Progress Report—Batters

Let’s take a look around the 25-manner and check in with everyone, and start making wild guesses (based on minimal amounts of information) as to whether or not the player will maintain or break the pace he’s on. And because I don’t want to continually cite the stats, I’ll just say that, unless otherwise noted, everything here comes from three of the best baseball websites out there: The Hardball Times, FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference. Although it should be noted the stats in the three sites won’t be updated until tomorrow, so this post will leave out today’s game.

Glossaries to peruse: B-Ref, about RC/27 and OPS+ | My explanation of WPA. Also, PA is plate appearances, P/PA is pitches per plate appearance, LD% is percentage of batted balls hit as line drives, and BABIP is batting average of balls in play.

CATCHERS

10 G, 38 PA—.375/.474/.781, 3 HR—4.0 P/PA, 8.3 LD%, .429 BABIP | 15.43 RC/27, 230 OPS+, 0.33 WPA

He dunked another 2-run home run today, which these numbers don’t reflect.

What a great start from Buck. There’s a recent post over at Royals Retrospective about him and his future. But for now, I’m a little bit concerned with where he’s hitting the ball. Eyeballing it, he is hitting almost exactly 50% of his balls in the air which would normally spell disaster were it not for his nutso 29.4% home run/fly ball ratio (waaay up from last year’s 12.9% ratio). He’s uppercutting everything, and so far it has worked—but John Buck isn’t really what I’d call a regular Frank Thomas. In a month, when he’s hitting 2-of-25, we’ll know the answer—he’s still popping them up, but they’re not quite making it over the fence anymore. Swinging for the fences all the time rarely works, and I’m afraid we’re going to see Buck learn this the hard way.

11 G, 33 PA—.138/.212/.241, 0 HR—4.3 P/PA, 23.5 LD%, .250 BABIP | 0.96 RC/27, 22 OPS+, -0.15 WPA

Again, I don’t know why LaRue is splitting equal time with Buck while he’s hitting anywhere from 10 to 15 times less productively. But perhaps Buddy Bell has spotted his good line drive rates, his solid pitches per plate appearance numbers, and seeming unluck with finding some hits. Or not. Perhaps it’s just because he’s a proven vet. I’d like to think the former, but I think we all know it’s the latter. Regardless of why, Bell had made a good decision here I think. LaRue is hitting the ball pretty well and working the count, even if it hasn’t paid off in his batting average yet. Hopefully, we’ll see a steady ascent from LaRue soon.

INFIELDERS

13 G, 48 PA—.116/.188/.209, 1 HR—4.3 P/PA, 11.1 LD%, .160 BABIP | 0.66 RC/27, 7 OPS+, -0.55 WPA

This is just disappointing. While Shealy is working the counts pretty good, he is completely ineffective at everything else. This was—to me, anyway—supposed to be a big, breakout year for him and there is nothing doing. Aside from moving Justin Huber back to first, Shealy seems to be the long term answer at first, so we can only hope for good improvement soon.

15 G, 59 PA—.269/.339/.346, 1 HR—3.2 P/PA, 17.0 LD%, .283 BABIP | 3.86 RC/27, 85 OPS+, -0.18 WPA

I’m not sure how I feel about Sweeney’s year so far. On one hand, he started off pretty poorly which was disappointing. On the other hand, his decent line drive numbers and his OBP tell me that Sweeney is batting acceptably. Of course, improvement would be nice (even expected), and one way to start that might be in regaining his patience. I’ve always been kinda annoyed by how quick Sweeney would take swings, how eager he was to make something happen. Not that eagerness is a bad trait—hello George Brett and Vladimir Guerrero—but it can get you into some trouble at the plate (and, as Sweeney is well aware, on the trainer’s table, too). My hopeful prediction: Sweeney will add an extra half pitch to his P/PA, get even more line drives, and hit .290/.340/.470 from here on out.

11 G, 50 PA—.255/.300/.404, 1 HR—3.8 P/PA, 10.0 LD%, .275 BABIP | 3.65 RC/27, 87 OPS+, 0.05 WPA

Mark is doing really very well, considering his line drives are down quite a bit. Good plate discipline combined with timely hitting (note his positive WPA) has lead Grudzielanek to pick up his own offensive slack. To me, he’s a defensive second baseman first and a decent contact hitter second. Still, it’s always nice when you hear about a glove-first guy who isn’t completely stinking up the batter’s box. With more line drives, I can only see improvement in Grudz’s numbers.

