Starring for the Rockies during their World Series run in 2007 made Troy Tulowitzki a household name as a rookie, but he had a rough sophomore campaign that included a 108-point drop in OPS and missing one-third of the season with injuries. Despite a clean bill of health for this season Tulowitzki got off a very slow start, hitting just .216 with a measly .683 OPS through one-third of the Rockies’ schedule while getting benched by then-manager Clint Hurdle. Hurdle has since been replaced by Jim Tracy and Tulowitzki has since been one of the most valuable players in baseball, hitting .324/.410/.622 with 24 homers, 47 total extra-base hits, 46 walks, 14 steals, 66 RBIs, and 71 runs in 92 games dating back to early June. In fact, toss in his usual stellar defense at shortstop--which includes just one error in his last 41 games--and there’s a viable argument to be made for Tulowitzki being the most valuable player in baseball during the past two-thirds of the season. Seriously. Here are the OPS leaders over that nearly four-month stretch:
OPS Albert Pujols 1.116 Derrek Lee 1.074 TROY TULOWITZKI 1.028 Hanley Ramirez .981 Pablo Sandoval .981 Kendry Morales .979 Prince Fielder .979 Adam Dunn .974 Garrett Jones .972 Joe Mauer .962
Albert Pujols is obviously amazing and he’d get my vote for NL MVP, but during the past two-thirds of the season Tulowitzki has been in the same stratosphere because even with Coors Field in the mix a 1.028 OPS from a strong defensive shortstop is definitely comparable to a 1.116 OPS from a strong defensive first baseman. Not coincidentally, Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez, and Joe Mauer are the only guys from that list who play an up-the-middle position defensively. After starting the season 18-28 under Hurdle the Rockies have gone 68-37 under Tracy, which is an amazing turnaround that will lead to winning the Wild Card. Among the many things that have gone right for Colorado during the past 100 games Tulowitzki should be at the very top of the list. Not bad for a guy who’ll turn 25 years old on the same day as Game 3 of the NLDS.