7 innings, LF - 2 innings/CG9)
Game 51/Game 8, June 12: 2-4, single (first at bat), double. AVG: .308
(3rd/CF/CG8)
Game 52/Game 9, June 13: 1-4, single, run, intentional walk. AVG: .307
(3rd/LF/CG9)
**Michael's 11-game hitting streak and 11-game on-base streak end**
Game 53/Game 10, June 14: 0-4. AVG: .301
(3rd/LF/CG8)
June 15: game postponed, to be made up August 24.
(3rd/LF)
**Michael's 19 consecutive stolen base streak ends**
Game 54/Game 11, June 16: 1-3, walk (first at bat), walk, run, RBI double, caught stealing (3rd). AVG: .301
(3rd/LF - 3 i, CF - 6 i/CG9)
Game 55/Game 12, June 17: 1-3, single (first at bat). AVG: .302
(3rd/CF/GS6)
Game 56/Game 13, June 18: 2-4, RBI double (first at bat), bunt single, stolen base. AVG: .306
(3rd/LF/CG9)
Game 57/Game 14, June 19: 1-4, single. AVG: .305
(3rd/LF/CG9)
Game 58/Game 15, June 20: 0-4. AVG: .299
(3rd/LF/CG9)
Game 59/Game 16, June 21: 0-3, intentional walk. AVG: .295
(3rd/LF/CG9)
Game 60/Game 17, June 22: 1-4, RBI single. AVG: .294
(3rd/CF/CG9)
Game 61/Game 18, June 23: 0-4. AVG: .289
(3rd/CF/CG9)
Game 62/Game 19, June 24: 2-4, RBI single, run, double, walk. AVG: .293
(3rd/LF/CG9)
Game 63/Game 20, June 26: 1-5, single (first at bat), reached on fielder's choice. AVG: .291
(3rd/CF/CG8)
June 27: game postponed, to be made up June 28 in a day-night DH.
Game 64/Game 21, June 28 (Day Game): 2-4, single, single. AVG: .294
(3rd/LF/CG8)
Game 65/Game 22, June 28 (Night Game): 1-4, single. AVG: .294
(3rd/DH/CG)
**Michael's 202 consecutive errorless games in the outfield streak ends**
Game 66/Game 23, June 29: 3-4, RBI single (first at bat), single, stolen base, single, intentional walk, run. AVG: .301
(3rd/LF/CG9)
Game 67/Game 24, June 30: 1-4, double, run. AVG: .300
(3rd/LF/CG9)
~~Michael ends the month with a 6-game hitting streak and 6-game on-base streak~~
so far in 2015, Michael has a total of 295 plate appearances and 260 at bats in 67 games (519.0 innings). in total, he has 78 hits, 27 extra base hits, 51 singles, 23 doubles, 4 home runs, 38 RBI, 3 sac flies, 29 runs, 32 walks, 5 intentional walks, 9 stolen bases (2nd), 1 caught stealing (3rd), 7 GIDP, 22 strikeouts (15 swinging, 7 looking), 19 first at bat hits, 113 total bases, 117 left on base, 107 putouts, 7 assists, 1 error, and 1 double play.
2015 season batting average: .300 (78-260)
OBP: .373
SLG: .435
OPS: .807
for more details about Michael's 2015 #s through June, refer to my Brantley's 2015 #s Through June blog.
and give me a follow me on twitter @clevelandgirl23 to see daily random facts, stats, and updates about Michael!
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