Rather than try to comment upon a week that saw the Kansas City Royals get outscored 34-11, let’s just pull out some notable stats. These and many more can be found at Baseball-Reference, The Hardball Times and Fan Graphs.
Offense
Line Drive Percentage
Butler 25.9%
LaRue 25.0%
Pena 21.9%
Young Mr. Butler has been putting some good wood on the ball so far in his pro debut. Not shown is LaRue whiffing 38% of the time and Pena pounding 52% of his hits into the ground.
Plate Appearances / Outs
PA OUTS
DeJesus 157 102
Pena 132 101
Pena has ended his at bats with an out as many times as DeJesus in 25 fewer chances. Expect that gap to widen over the next 127 games.
BA/RISP
Teahen 407
German 375
Sweeney 367
One thing to credit Buddy Bell, he has managed to get German into 26 of the team’s 35 games this year. Esteban has responded well after missing four straight games in late April, hitting 286/423/571 in the last nine games.
HR/F
Buck 24.8%
Just thought I’d point out that 1 out of every 4 times John Buck hits the ball in the air, it goes out of the park.
OPS
Sanders 1059
Buck 930
Teahen 821
German 816
Of course, Reggie Sanders is on the disabled list and John Buck… Well…
John Buck
Dates G AVG OBP SLG OPS
4/2 – 4/20 14 429 529 893 1422
4/22 – 5/10 14 175 286 300 586
Since forcing Buddy Bell to make him the number one catcher, Buck has gone back to hitting like John Buck. Unfortunately, Jason LaRue is hitting like my grandmother, God rest her soul.
Sweeney
Dates G AVG OBP SLG OPS
4/2 – 4/20 14 229 309 292 601
4/22 – 5/10 15 296 350 537 887
It’s good to have you back, Mike.
Winning Percentage Added (WPA)
Sanders .53
Gload .52
Teahen .45
Over the course of the season, these are the only hitters who have a net positive effect on the outcome of games.
Pitching
WPA
Soria .85
Meche .81
De la Rosa .27
Ducky .11
Soria gets high marks here because he pitches in the situations with the most leverage. Meche has been more than solid as a starter. Now, if we could only run him out there every day.
ERA
Gobble 1.35
Meche 2.15
Duckworth 2.18
Soria 2.87
With Greinke joining Duckworth in the bullpen, there may be a chance yet for the Royals to close out a few games. Of course, if Luke Hudson continues to give up five runs every two innings, Ducky and Zack G may find themselves back in the rotation.
LD% vs. K/9
Meche 14.3% 7.4
Peralta 30.6% 8.5
Gil Meche is striking people out and keeping them from hitting the ball hard when they do make contact. Joel Peralta is striking people out, and providing a rocket launcher to opposing hitters when he doesn’t.
Back next week with good news from the road.
