35-year old righty swinging RF Torii Hunter has been red hot with the bat so far this month for the Angels. Hunter has played in 24 games so far in August and he is 34 for 87 (.391 avg, 1.074 OPS) with 17 runs scored, 5 homers and 16 RBIs. Hunter has played in 129 games for the Angels so far this year and he is 125 for 482 (.259 avg, .751 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 18 homers, 67 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. The Angels need Hunter to stay hot because they are in a dogfight for the A.L. West with the Rangers right now.

24-year old righty swinging CF Peter Bourjos has played in 112 games so far this year for the Angels and he is 103 for 370 (.278 avg, .768 OPS) with 51 runs scored, 6 homers, 27 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. Bourjos has amazing range in the field and great speed on the bases. He deserves a Gold Glove this year and I think he can steal 50 bases in a season down the road. He has now played in 163 games in his first two years with the Angels and he is 140 for 551 (.254 avg, .720 OPS) with 70 runs scored, 12 homers, 42 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. Bourjos is giving the Angels a nice glimpse of the future in 2011.

27-year old switch-hitting shortstop Erick Aybar has been pretty much the everyday shortstop for the Angels this year and he’s been a solid one. Aybar has played in 95 games for the Angels so far this year and he is 107 for 378 (.283 avg, .743 OPS) with 45 runs scored, 7 homers, 43 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. He does need to be a little more picky at the plate as he has only walked 16 times so far this year, but that’s nitpicking a little bit as he is putting up solid counting numbers for the Angels this year. They need him to keep hitting well if they are going to dethrone the Texas Rangers in the A.L. West.

27-year old righty swinging 2B Howie Kendrick and 28-year old righty starting pitcher Jered Weaver have been picked to the American League All-Star team. Kendrick has played in 72 games for the Angels so far this year and he is 86 for 280 (.307 avg, .839 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 8 homers, 26 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. The Angels knew that Kendrick would be a big time player if he could just stay healthy which he has the last two years now. Jered Weaver has been the best pitcher in the American League so far this year. Weaver has started 18 games (16 quality starts) and he is 10-4 with a 1.92 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. Weaver has only given up 92 hits in his first 131 1/3 innings so far this year with 114 whiffs and only 30 walks, which shows just how nasty he has been.

32-year old righty swinging LF Vernon Wells has finally started to hit for the Angels. He has played in 17 games so far in June for the Angels and he is 16 for 63 (.254 avg, .769 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 5 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Wells has now played in 53 games this year for the Angels and he is 43 for 210 (.205 avg, .596 OPS) with 28 runs scored, 9 homers, 24 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Angels needed Wells to pick up the pace with the bat as they have had a hard time scoring runs lately.