Matt LaPorta had a huge go ahead double in tonight's Twins-Indians game in the bottom of the 8th inning. Obviously, Indians firstbasemen, Matt LaPorta hasn't lived up to the "corner stone" firstbasemen he was made out to be in the CC trade (so far). But LaPorta has been hitting quite well with runners on base.

RISP SLG%
Hafner .730
LAPORTA .515
A.Cabrera .509
Santana .459
Brantley .455
Fukudome .424
Buck .400
Hannahan .381
Sizemore .315
Choo .313
Duncan .294
Kearns .265
Marson .194

*I didn't include Chisenhall or Kipnis because they still have a low sample size of numbers.

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Now, lets compare this to other firstbasemen in 2011...

RISP SLG%
Votto .754
Morse .596
Teixeira .574
Fielder .569
Pujols .522
LAPORTA .515
Howard .508
M.Cabrera .507
A.Gonzalez .489
Lind .489
Butler .460
Trumbo .423
Cuddyer .405
Freeman .378
Kotchman .374
Sanchez .372
Moreland .365
Helton .333
Konerko .327
Huff .320
Loney .269

I know, I know, this doesn't mean by any standards that LaPorta is better than Ryan Howard or Adrian Gonzalez or Miguel Cabrera (I'd any of them over LaPorta, no brainer, no question). This is just one stat area to look at. But, I think LaPorta's ability to hit with runners in scoring position holds a great deal of importance to this team.

And LaPorta has much much much more to accomplish before he becomes an upper tier firstbasemen (raising his OBP, wOBA, and overall power). Maybe he has more development left? Maybe not, it's hard to say with him being 26 years old. In fact, I wouldn't be upset if the Indians found an upgrade over LaPorta this offseason.