Stuff

[DOUGHBOYS]

Just some 'Stuff' you may not know......

Jason Kipnis has hit eight homers over his last eight months of play for Cleveland.......

Phil Hughes started 32 games this past season. He walked 16 batters........

Adam Wainwright is known for his control. Jeff Samardzjia is not. Samardzjia walked seven less batters than Wainwright....

Nobody allowed more runs this past year than AJ Burnett (122).....

Except for AJ Burnett, nobody allowed more runs than Justin Verlander (114)....

Joe Nathan's 4.81 E.R.A. is the highest for a Closer with at least 30 Saves since Brad Lidge had a 7.21 in 2009......
Maybe both Managers stuck with their Closer a little too long.......

Experts say taking a walk is good. I disagree for fantasy. At least in most cases....
14 offensive players were taken in the first round of the PreMature Draft.
How many of those 14 players were in the top 30 in taking a walk?
Only four.
Bautista (104) Stanton (94) McCutchen (84) Trout (83)
Except for Bautista, none of these players are really LOOKING for a walk. Pitchers would just prefer pitching to another player.............

Speaking of hitters not looking for a walk, Miguel Cabrera saw his walks dip from 90 last year to 60 this year.
Some said that without Prince Fielder, Cabrera's walks would skyrocket. WRONG.
I know that Victor Martinez will get credit for the lower walks, but the truth is, Cabrera was just not the feared hitter he was in the past.........

There were no 30/30 players.
There were five 20/20 players.
Carlos Gomez 23/34
Michael Brantley 20/23
Ian Desmond 24/24
Brian Dozier 23/21
Todd Frazier 29/20

39 players stole at least 20 bases, including, of course the 20/20 players.
Only one of these 39 players, Brian Dozier, scored 100 runs.

David Ortiz was the ultimate base clogger this year and opposing pitchers should have thought about walking him even with runners on base.
Ortiz knocked himself in with 35 homers. He only scored 24 other runs............

Jose Altuve had the second most at bats (Kinsler) in baseball. He had the most hits with 225. He had 57 extra base hits. He had 56 stolen bases.
Matt Carpenter had 65 less at bats. Carpenter had 63 less hits. He had four less extra base hits. He had 51 less stolen bases.
And yet, Carpenter scored 14 more runs than Altuve.
The secret being that Carpenter, at the top of the lineup, drew 59 more walks.
THAT, is where we want walks as fantasy players.........

117 players struck out at least 100 times....117!
This is more players than every player who played between 1900-1960.

[Bronx Yankees]

Good stuff, Dan, especially that last one about strikeouts. Sure puts this year in historical context.

I'll contribute a random stat to go along with yours. Sometimes I like to see how players do on the non-SB counting stats (HR, R, RBI). This year, only 19 players registered at least 200 combined homers, runs and RBIs:

Trout 267
Bautista 239
Mi. Cabrera 235
N. Cruz 235
Stanton 231
Adrian Gonzalez 226
J. Abreu 223
V. Martinez 222
Pujols 222
Donaldson 220
Rendon 215
A. Jones 213
Brantley 211
Cespedes 211
Kinsler 209
J. Upton 208
Encarnacion 207
Dozier 206
Pence 200

Players just missing the admittedly-arbitrary cut were: Rizzo 199, Ortiz 198, McCutchen 197, Frazier 197, Longoria 196, Duda 196 (!), Holliday 195, and Kemp 191. (Caveat: Always a chance I missed one, but I think the above list is complete.)

Mike

[Winston's Empire]

Great stuff as always Dough. I took the Summer off from the boards, but have enjoyed reading your stuff again!

[whale4evr]

117 players struck out at least 100 times....117!
This is more players than every player who played between 1900-1960.

Makes you appreciate how good Bob Feller and Walter Johnson were.