joe cronin: ace or slugger, or both?

Week 1 was a wild success for Joe Cronin.  Coming off a championship season, he wasted no time in putting his name in the MVP race.  Going 2-1 with 7 K's and 7 HR, Joe is already the most talked about player in the league.  This is looking like the year Joe can walk away with his first MVP.  So the question is, how will he do it?  Will he get done on the mound, at the plate, or both?  

Joe "Fear the Beard" Cronin has a balanced stat sheet this season so far.  With 7 K's and 7 HR, it is hard to tell which of these stats will become his strongest quality.  Joe has been inconsistent on the mound historically, but this season he seems to be getting better control on his rising fastball.  Though, John Cronin hit a grand slam off it, resulting in the first HR ever hit off his riser.  It is hard to tell his future on the mound and only time will tell if he is really getting control of his pitches.

Joe's best skill that everybody knows is hitting home runs.  A perennial power hitter with consistent power numbers, Joe gets it done at the plate.  Averaging about 2.3 HR/Game, Joe is the front-runner for the HR Race.  He doesn't hit much for average and usually swings for the fences.  The only downside of this approach is choking in clutch situations.  He may be clutch in the postseason, but his regular season record from last season was 17-16, one game over .500.  Right now, he hits a lot of useless HR that don't help his team win many games. He needs hit more game-changing HR to be considered for MVP.  The MVP award is based off of regular season performance.

If Joe Cronin wins MVP, it will because of his bat.  He needs to play to his strengths and keep up his batting before he tries to become an ace pitcher.  Joe Cronin is a slugger, but that could change if he has a surplus of HR and decides to focus more on his pitching.

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