Jason Bartlett Ignites Rays Offense

by Erik Hahmann on May 19, 2009 12:01 AM EDT

This is going to be short and sweet as nothing very significant happened in tonight's game besides Jeff Niemann actually pitching beyond the 5th inning.

We're beginning to run out of superlatives to describe Jason Bartlett's hitting thus far this season. Coming into tonight's game he had a ridiculous slash line of .370/.407/.563/.970 with 5(!) home runs and 11 steals. Tonight added to those totals, going 3-3 with a triple and 5 RBI. Over the past two weeks the slash line improves to an even sillier .386/.417/.682/1.098.

He's obviously not going to hit .370 all season. That number will fall back as his .413 BABiP comes tumbling down to earth. However, I expect Bartlett to keep hitting resonably well. Bartlett has worked this season on driving the ball more, and it seems to have worked. His LD% is up nearly 9% over last season while his GB% is almost 14 points lower. Maddon's goal of moving Bartlett down toward the bottom of the order to act as a second leadoff man has worked out in spades. Aki Iwamura is normally slotted behind Bartlett and his hitting well himself. With those two getting on base and Upton showing signs of life, opposing teams are going to have their hands full for the rest of the season.

If you were voting today solely based on numbers and not a players reputation, Jason Bartlett would be the starting shortstop for the American League in the All-Star Game. I'll leave this Bartlett love fest with a quote I got tonight from Tommy who is away tending to a personal matter; "Dude seriously Bartlett is awesome...wtf." I think that says it all up to this point.

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bartlett for MVP!

hahaha jk, but i do love me some barty

NFL-Lions,Vikings,Texans,Bills
MLB-Rays,Twins,Marlins,Reds
NBA-T-Wolves,Cavliiers,Warriors,Bobcats
NHL-Wild,Penguins
NCAA-Gophers,Gators,Longhorns,Fighting Irish
all in the order in which i root for 1st

by RaysOfHope on May 19, 2009 12:11 AM EDT reply actions

MBV

honestly though, let’s trade him for Gallardo and Weeks while we have the chance!

by daveh33 on May 19, 2009 12:31 AM EDT reply actions

Haha that's a hilarious comment

This isn’t a video game no one is going to make a trade like that, and Weeks is out for the season as of today.

by 813Dynasty on May 19, 2009 12:41 AM EDT reply actions

.

by daveh33 on May 19, 2009 12:45 AM EDT up reply actions

yup he tore a ligament in his wrist

by RaysOfHope on May 19, 2009 12:49 AM EDT reply actions

In 2008, when Maddon said Bartlett was the "glue" of the team

He was probably talking about 2009

by plasticman on May 19, 2009 12:59 AM EDT reply actions

same with topkin's MVP vote

minny fans hate this trade more and more every day, haha i love wearing my rays cap in minny, while delmon and harris struggle to hold down jobs, and barty and garza are making runs at the all star game this year

by RaysOfHope on May 19, 2009 1:11 AM EDT up reply actions

I remember when the trade was made

I was pretty skeptical. We had a bunch of good arms in aaa, Garza was good but didn’t seem to have a great ceiling, and Jason bartlett was good defensively but very average with the bat. On the other hand, Brendan Harris had just hit something like .320 for the season and Young drove in 90+ rbi’s plus played good defense in RF, not to mention he used to be a number 1 and showed he had a ton of potential. We weren’t strong on fielders in the minors then (and outside of a few bright spots, still don’t have alot of positional depth), so I really didn’t like trading away an important position. I thought the trade was bold, and since we weren’t a great team at the time I thought it took courage and risk that could potentially pay off. I didn’t like the trade, but that’s why I’m on the internet and not in the front office.

Looking at it now, I feel like I must be a huge idiot and the Rays FO the greatest genius’ in the world to get this steal of a trade done. And we’re about to see how much of a popularity contest the allstar game is as bartlett probably won’t win the fan vote over guys who don’t even deserve to be in the game (looking at you jeter).

by behn on May 19, 2009 1:46 AM EDT up reply actions

is it just my imagiation or is bartlett oft-maligned on this site?

he’s a rangy shortstop, which is just what this pitching staff needs behind it, and the hitting wizardry is icing on the cake. i wish people would appreciate him a little more.

by yeseggs on May 19, 2009 2:05 AM EDT reply actions

He is appreciated.

Especially for his 09’ performance, he is the best AL SS so far this season,

Last year he was a bit overrated by the local writers. This year he is probably the second best position player on the team behind Longo.

by twenty5psi on May 19, 2009 2:34 AM EDT up reply actions

This. I think everybody here genuinely likes Bartlett.

Any ill will towards him was really meant towards the MVP award he received last year.

by Suttree on May 19, 2009 9:12 AM EDT up reply actions

I wouldn't trade Bartlett for Delmon Young straight up.

by walkoffwalk on May 19, 2009 7:48 AM EDT reply actions

While Bartlett's LD% is sitting around 30%....

