May Numbers: The Offense

by royalsreview on Jun 2, 2008 3:42 PM EDT in News

The Royals finished April with a 12-15 record and ended the fifth month of the year with a 22-34 mark (now 23-34). Considering the month contained the team's epic losing streak, an overall record of 10-19 in May wasn't a total disaster, and could have been much worse.

Let's take a look at how the boys in blue did at the plate in May. First, the team totals:

	Runs	BA	OBP	SLG
K.C. Royals	101	.258	.309	.358
AL Average	120	.257	.322	.395

101 runs is actually not last in the league, it's tied for 11th. The Angels also scored 101 (in one fewer game) and the Mariners and Indians were worse, scoring 99 and 98 runs respectively, as the new deadball era sweeps across the American League. Despite the advantage of the DH, scoring in the American League is lower than in the NL, which of course can 100% be attributed to PEDs testing. 100%. Everyone who used PEDs was a hitter in the AL. Moving on... The Royals only hit 12 homers in May, which is remarkable. Not surprisingly, no team in the AL was anywhere close to this number, as the league average was 24 homers.It isn't anything like a full consolation, but the Royals did rip 65 doubles in May, second-most in the American League. Weirdly, the Royals continue to not hit triples, despite having some decent triplers getting regular playing time. They hit just 2 in May. Then again, no one ever got poor betting against Joey Gathright's extra base hit totals.

Speaking of Gathright, now about those individual numbers, sorted by OPS:

	PAs	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Miguel Olivo	75	.333	.355	.583	.939
Jose Guillen	109	.308	.327	.495	.823
Alex Gordon	120	.262	.352	.393	.745
John Buck	63	.300	.328	.400	.728
David DeJesus	120	.272	.317	.377	.694
M. Grudzielanek	94	.276	.330	.356	.686
Mark Teahen	103	.239	.320	.337	.657
Esteban German	30	.259	.323	.296	.619
Billy Butler	95	.233	.305	.302	.608
Joey Gathright	78	.264	.316	.278	.594
Alberto Callaspo	44	.205	.279	.205	.484
Ross Gload	39	.154	.175	.205	.380
Tony Pena Jr.	79	.156	.177	.182	.359

This is how you have a bad month. For a guy who probably won't be in the Major Leagues in 2010, Tony Pena Jr. has generated a ton of discussion this month, but he isn't standing alone in the forest of horribleness. Considering defensive value and where they play, it's certain that Ross Gload (another Dayton pickup) was the worse player in May, and Alberto Callaspo wasn't far behind. You can say the same for Billy Butler, who slugged .302 with no value on defense.

Other than Miguel Olivo's studliness and a decent month from Jose Guillen (characteristically a lack of walks drags down his performance, even when he's hitting over .300) nobody else stepped into the void. Although Gordon (and Teahen) continued to get his walks and John Buck tossed in his annual random month of hitting .300, there isn't much good displayed here. (Expect a .210 average from Buck in June.)

Pitching numbers will be up tomorrow.

0 recs | Comment 25 comments

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Comments

Good perspective

It did surprise me when I think I saw our team ERA over the losing streak was 5.80. Perhaps that was a bigger culprit than our inept offense?

Another fun stat I saw was that we have four 11 game losing streaks since 2005. The rest of baseball has three.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jun 2, 2008 4:07 PM EDT 0 recs

Yeah the pitching wasn't good at all during the streak

especially in the Red Sox & Jays series. No one wanted to talk about it, though, because the hitting has been this years problem.

by I need more Esteban on Jun 2, 2008 4:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

the pitchig was definitely not good

but the hitting is an almost nightly problem

if the royals allow 4 runs, they lose

by royalsreview on Jun 2, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up 0 recs

More proof...

that the team I root for is not good.

by blue bandwagon on Jun 2, 2008 7:14 PM EDT 0 recs

SLG + SB

When evaluating a guy like Joey I think you should add SB-CS into his SLG stats. His speed is the reason he is on the team. When you do that his SLG goes from .278 to .361 it moves is OPS from .597 to .677 which moves him in the middle of the pack still not great but acceptable compared to the other slouches.

Billy at worst will be Sean Casey jr.

by kcscoliny on Jun 2, 2008 7:17 PM EDT 0 recs

Why should SB improve OBA?

You’re not reaching base at a higher rate. I can see the case made for SLG, since its total bases. But not OBA. If anything, the CS should decrease his OBA.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jun 2, 2008 7:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

I think he used SB minus CS to increase SLG not OBP

The problem with this is that even though one is using net stolen bases, it doesn’t account for the disproportionate negative impact of CS. In short, a CS hurts the team more than a SB helps the team.

But it is true that Gathright’s SB’s should be taken into account. I would look to something like Bill James’s “Runs Created”.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by NYRoyal on Jun 2, 2008 8:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

Thomas Boswell's "Total

Average” stat accounts for SB’s, subtracting 2 bases for a CS. I haven’t seen the formula in years, but it seemed to be a useful measure of overall value. Kind of like Einstein’s “Unified Field Theory”, only different.

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Jun 2, 2008 8:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

Why add it to SLG

because so many teams/fans are using OPS as such a big stat to compare players which in turns lessen a players value in the case of guys like Joey.

Billy at worst will be Sean Casey jr.

by kcscoliny on Jun 2, 2008 9:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ok

If you take SB – (CS x 2) and then add that to the TB for computing SLG, that would be fair.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by NYRoyal on Jun 2, 2008 9:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

what?

do you mean that you really can’t steal first base?

Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed. - Emily Dickinson

by buddyball on Jun 2, 2008 10:50 PM EDT up 0 recs

OBP measures outs made (inversely)

joey still makes many outs

and outs are the actual currency of the game

by royalsreview on Jun 2, 2008 10:59 PM EDT up 0 recs

SB's count

And singles count too. But his fairly abundant singles and SB’s aren’t enough to make him a valuable offensive player. So far, he’s been a liability. He makes for a good pinch runner.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by NYRoyal on Jun 2, 2008 11:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

has his D looked better to you?

by royalsreview on Jun 2, 2008 11:33 PM EDT up 0 recs

Much better

Even in those months when I was high on Gathright last year, I hated his defense. He couldn’t make a good read to save his life. The defensive metrics showed that he made up for most of those bad reads with his speed, leaving him a roughly average defender. To my amateur scouting eye, he’s looked a lot better in the field this year. Initially I didn’t like the defensive alignment of Gathright in CF and DeJesus at a corner position, but Gathright is making good reads and covering a hell of a lot of ground. So I guess Gathright is a good pinch runner and defensive substitute.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by NYRoyal on Jun 2, 2008 11:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

especially for a team that had a hulking COF

or something

by royalsreview on Jun 2, 2008 11:45 PM EDT up 0 recs

Careful,

any compliments of Gathright can and will be taken by some to indicate that “we should get rid off DDJ [perhaps Teahen will be included here] for whatever we can get and lead off Gator!!!! 1111”

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by devil_fingers on Jun 2, 2008 11:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

Is there anyone left who thinks that Gathright can be an acceptable starter?

I guess there probably are some, although they are appropriately quiet now. He wasn’t a good enough corner OFer last year. He’s not good enough to be a starting CFer this year.

For a team that has a good hitting 4th OFer, he’d make a good 5th OFer who pinch runs and acts as a defensive replacement. And of course there are some GM’s who overvalue speed and defense who might like him as a 4th OFer.

This is just my opinion. I could easily be wrong.

by NYRoyal on Jun 2, 2008 11:55 PM EDT up 0 recs