Drew Stubbs

By Mike Harris, Senior Writer for 4thandHome.com

Our first entry in this series looked at the September Star phenomenon and how an astute eye could have forecasted a Jose Bautista 2010 breakout. This week, we take a look at our first nominee, Drew Stubbs, to determine if he's destined for 2011 stardom.

The 2010 MLB season was arguably the most surprising of any in recent memory. From the bevy of no-hitters to the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers meeting in the World Series, there was no shortage of outcomes that would have left fans scratching their heads had they been told how the season would turn out beforehand.

No baseball story line from 2010 garnered more intrigue, however, than that of Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Jose Bautista.

Who was last season's surprise team? Some may say the Giants for winning the World Series, and some may say the Rangers for making it to the World Series.

But in my opinion, without question...the Cincinnati Reds were THE biggest surprise in baseball last season.

All hail the Jay Bruce express! Hop on the bandwagon now, because it’s filling up quick.
 
Bruce has been up-and-down all season long for the Reds…shoot, for his whole career. Yet the offense had never gone through an extended lull this season until Bruce went down.
 
The Reds offense had become stale over the past two weeks. Having two-and-a-half healthy outfielders will do that to a team (Chris Heisey had been playing banged up).
 

For someone with children eager to learn about the complexities of baseball, this Reds team is a dream come true.  My five-year-old son, who can rake by the way, constantly says, "Tell me more about baseball!" each time we watch a game whether it be on television or at Great American Ball Park.  Like most kids, he loves home runs, but is also interested in the intricacies of the game.

The Reds are starting to get to the end of the bat stub with their starting center fielder. Drew Stubbs is currently going through the worst stretch of his short major league career.  In his last 36 at bats, he has just one hit and 17 strike-outs.  Ewww...

That's a monster-sized slump that can't be tolerated on a team in a pennant race. Going back even further, in 52 games since June 1st, he's sporting these numbers: .222 BA/.271 OBP/.634 OPS with seven HR, 24 RBI and 58 K.

According to many reports, the Cincinnati Reds are on the verge of signing Gary Matthews, Jr. Matthews had a big year for the Texas Rangers way back in 2006. That year he put up .313/.371/.495/.866. The LA Angels then swooped in and signed Matthews for a huge deal.

Matthews' big year in 2006 skewed his career numbers, but the Angles ignored that and tried catching four years of lightning in a bottle. It didn't work out.

After three disappointing years, the Angels ended up getting the Mets to take him as insurance for Carlos Beltran.