Lead-off batters, and Bautista
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 6:57 pm
I'm kind of curious on people's thoughts on this.
This summer we went out and got a #1, and #2 batters in Reyes, and Melky.
Jose Reyes generally puts up a very good batting average (.291 career), and alright obp (.342 career), doesn't get a lot of dingers, but gets a lot of xbh's on balls in play. and steals some bases.
Melky on his career has put up good batting averages as well, with an alright obp (.338 career), and hits a decent amount of extra base hits.
These types of players generally have a lot of value.
However, my question is, do they have a lot of value to the Blue Jays or would we be better with guys who just slapped some singles and took a lot of walks with little ability to steal or get xbh's on balls in play.
Jose Bautista since his transformation has been all about walks, and HR's. In 1737 PA's he's reached base on 674 times; however 415 of those times he either his a HR or got a walk, and only 259 times where he put the ball in play for a hit. Encarnacion last year played a simliar type of game as well.
As mentioned earlier, our 2 leadoff batters generally get their value from xbh's on balls in play, high batting average, and stealing bases. However none of those things really matter if Bautista or Encarnacion hit a HR, Walk, or get out. If Bautista hits a HR it doesn't really matter if the player ahead of him got a walk or hit a double then stole 3rd. It's still 2 runs anyways. And, if Bautista gets a walk it doesn't really matter if the guy on base hit a double, or got a walk, because we are still going to have a guy on 1st and 2nd anyways.
Just curious on peoples thoughts on this. The areas where our leadoff batters shine (xbh's, avg, stolen basses) don't really have much benifit to Baustia. And the areas that would really benifit Bautista (OBP) isn't an area where our 2 leadoff batters are particularly strong for leadoff batters (though not bad by any any means).
I'm very excited about the season, and not trying to be neagtive but rather just generate some discussion. Maybe guys like Shin-soo Choo, and Youk would have been decent recent targets for #1 and #2 guys?
This summer we went out and got a #1, and #2 batters in Reyes, and Melky.
Jose Reyes generally puts up a very good batting average (.291 career), and alright obp (.342 career), doesn't get a lot of dingers, but gets a lot of xbh's on balls in play. and steals some bases.
Melky on his career has put up good batting averages as well, with an alright obp (.338 career), and hits a decent amount of extra base hits.
These types of players generally have a lot of value.
However, my question is, do they have a lot of value to the Blue Jays or would we be better with guys who just slapped some singles and took a lot of walks with little ability to steal or get xbh's on balls in play.
Jose Bautista since his transformation has been all about walks, and HR's. In 1737 PA's he's reached base on 674 times; however 415 of those times he either his a HR or got a walk, and only 259 times where he put the ball in play for a hit. Encarnacion last year played a simliar type of game as well.
As mentioned earlier, our 2 leadoff batters generally get their value from xbh's on balls in play, high batting average, and stealing bases. However none of those things really matter if Bautista or Encarnacion hit a HR, Walk, or get out. If Bautista hits a HR it doesn't really matter if the player ahead of him got a walk or hit a double then stole 3rd. It's still 2 runs anyways. And, if Bautista gets a walk it doesn't really matter if the guy on base hit a double, or got a walk, because we are still going to have a guy on 1st and 2nd anyways.
Just curious on peoples thoughts on this. The areas where our leadoff batters shine (xbh's, avg, stolen basses) don't really have much benifit to Baustia. And the areas that would really benifit Bautista (OBP) isn't an area where our 2 leadoff batters are particularly strong for leadoff batters (though not bad by any any means).
I'm very excited about the season, and not trying to be neagtive but rather just generate some discussion. Maybe guys like Shin-soo Choo, and Youk would have been decent recent targets for #1 and #2 guys?