Erick Aybar Leadoff

[Blarg]

31 games 137 plate appearances .222/.267/.278/.544

 

Enough of this bullshit already.

 

 

[Quinlanforthewin]

31 games 137 plate appearances .222/.267/.278/.544

 

Enough of this bullshit already.

 

Compound that with Calhoun's numbers hitting cleanup and it makes zero sense.  More of the same idiocy from management. 

[tomsred]

31 games 137 plate appearances .222/.267/.278/.544

 

Enough of this bullshit already.

 

[Docwaukee]

It's effectively taken two guys out of their game.  

 

Aybar is the quintessential see ball swing at ball guy.  Putting him in front of Trout is a waste of what could be an advantage to some hitters.  

 

It's clear that Calhoun knows how to hit there.  Not that he's a leadoff hitter, but he gets what he needs to do and what approach he should have hitting in front of the best player in baseball.  

 

Fastball city.  Kole had LD rate of 35% hitting from the leadoff spot.  35 freakin %.  That's crazy even in a small sample.  

 

I get that the lineup needs depth, but it's made two of our most productive players non factors just to lengthen the lineup.  Theoretically it's a good idea.  Not so much in reality.  

 

I was on board with this initially as have always thought that Kole is better suited to drive in guys but he's clearly better suited hitting from a spot where he's gonna see a ton of fastballs.  

 

Lesson learned.  

 

So I guess they'll make the change sometime around the end of August.  

[Sherlock31]

Agree

[Jeff Fletcher]

seeing more fastballs in a certain spot in the lineup is a myth.

You may see more strikes. But major league pitchers don't have to throw a fastball to throw a strike.

[bloodbrother]

Gotta love that .267 OBP% at the leadoff spot

[CaliAngel]

We've discussed this to death, it's only a matter of time - I HOPE!

Not to mention Mr. Notti, his career numbers are just as bleak in the leadoff spot. I would link the stats but im mobile, i believe his average in the one spot over the past couple years are for the most part lower than his average at 4, 5, or 6.

No reason he should be hitting anywhere but 4 and below. I actually would be fine if Calhoun just swapped.

[Troll Daddy]

It's not as big a problem as you guys make it out to be. I like Calhoun batting fourth until we get a reliable power bat. Aybar isn't your ideal lead off guy but he's the best this team has at the moment. He brings speed and base running skills to help compensate for his lack of OBP. He did manage to score 17 times over the last thirty days.

Let's get a bat so Calhoun can go back to leading off.

[mulwin444]

Aybar is a terrible option for lead-off...Mike tries every year to shoe-horn him in there because he switch-hits, is kinda fast, doesn't strike out much, and can bunt. The flip side is he's not patient, never works the count, makes a shit-load of outs, his "bunt-for-a-hit" is pretty inconsistent...he's an ideal 7 hitter leading off. Johnny G is solid batting 9th and think you need to move Calhoun back to lead-off for the time being. Having some solid batters hitting 9-3 at least gives them a shot to have someone on base when Trout/Pujols come up. Having Joyce-Aybar hitting 9th-1st was absolute offensive death and should not be repeated.

[Angel Oracle]

Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Give LF to Navarro and have him lead off.

At least he can help from an OBP standpoint, and is umpteen times better defensively than Joyce.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Angel Oracle

[Docwaukee]

Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Give LF to Navarro and have him lead off.

At least he can help from an OBP standpoint, and is umpteen times better defensively than Joyce.

It's not a bad thought.  I could live with him leading off.  Still doesn't solve calhoun's struggles from the four spot though.  

[Guest]

seeing more fastballs in a certain spot in the lineup is a myth.

You may see more strikes. But major league pitchers don't have to throw a fastball to throw a strike.

 

The situation I've always heard results in more fastballs is when a person is batting while there is a good base stealer on base. The idea being that the pitcher will prefer to throw high velocity fastballs rather than offspeed and/or hard breaking pitches as the latter both result in a slower total time from pitcher to catcher to second baseman. 

[JoJo26]

Why doesn't FUBAR just try to bunt himself on every game?

 

He such a good bunter...

[Hollyw00d]

Aybar gets on base "enough" for Mikey, so it won't change

[CaliAngel]

Here we go. I screenshotted the last 4 years of his performance in the 1 spot compared to the other line-up slots he's been given. It's becoming absurd that he's there when Calhoun clearly performs better leading off. It's also funny to me, because it hasn't been mentioned in this thread, but I've heard the whole "it doesn't matter where you hit" argument, and I think if anyones ever played baseball, it most definitely changes your approach and way you're going to be swinging at the plate. I love Aybar, his defensive prowness, his aggressiveness, his grittyness (besides trying to injure players when he's celebrating), his desire to bunt with a no-hitter going --- he really is like a little kid on the team. But he does NOT belong leading off for this team, anymore!

 

 

Put him in the 4 slot for all I care! He's unlike any other 4 hitter I've other seen, but I like it!

 

[Chuck]

31 games 137 plate appearances .222/.267/.278/.544

Enough of this bullshit already.

Fletch, can you ask Sosh why he still has Aybar in the leadoff spot despite his EPIC sucktitude from that spot over the years?

[Stradling]

Fletch, can you ask Sosh why he still has Aybar in the leadoff spot despite his EPIC sucktitude from that spot over the years?

And Fletch can you please ask the question exactly as Chuck has requested? Thanks in advance. (I got your back Chuck)

[Jeff Fletcher]

Aybar has hit .270 with a .309 OBP as a lead off hitter.

He's hit .276 with a .316 OBP overall.

Not much difference especially since the sample at lead off is smaller.

Aybar said in the past he did change his approach when he hit leadoff because he was younger and didn't know what he was doing. Now he isn't changing anything. Basically he learned.

The reason Aybar is in a slump now is because it's baseball and hitters go into slumps. He was hitting about .340 for about 3 weeks. He's cooled off. It happens.

Moving guys in the order has very little impact on how they perform.

The problem with the Angels lineup is not the order of the hitters but that there aren't enough of them. It's hard to make a good lineup with 3 good hitters, 3 ok ones and 3 bad ones.

[mtangelsfan]

The problem with the Angels lineup is not the order of the hitters but that there aren't enough of them. It's hard to make a good lineup with 3 good hitters, 3 ok ones and 3 bad ones.          

 

This is a great quote Fletch.  It is the think that fans keep forgetting.  Our offense sucks.  It doesn't suck because of who bats where, it sucks because we only have three good hitters.

[Troll Daddy]

Scioscia has already gave a detail explanation as to why Aybar is batting lead off. It was posted a couple of times already.

[Chuck]

Just plain stupid. You put a guy who works the count and gets on base at a better clip ahead of Trout, Pujols and Calhoun and runs are going to be scored. It also behooves you to have a guy like this batting 9th, like maybe an Iannetta if you can. 

 

Mike Scioscia is soooo old school traditional and set in his ways. 

[Troll Daddy]

Just plain stupid. You put a guy who rakes a walk and gets on base at a better clip ahead of Trout, Pujols and Calhoun and runs are going to be scored.

Baseball 101

[mtangelsfan]

Just plain stupid. You put a guy who rakes a walk and gets on base at a better clip ahead of Trout, Pujols and Calhoun and runs are going to be scored.

 

Once a game.  I doubt there is even a run's worth of difference.

[Adam]

I think he saw 14 pitches in 13 at-bats this past weekend