Batting leaders of the second half

Albert Pujols of Philly is a perennial all-star and his second half of the 2009 season was an all-around monster. He was on the second-half leaderboard in just about every offensive category -- if he wasn’t leading it -- slugging .684 with an OBP of .396, 101 hits, 26 doubles, 27 HRs, 67 runs and 77 RBIs.

Aubrey Huff of Hillsborough, who probably had the best first half of any batter, cooled off but not all that much: 16 Hrs, 64 RBIs and 64 runs. Nick Markakis also proved to be a key cog in the lineup, scoring 60 runs and hitting a league-best 30 doubles.

David Wright of Arkansas had an all-around great second half, with 19 HRs and 68 RBIs, slugging .573 and an OBP of .394. Vancouver’s Chase Utley was solid, hitting 19 doubles, 16 HRs, 51 runs and 64 RBIs. Wright’s teammate Skip Schumaker, a 9^th-round pick this year, won the second-half batting title but fell percentage points short of catching Carolina’s Dustin Pedroia for the 2009 batting crown.

Carlos Quentin rebounded with 21 HRs, 59 runs and 61 RBIs for Sardine City. Hoboken’s Adam Dunn also salvaged his 2009 season with a productive second half, smacking 21 HRs, with 48 RBIs and “only” 77 strikeouts while hitting .290 and slugging .598. Hoboken catcher Mike Napoli was a model of consistency, smacking 26 HRs in both the first and second halves of the season (and taking the 2009 home run title). He did have 103 strikeouts but no one could touch Newark’s Jack Cust in that category, with 124 Ks (though he did smack 21 HRs).

Las Vegas was powered by Carlos Pena who smacked 19 HRs and hit .332 to go with a ridiculous .465 OBP and .712 SLG in 63 games. Veteran Brian Giles of Marietta swatted 29 doubles and hit .319 along with an outrageous 51 BBs against just 28 Ks.

Marietta’s Milton Bradley, the top pick in the ‘09 draft, had a solid if unspectacular second half, with 19 doubles, 12 HRs, 57 runs and 102 strikeouts against 53 BBs. Teammates Jason Bay and Adrian Gonzalez provided the power for the Mighty Men with 18 HRs each.

As always it seems, Jose Reyes of DC led the league with 9 second-half triples.

Some second-half numbers that might surprise: Eric Hinske’s 16 HRs and 51 RBIs to complement Torii Hunter’s 18 HRs and 50 RBIs for Amityville. Perennial home run king, and ’09 All-Star starter, Ryan Howard of Hillsborough hit just .229 with 13 HRs.

Hillsborough’s Shin-Soo-Choo continued to make his case for a batter to take the Listach award, hitting 28 doubles, 22 HRs, 55 RBIs and 57 runs. His competition for the hardware, Chris Davis of Las Vegas started all 82 games in the first half and led rookies with 18 HRs and 58 RBIs. To say he tailed off would be an understatement, losing his job and finding his way into only 44 games where he had just 2 HRs and 19 RBIs. Fellow rookie Jay Bruce of DC continued to hit, with 16 HRs in 68 second-half games, and a .291 average.

Second half batting leaders

BA

Schumaker, ARK .354

Pedroia, CAR .337

Wright, ARK .334

Pujols, PHI .332

CPena, LV .332

H

Pedroia, CAR 111

Wright, ARK 108

Pujols, PHI 101

MOrdonez, CAR 99

CJones, NWK 98

HR

Pujols, PHI 27

Napoli, HBK 26

Choo, HIL 22

Dunn, HBK 21

Quentin, SAR 21

Cust, NWK 21

RBI

Pujols, PHI 77

MRamirez, NWK 70

Napoli, HBK 70

JHamilton, MAR 69

Wright, ARK 68

Huff, HIL 64

Utley, VAN 64

R

Pujols, PHI 67

Huff, HIL 65

Napoli, HBK 61

Berkman, ARK 60

Markakis, HIL 60

2B

Markakis, HIL 30

Giles, MAR 29

Choo, HIL 28

Rollins, PHI 26

Pujols, PHI 26

SB

Rollins, PHI 19

BUpton, SAR 18

Reyes, DC 13

BRoberts, PHI 13

Kinsler, HBK 12