The outrageous predictions are long gone. Emilio Bonifacio won’t win the batting title. Nick Swisher isn’t receiving Cy Young votes. But 70 games is a pretty good litmus test, which brings us to the following players:
Joe Mauer
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The Minnesota catcher is having a season (.395, 14 HR, 42 RBI) that borders on the surreal. He missed a month with back pain but is on pace to qualify for the batting title by the All-Star break. We’re not saying he’ll hit .400 (the odds certainly are against him) but Mike Piazza’s single-season record for a catcher (.362) is in serious jeopardy.
Albert Pujols
“The Machine” has unparalleled statistical consistency — eight straight years of .300, 30, 100. So we’re not surprised by his performance. But Pujols (.328, 26 HR, 70 RBI) is on pace to shatter his season-best homer (49) and RBI (137) totals. He leads the NL in runs, RBI and home runs. A Triple Crown bid is not out of the question. And one other little fun note on him: He’s batted four times with the bases loaded this season; he has three grand slams and a two-run single.
Carl Crawford
He put on a stolen base clinic earlier this season, swiping a record-tying six bags against the Red Sox. Crawford leads the league in steals (37) by a wide margin — seven more than Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury, 13 more than anyone in the NL. He’s on pace to become the first player to steal 80-plus bases in a season since Ricky Henderson and Vince Coleman both did it in 1988.