Everything is Relative and We All Have Relatives

[DOUGHBOYS]

EVERYTHING is relative.
Especially in fantasy baseball. If Jordan Zimmerman had a 6.00 ERA and 1.50 WHIP, his owners would be very disappointed. But, if Zimmerman has those numbers over the course of a game AND he gets the Win, his owners are happy. For fantasy owners, watching a pitcher get knocked around during a game and then garnering the W, is like a kid forced to eat his broccoli, but rewarded with ice cream.

If a player goes 0 fer four and looks horrible on every swing, only to his a three run bomb in his last at bat, his owners are also happy Offensively, one at bat, just one swing, can sway an owner's decision on whether it was a good fantasy day or a bad one.

There was a post inferring that because Albert Pujols had less strike outs over a period of time compared to Miguel Cabrera, that this would make Pujols a better hitter than Cabrera. Of course, no ONE statistic makes one player better than another.
But, let's take a closer look at the strike out. The Numerish cast the strike out as Lex Luthor to the base on balls, Superman.
Real life doesn't work that way.
If you own an offensive player, besides a judy, have we ever rooted for a player to draw a base on balls?
We haven't.
And, if one of our players strikes out or pops up, we don't care which, we know he didn't produce.
I know this is an oversimplification. But sometimes, oversimplifying something is better than over complicating things.

Let's look at some examples....

Joe Mauer is having a terrific season. He's hitting .319, scored 49 runs, and has even hit eight homers.
Mauer has only hit double digit homers three times in his career. This looks to be his fourth.
That said, Mauer has already struck out 65 times. In 10 Major League seasons, Mauer has struck out over 65 times just once. Last year, he struck out 88 times.
The Numerish may look to warn us over the off season, about Mauer's new found propensity for striking out.
I won't care. Mauer may have lengthened his swing a bit to put more power in his game.
That's ok with me. And it should be ok with his owners.

Another catcher, Yadier Molina, is having MVP talk already directed his way. Molina is leading the National League in hitting and has 100 hits at the halfway mark of the season. Molina has never struck out much. 55 times is the most in his career.
He has already struck out 30 times this year. A pace that will give him a new career high.
Since his hits, batting average, and rbi are on their way to new career high's as well, his owners find it easy to 'rat's ass' his strike outs.

Let's take Miggy, himself.
The last three years, he has not struck out 100 times (95, 89, 98)
Last year, he had a 44/139/.330 line to go with his 98 strike outs.
This year, he's reached the halfway mark with a 25/82/.369 mark.
I doubt his owners are worried about the 58 strike outs or potential of 116 strike outs for this season.

Strike outs have always been over examined for hitters. During the off season, besides the five roto categories, it may be the statistic that is brought up most. I still don't know why.
A longer swing usually reflects more strike outs.
12 batters have struck out 90 times this year. Except for Mike Napoli, all of these hitters have double digit homers. Napoli has nine.
Fantasy players know the tradeoff of power for strike outs.
We also know that a lot of strike outs, usually, does not reflect well in batting average too.
Of these 12 hitters, only one is hitting more than .300
And his owners are not unhappy about that player's strike outs and don't care if that player strikes out 200 times.
His name is Chris Davis.

At the other end of the spectrum is the walk. I don't get the walk. The walk started out as a pitching miscue. Wildness was usually the culprit for a walk. Then, some hitters started fouling more balls off than others. These hitters were credited with 'working' a walk. This was a case of having a pitcher throw so many pitchers that four balls would HAVE to be thrown over a certain time.
'Working' a walk, then evolved into 'having a great at bat'.
Way different.
Now, if you force a pitcher a to throw six pitches during an at bat, it is considered 'a great at bat'.
BAH!
My Aunt Ruth can stand at the plate, take three balls, then three strikes and be credited with 'a great at bat'.
Way to go, Aunt Ruth.
You see, NOW, the outcome doesn't matter. It's a great at bat even if ending the at bat with the dreaded strike out.
And yet, not once, have I seen this line......
Joe Schmo struck out 150 times last year, but 10 of those were 'great at bats' .
Nope.
At the end of the day, it's just another strike out.

Anyway, the base on balls has evolved, somehow, from a pitchers wildness to a batter's eye and pluck.
There are other factors too.
'We're not letting their best hitter beat us'
'We'll pitch around him'
'There's a base open'
All of these coaching philosophies factor into the equation.
And, it's funny in a way, that we are led right back to our strike out hitters. The most feared hitters in baseball have the longer swings. This makes them not only the easiest to strike out, but easiest to walk.
Some players get too much credit for walking.
Some owners have dropped Chris Iannetta this year.
And rightfully so.
Iannetta has a .214/25/6/26/0 batting line. His remaining owners really don't give a rat's ass that Iannetta leads every catcher in baseball, besides Carlos Santana (46) with 44 bases on balls.
What they care about is Iannetta's non-production.
Guaranteed, you will see an off season writer, have a go at Iannetta's walks this year and tout him as a breakout candidate next year.
Guaranteed.

Billy Butler will set a career high in walks this year. And his owners don't give a rat's ass.
If anything, this is not to say that Butler's batting eye has improved or that he is becoming a better hitter.
Clearly, he is not.
This speaks more to the fact that he has lesser options behind him in the lineup and that a pitcher can offer up what he wants to throw Butler, usually, not pitches that Butler can handle.

Of the top 10 base on ball leaders, only three (Votto, Cabrera, Dustin Pedroia) are hitting over .300
This makes sense.
Votto is the virtuoso of the 'great at bat', combined with being pitched around, he should be a lock to run away with most walks.
A sarcastic 'woo hoo' cheer goes up from his owners.
Cabrera and Pedroia have the commonality of being very good hitters with a loaded left handed gun hitting behind them in the lineup. If facing lefties, it'll be a certainty that they get walked in different situations.
Their fantasy owners will cuss at the thought of their player missing out on driving in two runs, while Ortiz and Fielder owners rejoice, even if hitting against a southpaw.

I despise one of my hitters walking.
I do.
More than a strike out.
It's a missed opportunity. Automatically, it does not help three roto categories. It is the most over glorified stat during the off season.
At least when my hitter strikes out, he had the opportunity to improve all five categories in some way.
If my hitter is pitched around or walked intentionally, it usually means the bases are clogged, meaning that a walk can only help me in one category. Runs.
Whoop-de-doo.
bb/k ratios have become huge and I still don't know why.
Some even use it as a way to gauge whether one player is better than another.
Really. He did.
Ah well, it is all relative, right?

I'll leave with one last thought.
What would you think of a ball player with a 121/22 k/bb ratio?
Nobody in baseball has this ratio.
Nope.
Not one, but three do.
This ratio was taken from the three hitters who have the least amount of walks in baseball.
Erick Aybar and Savador Perez who have seven. And Adam Jones who has eight.
These three players have a .292 batting average between them.
And more importantly, maybe not even one 'great at bat' between them.
But, as said, it's all relative.
There are 'great at bats' and there are productive at bats.
Give me the productive at bats every time.