Game 91, Mariners at Angels
Dave · July 17, 2010 at 2:06 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Rowland-Smith vs Saunders, 6:05 pm.
Two not-good lefties face off. The only three interesting hitters on this team right now are left-handed (or, in Smoak’s case, he’s a switch hitter who is much better from the LH side). You probably have something else more interesting to do.
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110 Responses to “Game 91, Mariners at Angels”
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Coming into play today, the Mariners had hit into 60 double plays, good for fifth-fewest in baseball.
Of course, it’s hard to hit into a double play if neither of the first two hitters up in an inning get to first.
Figgins has been a light hitting double play machine. Ugh way bad signing.
Point well taken. As a rough guide, the Mariners have 1033 total bases and 60 GIDP, good for 17.2 TB/DP. The league average team has 1237 total bases and 70 GIDP, good for 17.7 TB/DP.
While they’re slightly below average, hitting into double plays hardly seems like a problem that uniquely plagues the Mariners.
Man, there IS a stat for everything…
Chone is a fine signing his OBA is good, even if his BA isn’t that high.
Total bases per double play isn’t a very useful stat, since it assumes that a double play can occur in every situation. You can’t get a double play after a home run, you’re really unlikely to get it after a triple and only marginally less unlikely to get it after a double. Moreover, total bases doesn’t include walks.
The only AL team with fewer DP than the Mariners is the Rays (60 vs. 55). The Rays have 88 more walks than the Mariners. They have 65 more hits than the M’s, but 81 more XBH. They have 13 more HBP. There must be some way to figure out reached on error, but I don’t know it. In any event, the Rays are clearly good at avoiding the double play.
Minnesota has hit into 103 DP, nearly twice the Mariners. Their total of singles and walks and HBP doesn’t come close to justifying it. They’re also a good team. Why? They have an OPS that is 113 points higher than the Mariners. They may ground into a lot of double plays, but they also hit the cover off the ball. The M’s don’t hit into a lot of double plays, but they can’t afford to hit into as many as they do.
You’re right, Breadbaker, which is why I qualified my statement by saying it was a rough guide. If you know of any website that lists total double play opportunities I would be happy to rerun the calculations. I didn’t know of one, which is why I used total bases to approximate those situations.
If anything, since the Mariners hit far fewer XBH than the other teams you mentioned do, the numbers would be skewed even more in favor of them being very unspectacular at hitting into double plays.
How boring is an offense that reduces us to a discussion of the microanalysis of the double play. Normal teams discuss double plays in the context of their own defence.
(defense)