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Baseball's International Leader Board

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Baseball's International Leader Board
Professional sports leagues in the U.S. like to claim that the champions of their leagues are world champions even though the only contestants are within the United States. However, with the Olympics now allowing professional players to compete, there have been a number of cases in which the U.S. has been far from the best in the world.
Die-hard U.S. sports fans will still contest that the teams of the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL are the best in the world because the best do not always represent the U.S. in international competition.
Regardless of where you believe the best players for any sports come from, there is one thing that can't be denied. Nationality does not matter; great players can come from anywhere. In the NHL, several of the best players come from Canada and Russia; the NBA has seen a number of players come from Europe in recent years.
Professional baseball has probably always been ahead of the curve when it comes to tapping other nations in the world for quality talent. A look at the leader board of the league's top statistical categories so far during the 2010 season is proof positive of that.
Hitting
Fans love to see some action when they go to the ballpark, especially if that action results in runs getting scored and possible free souvenirs via the homerun. As of June 30th, the leaders of the top three categories, batting average, homeruns, and RBIs were all from countries other than the United States.
Robinson Cano has been having a career year for the New York Yankees at second base. The native of San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic, has been having his best year at the plate, leading the league in batting average with .358. At the rate he is currently hitting he is expected to hit career best in every category (batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, homeruns and RBIs; .358/ .409/ .589/ 32/ 116).
Another player from the Dominican Republic has been on top of the leader board for home runs for some time now. As of June 30th, Jose Bautista has hit 20 homeruns. Bautista has not always been a long ball hitter having only hit 16 in his previous best season. Recently he was joined by Venezuelan native Miguel Cabrera and Paul Konerko (a rare U.S. born exception to the current leader board).
Along with showing some proficiency at hitting the long ball, Cabrera has been knocking in more runs than any other player in the league. As of June 30th, he has batted 67 runs for the Detroit Tigers. He is on pace to hit in a career best 144 RBIs during the 2010 season to go with 43 home runs.
Pitching
The pitching statistics have been dominated by international players as well this season to date. One player has been especially impressive with his dominating play in 2010.
Ubaldo Jimenez (from Nagua, Dominican Republic) has almost single handedly turned the Colorado Rockies into a competitive team this season. In sixteen starts he has won 14 and lost one with only one no-decision. His 14 wins easily lead the league in wins with the next closest being David Price and Adam Wainwright each with 11. With ten runs in his last two starts his ERA has gone up to 1.83; while still in first he is now tied with Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins (from Minnesota).
Jimenez has done well striking players out with at least three in every game and as many as 13 in one, but he only rates among the best in the league at this point of the season in that category. So far that honour rests with Yovani Gallardo of the Milwaukee Brewers. In 17 games he has had at least four in every game and double digits in five for a total of 120k for the season.

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