James Loney, Professional Hitter

I teased a profile of a second member of the What The Hell Am I Still Doing In Triple-A? Club, and maybe I'm just trying to forget the Twins' dismal offensive performance as they were swept by the Tigers, but I'm following through on my promise.

If you don't follow the National League closely, you might not know about Dodgers' first baseman James Loney. And if you don't, shame on you.

Mr. Loney first caught my eye last year, when he was starring for my hometown Las Vegas 51's, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. All Loney did last year was lead all of professional baseball with a .380 batting average. When the Dodgers finally called him up in late July, he helped spark the team on its stretch drive to win the NL West by hitting .323 with four homers and 17 RBIs in just 62 at-bats. Nine of those RBIs came in one game at Colorado, when he homered twice and tied a 56-year-old record held by Gil Hodges with all those ribbies. And in his lone playoff game, he went 3-for-4 with three RBIs as the Dodgers lost game 3 of a sweep at the hands of the Mets.

You'd think that might be enough to make the Dodgers' brass sit up and take notice, but instead, they sent him back to Las Vegas to start the 2007 season. Why? Well, otherwise smart people make stupid decisions all the time, but the Dodgers wanted to go with the brittle Nomar Garciaparra at first base, leaving no room for Loney in the DH-less National League.

When Loney came back to Sin City, he didn't exactly tear up the Pacific Coast League, hitting just .279 with one home run in 233 at-bats. But like Matt Garza of the Twins (see below), Loney knew he was playing one level below where he belonged, and punched his card in the What The Hell Am I Still Doing In Triple-A? Club.

And when the Dodgers finally recalled him in early June, despite his performance in Las Vegas this year, he predictably went on a tear. After tonight's 3-for-5, he's now hitting .374 with three home runs and 18 RBIs in 107 at-bats. With Nomar back at third base, Loney's free to put his stamp on the club at first base, and he's done just that. He's had a four-hit game, four three-hit games, and put together an eight-game stretch in late June in which he went 17-for-31 with 10 RBIs.

You stat geeks can rest assured, those are not empty numbers. He's got 11 walks and only 14 strikeouts, and an OPS hovering around 1.000. Simply put, the man's getting it done -- just like he did late last summer (whenever he got the chance), and just like he should have been doing all season at Chavez Ravine.