First Half Review: The Royal Offense
by Freneau on Jul 12, 2010 11:28 PM EDT
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PrintThe Royals have very usefully demonstrated the relative unimportance of batting average as an offensive stat in the first half. Unfortunately, we can be sure they don't see it that way. I have no doubt the Royals believe they just haven't hit well enough in the clutch, or gotten enough sac flies, or just need Rick Ankiel to return to set everything right.
The Royals are 10th in the AL in runs per game. Given that the team received a career first half from DeJesus, good work from Butler, and as good as could be expected first halves from Guillen and Podsednik, it's clear just how bad the foundation of this team really is offensively. Dayton Moore's plan worked, and the team is still below average offensively.
Gigantic chart:
| Rk | Pos | PA | HR | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | C | Jason Kendall | 340 | 0 | 5 | 7 | .271 | .333 | .320 | 80 |
| 2 | 1B | Billy Butler | 375 | 9 | 0 | 0 | .322 | .389 | .483 | 137 |
| 3 | 2B | Mike Aviles | 220 | 2 | 2 | 4 | .305 | .332 | .386 | 95 |
| 4 | SS | Yuniesky Betancourt | 318 | 6 | 0 | 1 | .258 | .282 | .391 | 81 |
| 5 | 3B | Alberto Callaspo# | 348 | 8 | 3 | 1 | .274 | .307 | .418 | 96 |
| 6 | LF | Scott Podsednik* | 379 | 3 | 25 | 11 | .301 | .347 | .369 | 96 |
| 7 | CF | Mitch Maier* | 234 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .251 | .328 | .367 | 89 |
| 8 | RF | David DeJesus* | 370 | 5 | 3 | 3 | .326 | .395 | .460 | 133 |
| 9 | DH | Jose Guillen | 356 | 15 | 1 | 0 | .279 | .340 | .467 | 118 |
| Rk | Pos | PA | HR | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS+ | |
| 10 | 2B | Chris Getz* | 124 | 0 | 8 | 1 | .232 | .301 | .268 | 57 |
| 11 | UT | Willie Bloomquist | 90 | 2 | 5 | 3 | .229 | .270 | .361 | 70 |
| 12 | CF | Rick Ankiel* | 69 | 3 | 1 | 0 | .210 | .275 | .419 | 86 |
| 13 | UT | Wilson Betemit# | 59 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .389 | .441 | .722 | 211 |
| 14 | CI | Alex Gordon* | 38 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .194 | .342 | .323 | 83 |
| 15 | C | Brayan Pena# | 35 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .172 | .286 | .207 | 37 |
| 16 | 1B | Kila Ka'aihue* | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .250 | 37 |
| Team Totals | 3380 | 61 | 54 | 33 | .282 | .337 | .405 | 102 | ||
| Rank in 14 AL teams | 12 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Rk | Pos | PA | HR | SB | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
- The Royals lead the AL in batting average, something you've probably heard, ohh, one or two thousand times by now if you watch or listen to Royals games. This often leads to the misleading statement, "the Royals are the AL's best hitting team." If only that was how it worked.The Royals score 4.38 runs per game, the Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers, and Rays are all over 5.00. I'm fairly sure one of those teams is "the best hitting team" in the league, depending on how aggressively you want to factor in park factors.
- Continuing a decade-long trend, the Royals just don't draw any walks (dead last in the league), which is how you end up 7th in OBP despite leading the league in batting average. Mix in a lack of power, and you've got a lineup that just doesn't score enough. But singles, oh, they'll give you singles.
- The following players have below average OPSes: Alberto Callaspo, Mike Aviles, Scott Podsednik, Mitch Maier, Yuni Betancourt, and Jason Kendall. Oh, those were just the regulars. There's also Rick Ankiel and Mitch Maier in CF, Alex Gordon, Chris Getz, Willie Bloomquist and Brayan Pena (if you want to count him). You've done a heckuva job, Dayton.
- If you want to get a little more advanced, here are the wOBAs for the regular guys. Betemit: .495, Butler: .379, DeJesus: .375, Guillen: .354, then a cliff... Pods: .321, Callaspo: .315, Aviles: .311, Maier: .306, Ankiel: .306, Yuni: .292, Kendall: .290, Bloomquist: .274.
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Callaspo is easily the most disappointing 1st halfer to me.
The others performed as expected with DDJ exceeding expectations, Getz has been a disappointment but neutral with the way Teahen performed on his end of the trade.
Checkout Royals minor league notes at www.14for77.blogspot.com
wow
never realized how hollow Aviles hitting .305 could be. Is this due to his funky stance and the resultant way he is pitched? It seems to me he ends up slapping a ton of singles cause he’s always lunging after the ball…
I’m happy w/ Maier. I’ll take the defense in CF and cheap salary all day.
Obviously, you are not a golfer.
I wonder if his power has been sapped by TJ surgery
Checkout Royals minor league notes at www.14for77.blogspot.com
he just doesn't play the game the right way
I mean 4 PAs? COME ON! You have to hit better than .250 if you wanna stay in the bigs!
sarcastic above
Given enough velocity even a pig will fly
by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Jul 12, 2010 11:42 PM EDT up reply actions
yes
the absolute benching of the young players is starting to get OLD
really really Jason Kendal OLD
Given enough velocity even a pig will fly
by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Jul 13, 2010 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions
????
