John’s Blog - Coast To Coast

A little less than four weeks ago, the Washington Nationals acquired outfielder Wily Mo Pena from the Boston Red Sox. Blessed with enormous power, but also a propensity to strike out a lot, Pena had never had an opportunity to show his stuff and play every day until now. Although many sports commentators and fantasy analylists were a little skeptical, I called it a “very good move” by the Nationals in my Nats Acquire Wily Mo Pena blog entry from August 17th. I also said “if you’re in need of a power hitter in your fantasy league, it might be worth your effort to take a chance on Wily Mo!”

So what has Mr. Wily Mo Pena done since he became a Washington National??? Well, all he’s is done is produce these numbers in his first 21 games: 7 home runs, 13 RBI’s, 13 runs, a .264 batting average and a very impressive .569 slugging percentage… Now he’s been batting mostly 6th and 7th in the lineup so far, so he really hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to either drive in or score runs. Still, these numbers when projected out to a 162 game season are very impressive: 54 HR, 100 RBI’s and 100 runs. Needless to say, if you took my recommendation to pick him up that Friday when he was acquired by the Nats, or if you picked him up four days later as my #1 Diamond In The Rough you’re probably very happy at this point.

Personally, I did follow my own advice, picking him up in several leagues where I needed power. Thanks, Wily Mo, for making me look good!!! I hope you can continue to produce big numbers the rest of the way, and help the Nats end the year on a very high note. After a horrific 9-25 start, the Nationals are 56-54 their past 110 games and look like they will very much be a contender when they move to their more hitter friendly stadium in 2008. With Wily Mo, Ryan Zimmerman and Dmitri Young in that lineup, this is a team that could put up some serious power numbers as well in ‘08!