Lyle Overbay

Maybe baseball hottest hitter is Milwaukee first baseman Lyle Overbay who has taken over for Richie Sexson who was traded to the Diamondbacks in the offseason. I thought it might be worth taking a look at how the two players compare:

Overbay: 35 G / 135 AB / 17 R / 48 H / 5 HR / 34 RBI / .356 BA / 1.018 OPS
Sexson: 21 G / 83 AB / 20 R / 20 H / 9 HR / 22 RBI / .241 BA / .958 OPS

Sexson is on the 15-day DL right now with a partial tear of the left labrum but has hit off a tee and reported no discomfort. Sexson has hit 29 or more HR for times and driven in at least 100 RBI in a season 4 times as well - so I think comparing Overbay to Sexson is a bit of a reach (especially when you consider that Overbay is only 3 years younger than Sexson and that when Sexson was Overbay's age - he was just coming off a season where he hit 45 HR and drove in 125).

On the otherhand - Sexson will make $8 million this year while Overbay will take home just $330,000. That means the world to the cash strapped Brewers.

I don't know what to make of Overbay. He hasn't shown any real power and his career MLB OPS is just .839. Has Overbay caught lightning in a bottle? Can he keep this up? Or will he turn back into Cinderella at the stroke of 12?

The Brewers have 1st base prospect Prince Fielder (some call him the best 1st base prospect in baseball) - so it will be interesting to see what happens with Overbay and 1st base with the Brewers.