First Month Hero - Conor Jackson

Found a link thanks to Levski on DBBP on the best offensive players for the month of April.  Since one of our own is on this list, I thought I'd share it. 

Actual link is:http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/first-month-heroes/

First Month Heroes

by Dave Cameron - May 4, 2008 · Filed under Daily Graphings

Most teams have played about 30 games so far, so through the first baseball month of the season, let’s take a look at the guys who have performed the best at the plate. We’ll do it all-star team style, with one player representing each position. I’m using WPA/LI as the determinant for offensive production.

Catcher: Geovany Soto - 0.64
First Base: Conor Jackson - 1.49
Second Base: Chase Utley - 1.78
Shortstop: Rafael Furcal - 1.33
Third Base: Chipper Jones - 1.49
Left Field: Pat Burrell - 1.77
Center Field: Nate McLouth - 0.91
Right Field: Ryan Church - 0.75
Designated Hitter Hideki Matsui - 0.73

The thing that jumps out to me is that all eight position players represent the National League. Lots of NL hitters going nuts in April, but none more so than Chase Utley, who was clearly the best player on the planet for the first month of the season. Furcal, Chipper, and Burrell had special months as well, especially if you give Burrell credit for the fact that he leads the league in clutch hitting.