Fun with Small Sample Sizes

by R.J. Anderson on Apr 18, 2009 2:47 PM EDT

Jason Bartlett has a .492 wOBA, which puts him just outside of the top 10 in the league, but just ahead of Raul Ibanez, Chase Utley, and dozens of other worthwile players. This is amusing for a multitude of reasons, but also could mean Bartlett's offensive production finishes closer to league average -- even after some regression -- than previously expected. Given the expected defensive progression based on health, Bartlett should be quite a bit more valuable than last season -- no matter where he finishes in silly award voting.
Iwamura has also been impressive offensively. Carl Crawford, not so much. Everytime Carl groundouts to the right side on the first pitch I want kill a baby seal. 77% of the first pitches Carl has seen have either been strikes or put into play.
Longoria is the only player with a wOBA above .500 this season with a BB% sub 3. Cristian Guzman has yet to walk and his a wOBA at .490 and Jermaine Dye is at 2.5% and .456 wOBA. Longoria should start walking more pretty soon. Of course, if he maintains a 1.383 OPS and .526 ISO I don't really care if he ever walks again.
Per Hit Tracker, Carlos Pena's homerun last night resulted in the ball going about 110 miles per hour off of the bat. That's the season high for the Rays, as is Pena's six homeruns. Longoria has an average homerun distance of 381 feet, Pena is at 389. Jason Bartlett and Ben Zobrist of all players are tied for third on the Rays in homeruns hit. Nothing against either of those two, but that seems unlikely to remain true for very long.
Pat Burrell has 43 plate appearances and 17 of them have been worked to three balls. Burrell has been strikingly poor in 2-0 and 2-1 counts, but is feasting on 3-1 counts. Considering he's always hit in 2-0 and 2-1 counts well enough, it seems like just a matter of time before Burrell catches fire.

Tweet Comment 28 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Marco Scutaro for MVP

Scutaro > Bartlett

Today, we are all Honkballers.

by RATW on Apr 18, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

This is why a Burrell slump is so

much more tolerable than a Crawford-Navarro

Hopefully that doesn’tcause WW 111

by Raymondo on Apr 18, 2009 3:22 PM EDT reply actions

Burrell has a long history of going into prolonged slumps

And then following them up by going on a rampage. Crawford has done so to a lesser extent, and has the speed to turn a lot more batted balls into hits. With Navarro, we don’t have as much information to speculate on what constitutes his norm, and thus his slumps worry me more.

by GomesSweetGomes on Apr 18, 2009 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Fair enough

But my point is Burrell’s ability to draw walks, which neither the above have sown a propensity to

by Raymondo on Apr 18, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Nothing controversial in that

Walks are good. I wish Crawford would draw more. Or at least take a few more pitches.

by GomesSweetGomes on Apr 18, 2009 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions

We have been hoping for that for years

I have personally given up on that. He is what he is.

Now, if he’d only bunt for hit more. lol

by Ben Tumbling on Apr 18, 2009 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting

I wonder how much his inability to draw walks changes the equation on whether he should bunt or not. I’d assume it would mean that bunting for a hit would be a smarter play for him than a Lofton/Damon type (prime Damon/Lofton that is).

by GomesSweetGomes on Apr 18, 2009 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

CC=BB

Bad Bunter

He has tried a couple times this year and it is embarassing.

by Doyouseeit? on Apr 19, 2009 1:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Trade Crawford for Halladay plz

by Sylar on Apr 18, 2009 4:47 PM EDT reply actions

Anyone else enjoying the Yankees getting totally nuked?

by Lurch's Lobbyists on Apr 18, 2009 5:01 PM EDT reply actions

Chien-Ming Wang is broken

1.1 IP, 8 ER

CLE 15
NYY 2 (bot 3)

Florida and Toronto win again. With Marcum, Litsch and McGowan hurt, I don’t know how long the Jays makeshift rotation will hold up, but Travis Snider is a scary hitter.

Today, we are all Honkballers.

by RATW on Apr 18, 2009 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions