Raul Ibanez: Why the sudden power surge?

Raul Ibanez entered Major League Baseball when he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 36th round of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. Throughout Ibanez's career, he has played as both catcher and outfielder, especially during his minor league days. Prior to the 2001 season, Ibanez was signed as a free agent to the Kansas City Royals. In his first year, Ibanez held a .280 batting average while knocking in 54 RBIs. After three seasons with the Royals, Ibanez returned to Seattle in 2004, and had his best season of his early career claiming a .304 batting average. In 2005, Ibanez did most of the designated hitting duties, hitting .280 with 20 home runs and 89 RBIs. In his best season as a Seattle Mariner, Ibanez held a .289 batting average with 33 home runs, 123 RBIs, scored 103 runs, 33 doubles and 5 triples.

In the winter of 2008, Ibanez signed a 3 year, $31.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. The focus of blogging about Ibanez culminates from his out-of-nowhere power surge coupled with recent mentions in the blogosphere, namely Midwest Sports Fans being the focus of a recent blog which claimed him being linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

Before I delve into Ibanez career statistics, trends and production, I cannot stress enough in this article I am not accusing Raul Ibanez of using steroids or any kind of performance-enhancing drugs; however, I am simply breaking down his career for educational and entertainment purposes.

Raul Ibanez started to see regular playing time during the 2002 season, his second of three years with the Royals. Having 544 plate appearances and 497 at-bats (it is important to note plate appearances are different than at-bats), Ibanez hit 24 home runs and knocked in a cool 103 RBIs. Ibanez only struck out 76 times, a mere 7.4%, and had a .346 OBP, .537 SLG and .883 OPS. These numbers are exceptional for a player who is playing regularly for the first time in his career. As the seasons go on, Ibanez's trends stay consistent until the 2009 season with the Phillies.

Since that first regular season with the Royals in 2002, Ibanez's averages are as follows:
At-Bats: 576
Plate Appearances: 639
Hits: 168
Singles: 107
Doubles: 35
Triples: 4
Home runs: 22
RBIs: 97
Runs: 85
Batting Average: .292

As of June 15, 60 games into the season, Raul Ibanez's project statistics are:
Hits: 187*
Singles: 102
Doubles: 41
Triples: 4
Home runs: 40*
RBIs: 128*
Runs: 106*
Batting Average: .306*

Ibanez is also on pace to have higher stats in OBP (.367), SLG (.582) and OPS (.948).

The '*' denotes a category that could potentially be a career-high if he continues the current tear he has been on so far thus year. If Ibanez stays on his pace, he could set new career-highs in five of the possible eight categories I have studied. While his stats for this year are certainly All-Star caliber, I surprisingly wouldn't be one to claim he is using PEDs. Although, as I'm sure all of you know, I am a HUGE Mets fan, and most likely would love to call him a "juicer" every single time he comes to bat against my team (which I have done on a regular basis), I can honestly say I don't think he is using PEDs. It seems like almost every player used PEDs a few years back during the steroid era, but I think baseball is trying as hard as possible to evolve out of the shadow of being a cheaters game. Then again, sometimes it is a bit deceiving when a player like Manny Ramirez gets a 50-game suspension for testing positive under the MLB substance abuse policy.

Raul Ibanez just might hit 40 home runs while knocking in 128 RBIs. There are many reasons for this, one being the ballpark he plays in 81 games of the season. Another reason might be rejuvenation of a new city, a fresh contract and the East coast. All in all, I feel Ibanez is playing clean. After all, he did defend himself after being accused of cheating.

"You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool -- anything you can test. I'll give you back every dime I've ever made if I test positive," said Ibanez in a rebuttal to being accused of cheating by the blog mentioned above.

Granted, sometimes players are using substances that will not show up on the banned substance list set forth by Major League Baseball. I don't think this is the case.

For what it's worth, Ibanez's numbers have remained consistent throughout his career, this year just may be one of those years.

Later this week, I am going to write a similar article on David Wright. However this article will do the opposite, and show why Wright's power numbers are much down for the first time in his career, while his "small-ball" numbers have increased drastically.

All of the statistical information used in this article was found on FanGraphs.