MWAH: Calhoun, Freese and the Magic .340

[Second Base]

My newest article with MWAH touches on an arbitrary number and our team's relationship with it.  It's actually a bit more interesting than it sounds.  Give it a read. 

 

http://www.monkeywithahalo.com/2013-articles/november/kole-calhoun-david-freese-and-the-magic-340.html

 

[Cdaniel]

What's your twitter name? I think I follow you. Pretty cool.

[Angelsjunky]

Nice article, Scotty. I'm hoping that Dipoto is thinking along these lines.

[Inside Pitch]

Nice article, Scotty. I'm hoping that Dipoto is thinking along these lines.

 

 

If he is -- then Trumbo would be good as gone.   

[Second Base]

Twitter name is the same as my name on here.  Also, I've been hoping Dipoto's been thinking along these lines for the last two seasons.  I think I was over-excited by his hiring because I thought it would mean immediate changes and to a certain extent it did.  But I think that .340 OBP mark as a team is just an indicator that an offense is functioning properly.  

 

It's sort of like looking at a modem.  OBP is like the green lights that tell you you're connected to the internet.  There are millions of other little things that go into that internet connection, but as a general indicator, you're looking at that light.  You're looking at OBP to make sure your offense is doing what it needs to. 

[Docwaukee]

If he is -- then Trumbo would be good as gone.   

and Aybar. 

[Hubs]

Makes sense. 

 

Grant Green and Kendrick can both get to the high .330's if not over .340. Kendrick hit .335 OBP last year and had a .338 in 2011. Green has a minor league OBP over .350, with years at .370+

 

Calhoun is above .400 OBP in the minors.

 

Hank Conger's minor league OBP is almost .360. He hasn't hit in the majors the way he hit in Salt Lake or previously in the minors, but he can hit. In AA he hit .294 with a .368 OBP and in SLC he hit .300 with a .385 OBP in 2010. In 2013 he had his best year at the plate in Anaheim, but I think he can hit .290 with that .340 OBP.

 

So that would be Trout (over .400), Calhoun (.380+) Pujols (.360+), Hamilton, (.340+), Freese (.340+), Conger (.340), Green/Kendrick (.340) who all could be over .340.

 

And left is Aybar (who has one year over .350, two in the .320's and two in the .300's in his last five major league seasons.

 

Finally, if they trade Trumbo and bring in a guy like Corey Hart to DH, he's got a career OBP at .334, with some seasons being over .340 and some in the .330's.

 

Cron in AA was at .319, but in A was at .327 so maybe he factors in. 

 

Fortunately if everyone can do .330 or above, Trout, Calhoun and Pujols all over .380 will bring the team OBP over .340.

[Inside Pitch]

and Aybar. 

 

Yeah -- but with Aybar you have a guy who can play up the middle and is within a few points of .320 for his career.  With Trumbo, you're talking about a OF/DH/1B with a sub .300 OBP.

 

You can live with one of those -- but not the other.

[Second Base]

I can almost guarantee you, Kendrick, Aybar, Trumbo and Conger will not be eclipsing the .340 mark. 

[nikkachez]

I can almost guarantee you, Kendrick, Aybar, Trumbo and Conger will not be eclipsing the .340 mark. 

Why couldn't Howie? His OBP last season was .335 and he was playing very well before he got hurt, the others I agree. If Trumbo had a .340 OBP would we even be considering trading him? Haha

[Second Base]

Career OBP of .329, has never once eclipsed the .340 mark in his career with the exception of his 2007 1/2 season when he batted .322.  His career BA is .292.  So unless Howie Kendrick somehow decides to bat 30 points higher than his lifetime average in his age 30 season, it's not going to be happening. 

[Hubs]

I can almost guarantee you, Kendrick, Aybar, Trumbo and Conger will not be eclipsing the .340 mark. 

Scotty, Kendrick won't exceed it significantly but he could do it.

 

Also, he almost did it last year. Going into the Texas series he had a .341 OBP and a .302 AVG. He went 3 for 18 in his final series with no walks. If he goes 6 for 18, or 5 for 17 with a walk, he hits the .340 OBP mark.  On September 28th he hit two deep fly balls in Texas. Both were caught. A little extra on those two and they are out of the park.

 

Then say Scioscia just doesn't play him in the final game and opts to give the start to Green. 5 for 14 means his average is up over .300 at .304 and his OBP is over .340.

 

Aybar has done it once, when he hit .312. He'd have to hit that or close to it to get .340. But he had his worst year at the plate last year, right after one of his best. The guy can do it, but he have to get his walks up over 30 and his average over .300. In 2012, he had just 22 walks (why I don't want him near the top of the lineup), but if he'd hit say 4 more hits on the season and walked 8 more times, he'd have finished 2012 with a .302 average and a .346 OBP. Not that far off. 

 

I hope he comes close.

 

Trumbo would have to hit like he did prior to August and September 2012 (when he pulled his rib cage muscle) he had a .307 average and a .359 OBP. That's not likely after last years struggles.

 

Conger though has shown better plate discipline in the past years in the minors than he has in the majors. Hopefully he can be the .300 hitting catcher, although his first two years here in Anaheim don't show that. Still, I have faith that as he understands the rigors of the catching position defensively, his bat will come around. 2014 is only his age 26 season, though it seems he's older.