Batting average? How very 1970s of you. The CF should be above 90 OPS+/wRC+ and your corner OFs should both be 110 or better. How they get there isn't really all that important.
Ok, lets just say an above avg hitter if you aren't an elite defender. Again disaree, how you get there is very important.
If a hitter is 10% above average overall he must be good at both getting on base and slugging or if he's bad at one he must be very good at the other Let's say he's 30% below average in OB%. Then he is probably 40% above average in SLG. Since a player has to get hits and extra base hits to have a high SLG, that is a useful player. Let's say he's 30% below average in SLG. Then he is probably 40% above average in OB%. Thas a useful player. Any player who is 110 OPS+/wRC+ is a valuable player regardless of how high or low the 2 elements are.
this makes me feel better… I was worried we messed up. I think right now maximizing our abilities in scouting and player development is by far the most important for this stage of our franchise
You have to leave BA in the past. It just doesn’t matter compared to all sorts of other offensive stats. tour premium defensive players are fine hitting at the bottom of the order if they are really good defensively. If they are good defensively and a premium defensive player that can hit at the top of the order they are all stars. It’s fine to be something less than an all star and still a positive winning player. That’s Jake and pena this year.
last I heard was hand contusion. so probably out for the weekend. not sure if there's been a timetable for him to return.
Look at winning teams, generally there are no holes in their lineups. Guys that are good defensive players but not elite, like Chas playing CF but can hit are better than the let's get by with avg offensive players that can play defense. I can make a case that if Duster had started Diaz over Maldy and Duster had managed his pitching staff better the Stros would've won another ring last year. God they miss Strom.
No team is above average at every spot on the field offensively. Like- in the history of baseball. If you are above average at 6 or 7 spots and average at 2 or 3 you are really freaking good.
If Bregman was hitting .290 right now with the same stats he'd get more praise and All-star votes. If Yordan is hitting .240 with the same stats he doesn't sniff the All-Star game at all. Batting average will always matter to fans and to the league.
And to every analytics person who quotes “avg with RISP” vs. RC, or xOWBA, or any other advanced metric that is used in any other setting.
Ah, batting average, shockingly still has people that will defend it as the most important offensive stat. Little known fact, Mauricio Dubon has been basically as good as Kyler Tucker in his career. He's been even better than him this season. In fact that scrub Tucker is only our 8th best hitter this season, totally overhyped. I don't understand why people say we need any offensive improvement when we have the best batting average in baseball. By far the best in the AL. Hell, Jeremy Pena is just as good a hitter as Gunnar Henderson.
Dana was an extremely good hire. The Braves org and fans were pretty pissed when he left to join the Astros. Just like Astros fans are pretty annoyed when some FO folks left to join the Orioles. Dana was pulling amazing players out of thin air when he was with the Braves. I trust him to continue to do the same here in Houston. If crane and the co let him that is.
He could have waived the white flag and ****ed us. Instead he showed balls and scraped it through 6. That was big boy stuff from him today.
At least their injuries are coming naturally unlike the astros who are being pelted by pitches causing injuries.
Batting avg is part of the puzzle. Example Diaz is hitting .280 and Maldy is hitting .200, no amount of walking or defense is going to makeup that difference. This comes from me and I believe in analytics and what Luhnow did.
Throw Contreras out there to ****ing plunk one on the Twins. I'm tired of that sht...how many games in a row now has an Astros been hbp?
