Ten Players That Have Stepped Up For Their Team

Here are ten players, in no particular order, who have improved from last year and have helped their team in 2008.

1) Christian Guzman, Washington Nationals - Guzman is a shortstop with Washington who had two difficult seasons in Washington before having a breakout season this year. He is batting .303 with 3 homers and 15 RBIs. Guzman bats second in the lineup and has scored 22 runs.

2) Daniel Cabrera, Baltimore Orioles - Cabrera has electric stuff but always was wild and you never knew what kind of outing you would get from him. He was prone to giving up walks during a game. After two tough starts to begin the year, he has been very consistent. In his last five starts, he has only given up a combined ten runs.

3) Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians - Lee is 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA. If he continues to pitch well, he will be a candidate for the Cy Young. He only had five wins total last year.

4) Xavier Nady, Pittsburgh Pirates - Nady is batting .349 with 5 homers and 34 RBIs. He would be a good fit with the Mets or any other team that needs a solid right fielder.

5) Mark Hendrickson, Florida Marlins - Hendrickson is the ace of the Marlins staff and is going for his sixth win of the year tonight against the Brewers. He has been a pleasant surprise for the Marlins.

6) Andy Sonnanstine, Tampa Bay Rays - Sonnanstine is 5-1 with the Rays this year after only going 6-10 last season.

7) Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks - Upton is batting .345 with 5 homers and 16 RBIs after struggling last year with a .221 average in 43 games last season.

8) Lance Berkman, Houston Astros - Berkman leads the Astros in many offensive catagories so far and has 11 homers and 33 RBIs. He had good numbers last year but he struggled and got into a bad hitting slump many times.

9) Kurt Suzuki, Oakland A's - Suzuki is batting leadoff for Oakland and is batting .283 with a homer and 12 RBIs. The catcher has helped the pitching staff tremendously as well.

10) Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs - Soto should merit consideration as the National League starting catcher in the All Star Game. He is batting .345 with 6 homers and 24 RBIs. Soto's bat has been very impressive.