By the Numbers - Post-Season

Numbers don't tell everything...but Scott Boras has made his clients (and himself) a fortune by creating statbooks that celebrate their excellence. So let's distill some post-season numbers, past and present.

AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS

147 21  41  9  0  7  17  17  38  .279  .361  .483  .844  A. RODRIGUEZ
495 85 153 22  3 17  49  51  96  .309  .377  .469  .846  JETER
322 41  76 19  0  9  31  57  77  .236  .352  .379  .731  POSADA
97  16  27  8  0  4  20  11  12  .278  .348  .485  .833  LOWELL
353 55  95 14  0 24  64  59  81  .269  .376  .513  .889  RAMIREZ
189 35  60 16  1 11  42  32  47  .317  .418  .587  1.005 ORTIZ
65  15  24  3  0  4  11   9   3  .369  .447  .600  1.047 YASTRZEMSKI
113 11  27  7  1  4  19  15  20  .239  .333  .425  .758  DWIGHT EVANS
105 16  33  7  1  7  23  11  16  .314  .378  .600  .978  GARCIAPARRA
60  12  17  6  0  2  10   6   7  .283  .348  .483  .821  PEDROIA
51  16  19  4  1  4  10   9   9  .373  .459  .725  1.183 YOUKILIS


First, statistics don't tell the whole story, about great individual defense,
or even great individual plays. Sample size counts, too. Kevin Youkilis' 1.183 OPS
with 51 at bats doesn't mean as much as Ortiz 189 at bats. Same goes for even great
performances by Yaz and Garciaparra, with a fraction of the at bats of a Derek
Jeter. But we can see that A-Rod's 7 homers and 17 RBI in 147 at bats pro-rates to
mediocre numbers over a whole season. Most players won't perform up to normal
against superior competition, but some, like David Ortiz have. A-Rod gives you Hall
of Fame regular season numbers, but has mostly been a no-show in the playoffs...
and I'm guessing that will be hard to find, even in the footnotes of Scott Boras'
sales pitch.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mistakes by the Lake?

Let the second guessing begin. The Red Sox haven't even heard "Play Ball" and the controversy has already been teed up.  The Sox have overcome instability in the rotation and the bullpen and to a lesser degree the hole at the Hot Corner. Pablo Sandoval gave way to Travis Shaw (post All-Star break .194/.259/.360/.619), who is now supplanted by Brock Holt (post All-Star break .253/.318/.367/.685).  Any talk of the Panda Postseason was premature speculation at its most disheartening.  Sox skipper John Farrell has slotted Holt in the two spot in the order while dropping Xander Bogaerts (post All-Star break .253/.317/.412/.729) to sixth. Oh, the horror!  Who's going to win? Legendary hoop coach Don Meyer would answer, "It's not who you play, it's how you play."  Baseball isn't a sport where elevating your intensity level translates to improved performance. Getting over 'jacked' won't translate to more 'jacks'.  The specul...
Read more

The Hot Stove League Begins

The Red Sox announced that about 81 percent of existing ticket prices would remain unchanged for the 2007 season. I'm sure that relieves many of our anxieties that tickets could actually get expensive. "America's Most Beloved Ballpark" already had the highest price tag for a family outing of four, currently only requiring a second mortgage, a downgrade to regular from high test, turning the heat down to 60 at night, and buying only generic turkey hot dogs for weeks. If I can find my Game 1 ticket stub from the bleachers in 1975, I think it will show $4.75 for attending a World Series opener. Now that's almost the price for a bottle of water. Well, water is the commodity of the 21st Century, and I'm sure that Mr. Henry will confirm that, although a lot of other commodities haven't treated him so well in the recent past. Of course, that also means that 19 percent of ticket prices will rise. I guess I'd like to sit in the Monster Seats someday, and that...
Read more

Wednesday Reversal

I'm sure that John Henry would remind us that Wednesday is the most significant 'reversal day' on the stock market (really). So it must be in Chicago also, with the Battle of the Crafty Lefties. Will it be Wells Swell or Buehrle's ' Hub Reels' (almost a clever anagram, eh)? The Red Sox threw the playoff-starved Pale Hose a bone yesterday, massively building up their overconfidence after a five year drought. So the Chicagroan's (pun intended) have the home field advantage, better starters, and a more consistent bullpen. They don't have no stinking trophy do they? The football guys always have their 'Auto Dealer' keys to the game. Why use auto dealers, especially U.S. ones, that are finance companies that loan people money to buy cars to pay off pensions because the car sales don't make any money? Well, baseball is simpler-score more runs than they do, win game. Ugh. Cave Man get on base and Surfer Dude hit him in, Red Sox win. Could the Red So...
Read more