His BABIP falls in line with what his previous BABIP’s have been based on LD%. The past 3 seasons, he has an average LD% of 21%. His BABIP for those 3 seasons has been around .330. WHile none of us expect him to maintain a 30% LD rate, based on the past few seasons and the way he swung the bat the 2nd half of last season, we can expect him to have a GREAT offensive season for a SS.

by td32 on May 19, 2009 10:00 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah, but nobody keeps a .400 BABIP.

Even a guy like Jeter, who’s largely hit for high average throughout his career, has a career BABIP of 360. Tony Gywnn’s career BABIP was 340.

Bartlett will end the year with a great season overall, but there’s no way he sustains a four-hundy BABIP.

by Suttree on May 19, 2009 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions

No, but anomalies happen over the course of one season.

It’s not sustainable long term, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up with an average hovering around .340 by the end of the season, which would make him a legit league MVP candidate with his defense coming back.

Tools Whore

by Tyler on May 19, 2009 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Right.

If he keeps it up for a few more weeks and then regresses to his usual 280-290 self, he’ll still end the year hitting above 300. If it weren’t for Longoria (and to a lesser extent Crawford and Pena), he’d be an MVP candidate. He’s having the season Jeter had a few years ago, except he’s actually playing plus defense.

The flip side is… well, look at what Marco SCOOTER-O is doing.

by Suttree on May 19, 2009 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

NM on the Scutaro front.

I thought he was hitting over three hundy for some reason. He’s sitting at 284, with an outrageous OBP. That’s so bizarre.

by Suttree on May 19, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

in recent years....

Milton Bradley had a .396 BABIP last year
Chipper Jones was at .388 lat year
Chone Figgins was .399 in 2007
our own Black Jesus was .399 in 2007
Ichiro .390 in 2007
Captain Overrated was .394 in 2006

those are all guys who had more than 400 plate appearances that season

What's on my mind

by Jason Collette on May 19, 2009 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions

The guy still gets no press

Give him a little love somebody

by Sveet on May 19, 2009 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

From the Heater

That’s the problem with the steroid era, anytime someone gains weight or his game improves will be called into question. On our team alone, you have Zobrist, Evan, Carlos, and JB that jump to mind. I choose to let the testing filter things out and until I know otherwise, congratulate Bartlett on a heck of a season so far.

by matthan on May 19, 2009 11:42 AM EDT reply actions

Which was a response to this gem

It’s so obvious that Barlett is juicing. We were shocked when we saw him for the first time this season. He got huge. And the announcers keep talking about how strong he is this season, etc.

by matthan on May 19, 2009 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Here comes the piss man

The time is NOW, Bartlett!

"Where we all wait in earnest with pudding in hand for the Upton comet to sail through the roofed skies, so that we may meet Him."

by kericr on May 19, 2009 11:50 AM EDT up reply actions

No player ever got better or played to his ability

THE YEAR WAS ~~2081~~ 2009, and everybody was finally equal. They weren’t only equal before ~~God~~ Bud and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody ~~was smarter~~ hit better than anybody else. Nobody ~~was better looking~~ pitched better than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to ~~the 211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution~~ the lack of performance enhancing drugs, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the ~~United States Handicapper General~~ Commissioner General and the U.S. Congress.

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You'll be an old man before you know it.

-Al Lopez

by Sandy Kazmir on May 19, 2009 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions

The issue isn't the BABIP- its the LD%

As td noted, Bart’s babip is driven by his LD rate and the luck of not hitting those at guys but over their heads- since his GB% is down so much it actually seems to make sense- Bart has an improved swing and as we have all been watching him we can see that he is spraying peas all over the place. [have fun with that]

As for the LD%, most believe this 30% number to be unsustainable, but good hitters have sustained rates over 25% in a full season as recently as last year. A guy very similar to Bart’s style, Freddy Sanchez put up a 24.3% rate, and Andre Either led the league with 26.6%. He was kind of unlucky in the sense that he put up only a .336 babip on such a fantastic LD rate.

Point is, if Bartlett ends the season with his LD rate having settled down to a mere 25% rate he may very well post a babip of about .350-.370. It is not necessarily true that his luck will cool off at the same time as his bat.

by Thejeffg on May 19, 2009 1:36 PM EDT reply actions

Exactly...

This was the point I was trying to make. He BABIP is right where it should when you compare it to the past 3 seasons, and he has a 30% LD rate. It’s his LD rate that is absurd right now, thus giving him such a high BABIP.

Even if he cools down to 20-22% LD rate the rest of the way, we can expect him to end up with a BA over .300 for the year, and be extremely productive. I’m not sure if he can sustain his current SLG%, but even if it drops 75 points, he would still be .475-.500 range, which would still be a career high for him.

by td32 on May 19, 2009 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

They knew...

that Delmon was a clubhouse issue, & also a hacker with questionable power. But he was still a #1 overall pick who was coming off a good season. They just knew what they had, & struck while the chip was still blue…
Which makes me wonder why we didn’t trade Kazmir before this season…

by liquidmuse3 on May 19, 2009 3:24 PM EDT reply actions