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For anyone who hasn't yet noticed, and you probably won't be surprised, Trevor Plouffe is out-slugging Josh Willingham: .566 to .545. Willingham's isolated power is terrific, at .276. Plouffe's is out of this world, at .316. With Justin Morneau's power in a tailspin it's been huge for this offense to have two guys capable of putting the ball in the seats.
On Tuesday, Joe Nelson came up with this fun fact.
Plouffe and Willingham have combined for 37 HR. Cabrera and Fielder have combined for 28 HR. #Twins
— Tiny Joe Nelson (@JoeNelsonKFAN) July 4, 2012
Which made me think: how does our best power combo compare against the rest of the league's best power combos? Find out after the jump.
This isn't going to be wholly scientific. I'm only looking at one number, for simplicity's sake: home runs.
Team | Combo | HR |
Blue Jays | Bautista & Encarnacion | 49 |
Yankees | Cano & Granderson | 43 |
Rangers | Hamilton & Beltre | 40 |
White Sox | Dunn & Pierzynski | 40 |
Brewers | Braun & Hart | 39 |
Twins | Plouffe & Willingham | 37 |
Red Sox | Ortiz & Saltalamaccia | 36 |
Orioles | Jones & Davis | 34 |
Cardinals | Beltran & Holliday | 34 |
Angels | Trumbo & Pujoles | 33 |
Marlins | Stanton & Ramirez | 31 |
Reds | Bruce & Votto | 31 |
Pirates | McCutchen & Alvarez | 31 |
Rockies | Gonzalez & Rosario | 31 |
Tigers | Cabrera & Fielder | 30 |
Royals | Butler & Moustakas | 30 |
Nationals | LaRoche & Demsond | 29 |
Athletics | Reddick & Moss | 29 |
Phillies | Pence & Ruiz | 29 |
Cubs | Soriano & LaHair | 29 |
Diamondbacks | Kubel & Hill | 25 |
Astros | Lowrie & Martinez | 25 |
Braves | Heyward & Uggla | 24 |
Rays | Pena & Zobrist | 23 |
Dodgers | Kemp & Ethier | 22 |
Indians | Kipnis & Cabrera | 22 |
Mets | Davis & Duda | 22 |
Mariners | Smoak & Seager | 21 |
Giants | Posey & Cabrera | 17 |
Padres | Headley & Quentin | 15 |
Of course the strange thing about this list (okay, one of the strange things) is that just because certain players have power, it doesn't mean the team does. The five teams in front of Plouffe and Willingham, for example (the Jays, Yankees, Rangers, White Sox, and Brewers), are currently second, first, fourth, fifth, and eighth overall for team home runs respectively. The Twins are 24th, with the likes of the Mariners, Mets, Giants, Padres, Dodgers, and Indians.
But let's focus on the positive. Josh Wilingham is on pace to his 36 home runs in 156 games for the Twins. Trevor Plouffe is on pace to hit 50. And yes, that pace includes the terrible first 22 games of the season. If you wanted to extrapolate what he'd hit over a full season going back to that home run on May 16, then he'd be on pace for about 73 home runs in 162 games.
Plouffe isn't likely to reach 50 home runs this season, and he'll never his 73, but both of these guys have been one hell of a lot of fun to watch so far this year. Surprises as big as Plouffe don't come around very often. Enjoy every second of it.