Consider it ground breaking news, Dusty Baker and I agree on
something! After Sunday’s 1-0 loss in 11 innings, and seeing his team score a
total of 2 runs over a 29 inning span, including 1-18 with RISP, Baker offered
up the following nugget
of wisdom: "When you get your chances, you have to capitalize
on them. … Everybody talks about on-base percentage, but you have to have some
guys that drive runs in or else you're just frustrated." Amen Dusty! Maybe he has been reading this blog! All year, I
have been pounding the table of how useless OBP is as a stat IF a team cannot
drive in the guys on base. A high OBP is impressive, but unless it results in
runs, it is like the 800 ft HR that goes a foot foul. It is amazing to see, but
the result is a foul ball (or another man left on base).
Don’t get me wrong, OBP is important, but last I checked, a
man on base does no good if no one knocks them in. The last I checked, division
championships and World Series Championships are not given to teams with the
highest OBP. I believe in order to win, someone actually has to knock in those
guys on base…therefore, making the hitting with RISP stat more important than
the OBP. Take a look at the Reds – only 5 players have OBP greater than .400,
and 2 of those players are on the Reds (Votto (2) and Choo (3)) – yet they
currently sit in 3rd place in their division and the 2nd
wildcard. Now that Dusty has spoken some sense, maybe others
(and others)
will start to listen.
Wait, so with RISP, you want someone who will knock them in. Except in the case of a sac fly, in order to knock them in, your batter needs to...get on base. So why is OBP "useless"?
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that on Saturday and Sunday the Reds sent 69 guys to the plate, and only 9 of them got on.
I mean, not to beat a dead horse, but saying "If you want more runs, you need to have more RBI" is like saying "If you want to be taller, you need to grow." It may be technically true, but it's completely useless information.
ReplyDeleteThe Reds don't have a problem getting guys on base (with the exception of Saturday and Sunday) - they are tied for 2nd in the NL. They have a problem getting guys in once they get on base. Like Dusty said, getting them on is nice, but it does no good if you don't hit them in. Tonight is a much better example of my point. Through 7 innings, the Reds have had 12 base runners...they have 1 run - said run came on an infielder's choice. So, like I Dusty and I were saying, getting guys on is nice (this team does that), but to win, you need to get them in (this team does not do that. In May the Reds were 11 over .500 - in the 3 other months of the season, they are 1 over .500. Tonight will be the 48th game the Reds have scored 3 runs or less!...yet they are tied for 2nd in OBP.
DeleteThey're also third in runs scored.
ReplyDeleteVery deceiving. They have a decent number of games where they scored a lot of runs (8+) which throws off the fact that nearly 50% of their games they have scored 3 or fewer runs. They also have the 2nd best ERA in all of baseball, yet are 7th overall in wins.
ReplyDelete