Billy Meyers Captains the Captains

By KYLE KEOUGH
Double Day AP

3B Billy Meyers has always been a masher with a penchant for the all-or-nothing demeanor of the free-swinging slugger. His first two seasons have been both spectacular--one of just a few players who has averaged 50 home runs--and spectacularly ugly--he ranked 5th all-time in K's (303) entering this season--at the same time. He is both a fan favorite and a headache for the city of Cleveland, a player who was signed to a three-year, $13.2 million contract after being let go by the Maroons and whose tremendous power is rivaled only by his ability to send, with one whiff, a stiff breeze through Jacobs Field.

This season, however, Billy Meyers has undergone a reversal of fortunes, in which the 29-year-old third baseman is making contact.

A lot.

His 20 home runs through 36 games rank first in DoubleDay, as do his 52 RBIs. Despite a rather pedestrian lineup, Meyers has shined. He accounts for roughly one-third of Cleveland's runs batted in, an absurd number for any player this late in the season. He is the driving force behind Cleveland's improved 17-19 start and whispers of Most Valuable Player recognition, despite being on a sub-.500 team, have already begun.

Meyers is almost a shoe-in for his first All-Star appearance, even while doing his damage with a largely anonymous supporting cast. Cleveland's #2 in run production, Houston Bannister, has just 20 RBIs. Meyers' DD-leading slugging percentage of .801 nearly doubles that of Cleveland's team average, .452. That ".452" looks paltry with Meyers removed from the lineup.

Last season, Meyers struggled to make contact, with a mere .248 average for a 60-win club. This year, with his average a hundred points higher, Meyers is making his signing in free agency look like one of the league's biggest theft. Since free agency spending has been curtailed, Meyers has served as a reminder for GMs of the value certain overlooked free agents can potentially bring.

The hubub around Cleveland has been focused squarely on Meyers, on the potential appearance in the All-Star game on January 25th.

Meyers carries with him the weight of a city yearning for a winning franchise, and his remarkable turnaround has thus far given hope to a franchise that's second in the NL North and determined to take the next step in building a winner by finishing out of the cellar for the first time in franchise history.