Comments on: Game 112, Devil Rays at Mariners

By: kcw2

kcw2 — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:48:57 +0000

Richie Sexson question. I read once that Ted Williams was a big believer in shoulder rotation as being an indicator of a player’s ability to hit. I believe I read this in the context of his watching Michael Jordan try to hit, and Williams explaining why he would not be a big league hitter. Thus, if you hit right handed, your right shoulder will face the pitcher after your swing, or, even more towards third base if you have a flexible, “good” swing. Does RS have the least flexible swing you have ever seen? His right shoulder barely gets to 1st base.

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:34:39 +0000

Willie isn’t last in Slugging, and no one said he was. He’s actually not even last in Isolated Slugging (PA>100) anymore, as the immortal Jason Tyner (one extra base hit, a double, in 105 PA, for an ISO of .010) has crossed the threshold. Willie’s second-last, with almost twice the PA of Tyler. Note that Tyner can at least hit a little, and get on base; he’s .362/.327 to Willie’s .320/.280. TWO EIGHTY SLUG. Why, that’s only tenth-worst in all of baseball (Abraham Nunez is slugging .215, which is keeping my Hacking Mass team afloat).

Sexson is alas nowhere near the top of the ISO table (again, 100 PA cutoff). His .227 is well behind Pujols’s .361 or even Raul’s .239. Richie is just ahead of Jonny Gomes and right behind, cough cough, Rich Aurilia.

By: David*

David* — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 12:38:42 +0000

Richie Sexson, almost as clutch as Carl Everett!

By: terry

terry — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 10:18:51 +0000

Ritche before the break: .218/.288/.418

Ritchie after the break: .247/.313/.573

It’s a damn shame he doesnt walk….

By: JMHawkins

JMHawkins — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 08:36:50 +0000

All’s well that end’s well, I guess.

But man, Grover infuriated me this game. What was it, the seventh?, when he bunted a .300 hitter to get to a .220 hitter, pinch ran for his good-hitting catcher, and burned his reserve OF, all in one inning with zero results? Aiyyyyieeeeee!!!!!!

I believe Jeff Nye has given Willie his new nickname. Spork. I love it.

In the OPS discussion, I saw lots of discussion about scoring runs, but I missed the “avoiding outs” part. You gotta move someone 4 bases before you make 3 outs. In OBP+SLG, OBP is largely the “avoiding outs” part and SLG is largely the “moving runners” part. Getting on base both avoids the out and moves a runner (even if it’s the batter moving down to first – that’s 1 base down, three to go…). So starting with OBP getting a 2x multiplier is reasonable, since it does double duty. Of course, hits and especially XBH can move multiple runners in front of the batter, so SLG regains a bit of ground.

Plus, walks do count for “moving runners” and adding walks into SLG gives essentially OBP+ISO, so you could use a “modified” OPS of OBP+(OBP+ISO) or 2*OPB + ISO. Dave’s emperical results are probably better, but I like thinking there’s at least a half-assed theory backing it up.

Oh, and for the record, Grand Slams are a really, really good way to avoid making an out.

By: Lauren, token chick

Lauren, token chick — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 07:59:15 +0000

Yay! Most awesome. Glad to see someone flew the profanity flag in my absence.

By: mln

mln — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:32:43 +0000

Richie Sexson is a Clutch God!

Or at least a minor deity….

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:22:38 +0000

260, I’d rather he were hypnotized to believe they just IBB’d raul in front of him every time he’s at bat.

By: Newby

Newby — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:14:51 +0000

259- FSN had him at 8-12 before that last at bat with 21 rbis.

By: Ike Aramba

Ike Aramba — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 05:56:22 +0000

Has anyone looked into hypnotizing Richie into believing the bases are loaded every time he’s at bat?