Advancing a runner from second to third is some silly stuff. Mostly because I'm not sure a batter, who already is only successful 33-35% of the time with no limitations, can suddenly decide precisely where and how he wants to place a ball.

Mostly because I'm not sure a batter, who already is only successful 33-35% of the time with no limitations, can suddenly decide precisely where and how he wants to place a ball.

I don't know about precisely, but a right handed batter seeing an outside pitch and going the other way with it seems to me to be a pretty basic skill.

He's a Republican--he doesn't understand about helping others.

:)

He's a Republican--he doesn't understand about helping others.

:)

But, being a Republican, he should be well versed in the concept of going to right.

8-)

DB

who already is only successful 33-35% of the time with no limitations

Of course there are limitations, the batter is trying to not hit it to a fielder. If the batter instead is ok with an out in order to get the runner moved along then they can use 33% of the field.

the batter is trying to not hit it to a fielder.

Imagine if you will a guy who has 600 PA in a season and 600 SacHits. That would be one frustrated fellow.

Here is a statistical look at how the team fared under Juan Trembley and Buck Showalter. The biggest difference (Which Melewski mentions) is the starting pitching got way, way better.

I would bet that a Major League hitter can fairly easily direct the ball to the left or right side of second base. I doubt they can do it while hitting the ball especially hard which makes it a useless skill in terms of getting a hit. Take a .270 hitter and he can probably guide the ball to the right side without a problem. He probably becomes a .150 hitter (with absolutely no power) in the process but he's getting his productive out.

espn has pre- and post-all star breakdowns, which is close but not exact to when Buck was hired

pre ASG .......... post ASG
batting OPS 705 batting OPS 698
runs/gm ... 3.68 . runs/gm . 3.91

OPS alowed 801 OPS alowed 732
r/g allowed 5.30 r/g allowed 4.31

Win pct..... .330 .. Win pct... .500

So their bats came through in the clutch more often, even though they weren't any "better". I can see where someone could attribute some gain to moving runners at the right time.

They pitched better and won more close games.

My young friend, an O's fan, is gonna be disappointed when they only win 74 games next year.

From the link above:

Overall, the O’s went 34-23 under Buck - a 97 win pace over a full season. Given their wOBA, xFIP, and assumed UZR though, they “should” have scored about 229 runs and given up about 258. That would indicate a record of only 25-32 (a 72 win pace).

I don't know if detailed stats will support the idea of moving runners over and all the rest. If that is in fact true, such an approach to hitting is mostly helpful in low scoring, close ballgames. Give the pitching and defense credit for such drastic improvement to allow the Orioles to win with littleball. When your starters are putting you in a 7-0 hole by the second inning every night, there's no point to that approach, you need to hope for a big inning to get yourself back into the game.

Once Uehara and Gonzalez established themselves at the end of the games the bullpen was drastically improved. Those two pitchers pitched 45 of their 68 total innings in the last two months under Buck. Hard to tell how much Showalter improved the team's play and how much is due to getting his best relievers and leadoff hitter healthy after they missed almost the entire first 4 months of the season.

Over the course of a full season, I think the current team (meaning the roster at the end of the 2010 season), would win 76-80 games. That's what I thought going into this season, and I still think that was a reasonable prediction.

I would love to see the Orioles sign Beltre, Berkman, and a semi-competent SS (Uribe?). With upgrades like that at 1b, 3b, and SS, I think they'd be an 85 win team, and could win 90 with some luck.

I would bet that a Major League hitter can fairly easily direct the ball to the left or right side of second base. I doubt they can do it while hitting the ball especially hard which makes it a useless skill in terms of getting a hit.

Back before he became useless, didn't Jeter used to get a lot of hits to right field by using an inside-out swing on inside pitches? And Boggs was a lefty who made living peppering doubles off the left field wall.