Article:Baseball Notebook: Jones Hitting 79 Points Higher Than AL Leader

Chipper Jones Hitting 79 Points Higher Than AL Leader Grudzielanek

If Mark Grudzielanek was in the National League his .331 average would place him 7th in batting but since he is in the American League he is leading the American League despite hitting 79 points lower than Chipper Jones. It is surprising that with the season less than two months old no AL hitter is hitting over .350.

Jones who is hitting .410 is only 11 points ahead of Lance Berkman who is hitting .399 in the NL batting race. Kevin Youkilis hitting .329 is the only other AL player in the top 10 major league hitters and is in 9th place.

Jones has been consistent hitting .422 in March and April and .411 in May. Jones has struck out only 15 times in 156 at bats and has been walked 21 times.

Berkman leads the majors in slugging with a .804 percentage with Ryan Ludwick next at .739. Youkilis is the first American Leaguer on the list with a .605 percentage. Carlos Quentin is the only AL player in top 10 in homers with 11.

Josh Hamilton needs one RBI to reach 50 but had to leave the game early yesterday with an injury so it is unknown when he will play next.

After the Indians loss to the Reds yesterday Edinson Volquez holds the major league lead in ERA with a 1.33 mark while the losing pitcher Cliff Lee saw his ERA rise to 1.37 to be second in major league ERA race.

Brandon Webb tries for his 10th win of the season against the Marlins in Florida on Wednesday.

Early 30-30 club candidates need at least 7 homers and 7 stolen bases to be considered right now:

Hanley Ramirez: 9 homers 13 stolen bases Grady Sizemore: 7 homers 9 stolen bases Lance Berkman: 16 homers 8 stolen bases Jayson Werth: 9 homers 7 stolen bases

There are about 10 games left for most teams to reach the third of the season mark so the prospective 30-30 members would need 10 homers and 10 stolen bases by then to be on pace for 30-30 club.

Nick Markakis, Brandon Phillips and David Wright have 8 homers and 6 stolen bases so still could become members of the 30-30 club by the end of the season.