OOTS: 8/13-8/19

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: * he's on pace to wind up with nearly twice as many IF hits during his age 36-38 seasons as he had during his 26-28 years

In an age when people are shifting more, power (and not just his despite the little league park) is down, how is this even possible?

[Ceetar]

on my way to check his b-r page, and one of the companion searches is "Derek Jeter herpes" apparently he gave Jessica Alba herpes or something.


I think i mentioned this in the MFY thread actually, but his worst career OPSs with a meaninful sample size are against the Red Sox, Mariners, White Sox, Rays, and Orioles. He's been pretty bad against the Rays these last couple of years too, in the aggressive shift days. You think the other clubs would learn. Although maybe they have, since he's pretty bad against the AL East that sees him the most.

[Frayed Knot]

in an age when people are shifting more, power (and not just his despite the little league park) is down, how is this even possible?

I dunno, hence my [crossout]obsession[/crossout] ... er, interest in this topic.



I don't think it's shifts with Jeter; he's always been an all-fields hitter and swinging bunts or 'tweeners' just can't be defended.
Plus I don't see the infield hits he's getting as having any particular pattern to them other than good fortune (or lax official scorers).

[Edgy MD]

Well, part of it is that he's hitting a lot more infield grounders, so that a greater number of grounders are available to turn into infield hits.

I field dirty just checking is baseball-reference page, you know?

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: in an age when people are shifting more, power (and not just his despite the little league park) is down, how is this even possible? I dunno, hence my [crossout]obsession[/crossout] ... er, interest in this topic. I don't think it's shifts with Jeter; he's always been an all-fields hitter and swinging bunts or 'tweeners' just can't be defended. Plus I don't see the infield hits he's getting as having any particular pattern to them other than good fortune (or lax official scorers).

oh, he definitely gets a bunch of them on reputation.

I wonder if he played at a more fair park, if he'd basically be Luis Castillo (well that's an exaggeration) and people would play him in more? He's not exactly a guy tattooing the fences, so if the outfielders played in so his flares to the outfield got caught, the infielders could play in and make the plays on his squibs? But the extra half dozen home runs he gets makes people think he has power. (Well, not A-Rod, he always understood Jeter was the guy you pitched to when you faced the Yankees)

Or maybe he's just good enough to hit fastballs well so that pitchers throw breaking stuff, and he's got good enough bat control to bat-on-ball those and it results in all sorts of weird bounces and hops?

Edgy DC wrote: Well, part of it is that he's hitting a lot more infield grounders, so that a greater number of grounders are available to turn into infield hits. I field dirty just checking is baseball-reference page, you know?

yeah. *shudder* I keep trying to figure out how to add "Gave Jessica Alba Herpes" to his list of nicknames.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, if I'm reading the numbers right, his GB/FB ratio has been ballooning, while his infield hit percentage has remained relatively steady.

Season	GB/FB	IFH%
2002	2.30	6.80%
2003	2.54	6.60%
2004	1.47	10.50%
2005	2.89	7.50%
2006	3.25	8.40%
2007	2.33	9.60%
2008	2.45	8.40%
2009	2.51	7.10%
2010	3.60	7.10%
2011	3.36	8.30%
2012	5.02	8.90%

[Ceetar]

I think he's a decent comp for Daniel Murphy personally.

[Edgy MD]

Who did Daniel Murphy infect?

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Who did Daniel Murphy infect?

baseball comp. Murphy's not big enough to be able to woo the ladies with signed baseballs. (I don't think? maybe?)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I wouldn't consider Jeter and Muffy to be much alike, other than both of them being baseball players.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I wouldn't consider Jeter and Muffy to be much alike, other than both of them being baseball players.

roughly the same power, roughly the same defense qualities and range (although 18 years of experience probably helps one over the other..) good bat control, reputation, if unearned in some cases, as a hard-nosed player?

[metsmarathon]

if you consider murphy's season last year to be more indicative of his ability than this season, then he's not all that far off, once you account for hte difference in offensive environments. his obp relative to the league average was 40 points higher, jeters was 50 points higher. his slg relative to teh league average is 50 points higher, jeters was 40. is the difference between their performances attributable to the league environment? maybe. but that's a real useful obp advantage that jeter has.

but jeter also had a ton of speed over murphy. also health. and his speed helps take advantage of that edge in obp.

defensively, well, shortstop is a tougher position, but in terms of devensive value, its actually a wash right now, murphy at 2b versus jeter at ss at about hte same age.

unfortunately, this current season represents a heeyooj step back for murphy, calling into question where his true level of talent is. i'd like to see him develop into something even close, offensively, to what jeter has provided through his career. i'm not terribly confident we'll see it, but it would sure be nice.