I'm in the process of moving, so I've been a bit of a part-timer in the game threads and Twitter. But I imagine there was a bit of confusion at seeing Delmon Young in the lineup against Hisashi Iwakuma, a righty. Young, we all know, has an enormous platoon split.
I | Split | PA | tOPS+ | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs RHP as RHB | 2756 | .274 | .305 | .402 | .707 | .314 | 91 | |
vs LHP as RHB | 1123 | .306 | .343 | .477 | .820 | .345 | 121 |
But what fewer of us know: He also has an considerable GB/FB split too.
I | Split | PA | tOPS+ | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. Fly Ball | 1351 | .260 | .298 | .384 | .682 | .315 | 85 | |
vs. avg.F/G | 1540 | .292 | .323 | .441 | .764 | .327 | 106 | |
vs. GrndBall | 988 | .300 | .329 | .452 | .781 | .326 | 111 |
So: A groundball RHP who throws a splitter? It makes sense. Iwakuma -- and this could be just limited-statistics noise -- has indeed allowed more homers to righties, resulting in a .311 wOBA vRHB and a .281 wOBA vLHB.
Anyway, Delmon Young: Not a complete player. But quirky and useful.