14 G, 44 PA— .263/.349/.342, 0 HR—4.1 P/PA, 17.2 LD%, .345 BABIP | 4.50 RC/27, 87 OPS+, -0.35 WPA

Don’t pay attention to his batting average, slugging percentage, OPS+, or WPA. All you need to know is this: He’s got great contact skills. In fact, to move DeJesus up to second, I’d like to bat German leadoff whenever possible. His OBP, P/PA, and good BABIP tells me German is doing pretty well at getting the good balls in play and he’s unafraid of taking a walk. We could easily see an upswing in production just by his keepin’ on keeping on.

18 G, 68 PA—.188/.224/.313, 0 HR—3.7 P/PA, 16.7 LD%, .240 BABIP | 2.00 RC/27, 42 OPS+, -0.82 WPA

Berroa-esque numbers. But Pena is, to me, a pretty significant improvement. My reasons are twofold: (1) Pena’s defense is amazing, (2) Pena is so much fun in the nine slot. When he gets on, allowing DeJesus to play the role of a number-two hitter and kick starting rallies, it’s like the whole plan falls into place. He doesn’t hurt the offense too badly, his defense is great, and he occasionally really helps the Royals offense out by taking some pitches, working some counts, and getting on base every now and then.

16 G, 66 PA—.136/.227/.288, 2 HR—3.9 P/PA, 18.4 LD%, .167 BABIP | 1.56 RC/27, 37 OPS+, -0.55 WPA

His 21 strikeouts matched with his 3 walks are sad. But his 3.9 P/PA is great to see out of a rookie, and his fairly high line drive rates mixed with his really low BABIP tells me Gordon is getting extremely unlucky with his hits. If he keeps playing exactly like he has been playing, I can see a line of .250/.320/.460 just as easily as I can see his current line. Stick it out, Alex. Aside from that annoying K/BB thing, don’t change nothing. Keep on keepin’ on.

OUTFIELDERS

18 G, 66 PA—.268/.379/.429, 2 HR—3.9 P/PA, 17.1 LD%, .394 BABIP | 5.79 RC/27, 117 OPS+, 0.07 WPA

Well he isn’t the Mark Teahen we saw for three months last year, but one reason might be the fact that he’s not pulling the ball nearly as well as he was in that timeframe. To quote something I remember an A’s scout saying about Teahen, if this guy ever learned how to pull the ball, he’d be a monster. Well he pulled the ball last year, and was a monster. To regain ‘monster’ status, Mark’s going to have to start turning on that inside pitch again. I have faith in him.

He has good plate discipline and is hitting pretty well anyway. Any improvement is just gravy this year, as far as I’m concerned.

17 G, 79 PA—.347/.405/.556, 3 HR—3.9 P/PA, 21.3 LD%, .379 BABIP | 9.19 RC/27, 155 OPS+, 0.58 WPA

He makes pitchers pitch, he drives balls hard, he has been very successful this year. On any given day, he can be the best leadoff hitter in Major League Baseball. And all of this doesn’t mention his defense, which I think is underrated around the league. Understated in nature, but always an extremely unpleasant experience for pitchers, David DeJesus is just about my favorite Royal, I think.

14 G, 48 PA— .152/.167/.196, 0 HR—3.6 P/PA, 7.7 LD%, .184 BABIP | 1.29 RC/27, -3 OPS+, -0.65 WPA

Has Brown’s luck run out? He isn’t hitting things hard, he isn’t very patient at the plate. His results are following suit. Just in time for a Billy Butler call up…

9 G, 33 PA—.400/.455/.733, 2 HR—3.3 P/PA, 25.0 LD%, .455 BABIP | 13.50 RC/27, 213 OPS+, 0.44 WPA

Reggie’s doing really well, driving things hard despite not waiting long before ending his at bats. He’s winding his career down so it’s always nice to see production like this for what seems to be one of baseball’s good guys. Really, a team can’t ask for a better pinch hitter/fourth outfielder. Of course, if Emil keeps this up, Sanders could find himself in an everyday starting situation again.

12 G, 42 PA—.250/.286/.350, 1 HR—3.7 P/PA, 20.6 LD%, .273 BABIP | 3.48 RC/27, 70 OPS+, -0.03 WPA

Even though coming into the year, I knew Buddy Bell would play Gload too much (and he probably has). But something about Gload has won me over. He’s above-average defensively at first and is decent in the outfield. His offense is pretty solid. He’s driving the ball well and could easily see some growth offensively by doing nothing but staying the same. Let’s just hope he isn’t tampering Ryan Shealy’s growth at first or our right to see Emil Brown fall over in left field.