The curious case of Wilson Betemit

Okay, let me cut the crap -- it really isn't all that curious.

However, I think in tracing his career, it might give us more insight as to whom, exactly, Ned Yost might be giving more playing time. Who is Wilson Betemit? Father of three, statesman, erstwhile defender of truth, justice, and the American way?

Meh, who cares? Can the guy hit -- that's what we want to know. Let's look at him year-by-year and answer that question definitively once-and-for-all (which means yes, I'll be guessing, too). 

2001 - he gets called up by the Atlanta Braves at the tender age of 19. Annnd gets sent back down after 5 plate appearances. Move along, nothing to see here.

2004 - he gets called up again by the Braves and manages to stick around a bit longer (possibly via sabotaging the bus that was to take him back...?). Does very little in 52 plate appearances, back down he goes. Actually played more at SS than 3B...egads, how did that look?

2005 - here he comes again, this time for good. I'm thinking this was spurred on by an injury to Chipper Jones, who only logged about 60% of a season that year. Betemit still logs some time at SS, but the majority of his plate appearances came as a 3B. Hit an anemic .256/.289/.372 as a RHB in 28.5% of his PA's, but put up .327/.390/.464 as a LHB on his way to a .794 OPS. He seems to have markedly more plate patience and power from the left side of the plate.

2006 - Chipper again has injury struggles and Betemit hits pretty well, but is traded to the Dodgers near the deadline. Almost a lather, rinse, repeat from 2005 overall at the plate -- again he rakes as a LHB, struggles as a RHB. His walk rate normalizes a bit from the right side, but the majority of his power still comes from the left side. Strikes out quite a bit from the left side, but a lot from the right side. Didn't hit very well with the Dodgers. 

2007 - The Dodgers try Betemit as their starting 3B, and it doesn't go well - he basically becomes a utility guy, being traded again to the Yankees. He logs some time at 1B this season in addition to the other infield positions. Much the same story at the plate -- struggles as a RHB, rakes as a LHB. At this point I'd wonder about him even qualifying to be a switch-hitter, as he k's 40% of his plate appearances as a RHB. K's a lot as a LHB, too, for that matter, but the k rate should've been alarming from the right side. Raises his walk rate significantly from the left side. Doesn't hit well for the Yankees at all. 

2008 - plays the entire year for the Yankees. Logs more time at 1B than 3B, of course, with Alex Rodriguez there at 3rd, although he still logged time at 2B and SS, too. Doesn't hit particularly well from either side with the Yankees, and the strikeouts become a huge problem. His walk rates from both sides of the plate are horrible. Bad, bad season for Betemit.

2009 - traded to the White Sox in the offseason, where he's used sparingly, then DFA'd to make room for Gordon Beckham. As he had only about 50 PA's, I would skip looking at this season. 

2010 - alright, I'd assume you guys know the story from here. =) 

So...basically, I believe the story for Betemit goes thusly -- he had some value as a utility player early in his career, but never had a chance to start since there was no DH in the NL, and the Braves had players like Rafael Furcal, Chipper Jones, and Marcus Giles playing in front of him.

His first real shot came with the Dodgers in 2006, but he botched that by poorly timing his first extended length of mediocre/poor hitting along with him not being particularly good on defense anywhere. 

With the Yankees, he had no real shot, either...his best chance would've been to become a DH, but with the Yankees rotating folks like Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui in and out of the DH spot, it wasn't going to happen. 

Chicago White Sox  = no shot, either. They never considered him more than a stop gap...he hardly played. 

So 2010 was his first shot to play an extended period of time in quite a while, and he made the most of it, obviously. But should he hit well enough to approach a full season's worth of plate appearances, it would be the first time in his career, at age 30, no less. It's been established he can hit from the left side, but 2010 was the first time in his career he also hit well from the right side -- with both power and a decent walk rate, albeit in very limited time. 

So what's this mean? Oh crap, by this point I can hardly remember why I started writing this. Oh...wait...okay, got it. Betemit's two caveats to play everyday will really have to be him raking from the left side, being competent from the right side, and...hopefully not making a lot of errors in the field. If those things continue to happen, then he should be given all the at-bats he can before being used as trade bait at the deadline to an AL team hungry for a DH who can also sub here and there on the IF.