data.3news-bydate.train.rec.sport.baseball.104634 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (David M. Tate)
Subject: Re: HBP? BB? BIG-CAT?
Distribution: na
Organization: Department of Industrial Engineering
Lines: 63
[email protected] (Ken Kubey) said:
>I suppose a foul ball machine (like Brett Butler) is pretty valuable,
>but I'd rather watch (and root for) the lower OBP guys who can
>actually hit the ball.
Now *this* is a legitimate point. Baseball is entertainment, and I have no
quarrel with people who find certain styles of play more entertaining than
others, regardless of their win-value. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the
slug-bunt; I doubt it's a high-percentage play, but I get a big kick out of
it. I am willing to live with the bad consequences in exchange for the fun.
Of course, this is *not* the same as claiming (as some do) that Galarraga's
inability to defer gratification isn't hurting his team because he "isn't
paid to walk" or "is an RBI guy" or whatever.
>And finally, I'd like to point out that many high OBP guys draw
>their walks more because pitchers are afraid to throw a strike
>to them, than because they have a great "eye"
I'm not sure. I used to think this was true, but more and more I'm becoming
convinced that it's the other way around: among players with the physical
ability to hit the ball real hard, the patient ones are the ones who get the
chance to do it a lot.
Let's break down the four basic categories of hitter, according to whether
they are power threats and whether they walk a lot:
Power No Power
Patient Frank Thomas Brett Butler
Barry Bonds Ozzie Smith
Mark McGwire Craig Grebeck
Babe Ruth Miller Huggins
Ted Williams Billy Hamilton
Rickey Henderson Eddie Joost
Joe Morgan Mike Hargrove
. .
. .
. .
Impatient Ernie Banks Ozzie Guillen
Dave Kingman Shawon Dunston
Joe Carter Andres Thomas
George Bell Jose Lind
Kirby Puckett Devon White
etc.
As far as I can tell, all the categories are full. It really looks like the
two are independent. Nobody could possibly be *afraid* of Craig Grebeck at
the plate, and yet he walks quite a lot. Part of that, undoubtedly, is being
small of stature, but surely major league pitchers can hit that sort of
target at least 3 times out of 6. Randy Milligan is an even better example;
he's only shown noticeable power for one (partial) season, but he walks all
over the place, despite his huge strike zone.
--
David M. Tate ([email protected]) | Greetings, sir, with bat not quick
member IIE, ORSA, TIMS, SABR | Hands not soft, eye not discerning
| And in Denver they call you a slugger?
"The Big Catullus" Galarraga | And compare you to my own Mattingly!?