Nori Aoki over Giancarlo Stanton Isn’t as Crazy as it Sounds
In the latest round of All-Star voting for the National League team at the Mid-Summer Classic, a pair of San Francisco Giants moved into position to start the game. Buster Posey overtook St. Louis Cardinals’ stalwart Yadier Molina as the leading vote-getter among catchers, which isn’t all that much of a surprise. All the numbers point in Posey’s favor.
The other Giant that moved into a starting role was a bit more surprising. Nori Aoki jumped over Giancarlo Stanton to become the third-leading outfielder, putting him in a position to start in Cincinnati.
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That’s crazy, right? Stanton is the premier slugger in baseball, leading everyone in the game with 24 home runs and 62 RBI. He crushes baseballs with an ease we haven’t seen in a while. Aoki is a pure slap hitter with almost no pop to speak of, slapping balls to the opposite field, and chugging down the line like an Olympic sprinter to beat out infield singles.
Aoki leading Stanton isn’t as crazy as it sounds. The two play with completely different styles, and they play to that very well. So far, despite the all-world power numbers from Stanton, Aoki is playing to his style better than Stanton.
The contact-making, slap-single-hitting Aoki is in the top-10 in baseball with a .317 average, more than 50 points higher than Stanton’s .261. Aoki gets on base at a great rate, owning a .384 on-base percentage, which is nearly 40 points higher than Stanton’s .346.
Stanton strikes out at an extremely high rate also. Besides leading baseball in home runs and RBI, Stanton also tops the strikeout list, having gone down on strikes 86 times so far this year, putting him on pace for 216 over the course of the season.
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Aoki, on the other hand, is having a career year in terms of making contact, which is extremely impressive for a guy who entered 2015 with a career 7.8 percent strikeout rate. This year, Aoki has struck out 17 times, putting him on pace for just 41 for the whole year. He has the lowest strikeout rate in baseball, at just 6.1 percent.
Aoki, maybe surprisingly, has also played better defense than Stanton this year. Aoki has yet to commit an error this season, owning a spotless 1.000 fielding percentage. Stanton has committed three errors as Miami’s right fielder, putting his fielding percentage at .978. Stanton does have the edge in outfield assists with six, compared to Aoki’s four, however.
In the All-Star Game, you want to watch the guy who makes things the most fun. While Stanton is an absolute joy to watch, few in the game are more fun to watch than Aoki. From his hack-and-slash protection swings, to his races against the infielders to leg out infield hits, to the way he dances around pitches that come a little too far inside, everything about Aoki’s game is entertaining. Even his walk-up music screams fun.
Either way, this could all be moot if things remain as they are in the fan voting. Matt Holliday is second among National League outfielders, but he is dealing with a grade-two quad strain, and it’s highly possible he misses the All-Star Game. Even if Holliday is healthy by that time, he, or the team, could hold him out of the game to prevent him from possibly re-aggravating the injury in a game that doesn’t count towards the standings.
If Holliday couldn’t play, that leaves room for both Aoki and Stanton to both start. Stanton is deserving of a spot on the All-Star team, as is Aoki.
They’re both great ballplayers in their own, very different ways. There will definitely be room in Cincinnati for both of them, but who gets the starting nod could be a fun race to watch from here on out.