Danny Santana, the shortstop for the Minnesota Twins who shocked even his own organization with a .319/.352/.472 season in 101 games at short and center field last year, has this season struck out only the third most often among his teammates -- 49 times.
The issue is, that while Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe have fanned on a few more occasions, they've also earned more than 20 bases on balls each.
Salazar has walked twice.
Fortunately, he's been hit by two pitches, inflating his .218 batting average into a .235 on base percentage. This from Minnesota's leadoff hitter.
Mix in an inability to exit the yard and you've completed the slash line with a slugging average of .291, which explains why Santana is currently working out the kinks in Rochester, NY.
The good news is, no more Major League strikeouts. The bad news is he's stuck, for now, at two walks.
The organization will have to parse whether Santana's problems hitting stem from his lack of strike zone control, or whether no one is walking him because they don't fear pitching in the zone. Very likely it's more former than latter, which spells long-term issues for the young Dominican.
An unsustainable .405 BABIP last year masked some of these issues in the first place, but even then he walked about five times as often. In other words, stay tuned, but don't expect him to ever repeat that rookie campaign.
Still, as a shortstop and center fielder, Santana would have great value if he could just get on base a little less often than league average, pop an occasional dinger and field his positions well. And Paul Molitor could help him by finding someone else -- perhaps someone who knows how to walk? -- for the top of the order.
Showing posts with label walks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walks. Show all posts
13 June 2015
05 June 2012
A Walk In the Park
The Cubs and Giants squared off yesterday in a Monday matinee for the benefit of sabermetricians everywhere.
Each team posted eight hits, including one double. The Cubs added a stolen base. They also recorded a double play on defense and their pitchers fanned eight to the Giants' five. They strung together their hits better too, with four singles from five batters in the two-run second inning.
Advantage Chicago.
Except.
Five Bearcub hurlers issued seven free passes (to none by San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong and Jeremy Affeldt), four of them to Buster Posey. That's right, every time Posey came to the plate, he took first base without making an out. To the batting average counters, the star catcher accomplished nothing, but Posey forced Chicago pitchers to throw at least 16 unproductive pitches that failed to record a single out He also created a base runner each time he batted.
Without an official at bat, Posey scored two of the Giants' three runs, including the game-winner. His batting average didn't rise, he didn't hit a home run, or even a double or triple, he didn't steal a base, he didn't knock in a run. He didn't do anything that would awaken your average sportswriter from his 30-year slumber.
He was just the star of the game.
b
30 December 2008
The Persistence of Memory
Last week I examined how Tim Raines' generalist abilities and shadow skills have doomed him -- perhaps unfairly -- in our esteem and in Hall of Fame voting.
Today the flip side: Jim Rice.
As with Raines, I make no claim as to whether Rice should be a HOFer. We certainly remember him as a fearsome slugger who dominated baseball offensively for the better part of 12 years. Four times in his career he batted over .300, slugged 39 or more home runs and drove in at least 114. He finished in the top five in MVP voting six times. At the time, we thought that was the definition of a great player.
Today, our lens is more finely focused. We realize the value of walks, of OBP over batting average, of defense, of context and of double plays (in the negative.) And all of those elements line up against Jim Rice.
Let's take them in order. Rice didn't walk. He earned 60 free passes just once in his career, so despite his .298 BA he had a non-HOF .352 OBP. He was never much of a fielder, despite the long-standing New England rationalization that he had a special knack for predicting Green Monster caroms. Myriad retrospective defensive statistics, about which I am admitedly dubious, all agree that Rice was a liability in left field.
Left field, of course, is where many of history's best hitters roamed, and against whom Rice must be measured. It is also the least important defensive position on the field (as opposed to the DH, who is not on the field defensively) because neither range nor an arm are particularly relevant. Rice's competition for the Hall, besides Raines, includes Musial, Bonds, Ted and Billy Williams, Simmons, Henderson, Shoeless Joe, Yaz, Stargell and Kiner.
Jim Rice also played in a hitter's park his whole career. Fenway increases offense by 8% versus today's MLB stadiums, and it was likely higher in Rice's day. Then, when you factor in the 315 twin killings he grounded into, it effectively drops his OBP to .339 and his slugging percentage below .500.
What you have, after all that, is a mighty hitter for sure, but one who doesn't avoid outs, has no speed (58 steals and 34 CS is a net negative) and hurts you defensively. Moreover, his talent ebbed quickly, with his last good year at age 33. Suddenly he's much less Hall-worthy.
For fun, I compared Rice to Raines. Note that Raines played most of his career in Montreal's concrete cavern.
OPS+ is on-base plus slugging relative to the rest of the league. A 100 OPS+ is exactly average. At 128, Rice was 28% better than the average hitter.
You can decide for yourself whether Jim Rice deserves a bust in Cooperstown. It appears, given his near-miss last year, that he's headed in. It also appears that regardless, he is diminished by perspective, in much the way Tim Raines' stature is enhanced.
Today the flip side: Jim Rice.
As with Raines, I make no claim as to whether Rice should be a HOFer. We certainly remember him as a fearsome slugger who dominated baseball offensively for the better part of 12 years. Four times in his career he batted over .300, slugged 39 or more home runs and drove in at least 114. He finished in the top five in MVP voting six times. At the time, we thought that was the definition of a great player.
Today, our lens is more finely focused. We realize the value of walks, of OBP over batting average, of defense, of context and of double plays (in the negative.) And all of those elements line up against Jim Rice.
Let's take them in order. Rice didn't walk. He earned 60 free passes just once in his career, so despite his .298 BA he had a non-HOF .352 OBP. He was never much of a fielder, despite the long-standing New England rationalization that he had a special knack for predicting Green Monster caroms. Myriad retrospective defensive statistics, about which I am admitedly dubious, all agree that Rice was a liability in left field.
Left field, of course, is where many of history's best hitters roamed, and against whom Rice must be measured. It is also the least important defensive position on the field (as opposed to the DH, who is not on the field defensively) because neither range nor an arm are particularly relevant. Rice's competition for the Hall, besides Raines, includes Musial, Bonds, Ted and Billy Williams, Simmons, Henderson, Shoeless Joe, Yaz, Stargell and Kiner.
Jim Rice also played in a hitter's park his whole career. Fenway increases offense by 8% versus today's MLB stadiums, and it was likely higher in Rice's day. Then, when you factor in the 315 twin killings he grounded into, it effectively drops his OBP to .339 and his slugging percentage below .500.
What you have, after all that, is a mighty hitter for sure, but one who doesn't avoid outs, has no speed (58 steals and 34 CS is a net negative) and hurts you defensively. Moreover, his talent ebbed quickly, with his last good year at age 33. Suddenly he's much less Hall-worthy.
For fun, I compared Rice to Raines. Note that Raines played most of his career in Montreal's concrete cavern.
| Player | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS+ | H | HR | RS | RBI | SB |
| Tim Raines | .294 | .385 | .425 | 123 | 2605 | 170 | 1571 | 980 | 808 |
| Jim Rice | .298 | .352 | .502 | 128 | 2452 | 382 | 1249 | 1451 | 58 |
OPS+ is on-base plus slugging relative to the rest of the league. A 100 OPS+ is exactly average. At 128, Rice was 28% better than the average hitter.
You can decide for yourself whether Jim Rice deserves a bust in Cooperstown. It appears, given his near-miss last year, that he's headed in. It also appears that regardless, he is diminished by perspective, in much the way Tim Raines' stature is enhanced.
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