We're almost a month into the season, which correlates to around 18-20 games and 70-90 PA's for full time starters. Time to take a look at some weird statistics that this small sample size has presented so far:
1) A.J. Pierzynski is striking out 1.9% of the time so far. That's one strikeout in 54 at bats. Since he joined the White Sox in 2005 he's slowly cut down his strikeout rate from 14.8% to 8.2% last season. The man just doesn't strike out ... but he doesn't get on base very often either due to his 4.0% career walk rate. For even worse walk rates, however, I refer you to this piece.
2) Jack Cust has a .016 ISO. The big 235 lb. DH/OF, known for his power and patience, has just one extra base hit in 75 plate appearances. This is bound to change but it's also a bit disconcerting considering the drastic drop off in power he's experienced the past two seasons (ISO's of .177 and .166). You have to feel bad for the guy, going from one pitchers park (The Oakland Coliseum) to another (Safeco Field).
3) Jason Heyward is hitting .190 and still has a .327 wOBA. The league average wOBA for this year is .318, so despite the low batting average Heyward has still been 0.7 runs above replacement with the bat. He's managed this by hitting for power (4 HR and a .238 ISO) and walking at a high rate (14.9% compared to 8.6% league average). The kid is pretty damn good ... but you already knew that.
4) Carl Crawford has a -4.2 UZR. Not to heap more criticism on Crawford, but this has not been a good start for him. In the 9 seasons he spent with the Rays he amassed a 119.3 ultimate zone rating, or around 13.3 per season, with only one of those years having a negative value. Simply put he's been arguably the best defensive left fielder in the game, which makes sense because he is basically a center fielder playing left field. To see that Crawford has been the 5th worst defender in the league is downright shocking, although it makes sense in the context of the season he's having. Expect that UZR figure to become positive as more data comes in.
5) Jay Bruce has a line drive rate of only 2.3%. What makes this statistic more remarkable is the fact that he has a .341 BABIP on the young season. Simply put, unless his batted ball data is remarkably wrong, he's been extremely lucky on balls in play, as evidenced by his .253 xBABIP. I wouldnt expect his BABIP to stay that high (career .292 rate) or his LD% to stay that low (career 17.7%).
I know that I tend to ignore this blog for long patches at a time but expect more to come in the next couple of weeks
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