Given enough velocity even a pig will fly
by MarioVanPeebles Republic of China on Jul 13, 2010 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm sorry, did you say they lead the AL in batting average?
I’ve been told that’s the only thing that really matters, so I stopped reading after that. I’ll learn more once things become relevant.
Sincerely,
1976
The other thing that really matters
is stolen bases. That’s why we need to go out and get Omar Moreno.
Sincerely,
1977
"The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey" - Unfortunate cricket commentator
7th in stolen bases,
2nd in getting caught, Royals baseball in a nutshell.
even more sad
is that Jason Kendall is actually trying to steal bases and getting caught. I’d rather have Butler running than Kendall. Kendall has Butler and DeJesus hitting behind him, Butler has an even slimmer chance of getting a hit behind him.
To only evaluate players
like Yuni with only offensive stats is ridiculous. You don’t even bring up his plus hands.
I will not take the bait, it is getting old
and it is getting old.
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
by Royal Kingdom on Jul 13, 2010 8:55 AM EDT up reply actions
If there was a stat that showed lateral movement
Yuni would win 60% of the time every time.
"You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes."
by MinnesotaRoyal on Jul 13, 2010 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions
4.38 runs per game should be above .500
it is the staff that is failing
by Rickfansince76 on Jul 13, 2010 10:49 AM EDT reply actions
4.38 runs per game is below the league average of 4.54
good for 10th place out of 14th in the league. The team’s record is right where it should be based on the offense.
by Gopherballs on Jul 13, 2010 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Probably a bit of both
They’re 10th in runs scored, 12th in runs allowed. However the pitching staff has jettisoned many of the crappy relievers, and Meche is no longer giving up tons of runs, while the lineup still has the same guys we had at the beginning of the year.
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
by RoyalsRetro on Jul 13, 2010 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions
Well, except for that smirking bugeater who sapped the life out of the offense...
We have met the enemy, and he is us.
by Royal Kingdom on Jul 13, 2010 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
and don't forget the addition of
Bet A Meat
(at least for now)
Would you like to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or my blog...well you can't.
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jul 13, 2010 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
OT
Geroge Steinbrenner is dead.
WOOOOOHOOOOOO celebration day.
Don't Fuccop Succop
by chicks_love_chiefs on Jul 13, 2010 10:53 AM EDT reply actions
uh
I dislike the Yankees as much as anyone, but really? A need to celebrate the guy’s death? That seems a little far.
Meh
You can act as politically correct as you wish. I hated the fucker, and he’s dead now. The world is a better place because of it.
Don't Fuccop Succop
by chicks_love_chiefs on Jul 13, 2010 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions
In addition,
team ranks last in SB , getting caught like 38 of the time (which makes the overall SB game a net negative to the overall run total). Not a big impact either way – but something to point out considering how we are subject to Ryan and Frank droning ON AND ON about small ball.
Don’t forget, they are 3rd worst in the league at GIDP – another thing you think a team obsessed with small ball would not rank so bad at.
All that being said, offense is closer to league avg than the pitching staff.
"We're gonna win with pitching and defense" General Manager Dayton Moore, circa winter 2009
"Where did all these Indians come from?" General George Armstrong Custer, circa summer 1876
that should read
38%
"We're gonna win with pitching and defense" General Manager Dayton Moore, circa winter 2009
"Where did all these Indians come from?" General George Armstrong Custer, circa summer 1876
A couple things to remember...
Aviles and Maier (along with Yuni and Kendall) play premium defensive positions. Maier plays his quite well. Expecting a below-average OPS+ from them isn’t killer. If Aviles does start to regain a little more power (I don’t expect him to develop much more plate discipline—he is what he is), a 2nd baseman with a 100 OPS+ and ok defense actually has a decent amount of value.
However, Yuni’s comical 81 OPS+ makes me wonder why the heck we had to be subjected to even Rany Jazayerli publicly admitting that he might have been wrong about Yuni (granted, Rany has softened up in general compared to last year).
It is pretty sad that Alberto “I-Run-Like-A-Catcher” Callaspo has the best SB/CS ratio of any of the regular starters.
Looking at there guys' WAR because it includes the positional adjustment
Callaspo 1.1
Maier 0.7
Kendall 0.5
Aviles 0.4
Betancourt 0.0
The season is about 55% over, so a league average player should be around 1.1 WAR at this point with regular playing time. Maier and Aviles have only played about 2/3 of the time, so given the playing time, Maier has been pretty close to a league average player, while Aviles comes in below that. At SS, and assuming the same defense (which is a big assumption), Aviles would be about average with the positional adjustment.
by Gopherballs on Jul 13, 2010 12:08 PM EDT up reply actions
Scoring basics
Continuing a decade-long trend, the Royals just don’t draw any walks (dead last in the league), which is how you end up 7th in OBP despite leading the league in batting average. Mix in a lack of power, and you’ve got a lineup that just doesn’t score enough
WRONG. They just need to hit better in RISP because that is a repeatable skill that they just need to improve on if they focus on fundamentals!!!!
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
Maybe they could if each player had more LEADERSHIP
all the leadership is stuck in the minors right now,
obeying Kendall's telepathic instructions
Would you like to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or my blog...well you can't.
by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jul 13, 2010 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions
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