Monday, April 9, 2007

J.D. Drew

Editor's Note : We swear ... this is not a Bill Simmons Watchdog Blog.

Between 2004-2006, J.D. Drew offered up .282/.403/.487/.890 in 600 at-bats with men on base. He hit 24 home-runs, walked 126 times and k'd 126 times in those situations, driving in 187 runs. With the bases empty, Drew was a better hitter (.303/.426/.572/.998), but he remained a productive hitter with runners on. To put that .890 ops in context, last season, only 9 NL and 15 MLB outfielders logged an ops that high; Drew, of course, was one of them. Overall, fewer than 40 MLB players were that productive.

Between 2004-2006, Drew was a harder out with men on and two-out. His numbers ... .297/.437/.518/.955. In those 222 at-bats, he hit 10 home-runs, walked 53 times, and k'd 37. Clearly, the man's good.

Well, unless stats lie. In The *cough* Boston Sports Guy's latest running diary - this time on Matsuzaka's first Sox start - Simmons, who appears to pride himself on the truthiness of his claims, writes this of a two-out, runners-on Drew at-bat,

11:19 -- You're not gonna believe this, but J.D. Drew took a called third strike to end the inning.

(Note: Dodgers, Braves and Cardinals fans everywhere are nodding and saying, "Yup ... been there, done that.")

Go figure.

peace love gap,
Johnny Hatchett

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

By the way, in this short season, Drew has 3 hits in 10 at bats with runners on, with 2 walks and 2 ks. Both of those hits came with runners on and two outs. Apparently, Bill Simmons saw the 1 at-bat out of 6 with runners on and two out in which Drew k'd.

Inside the numbers,
Johnny Hatchett

Greg Prosmushkin said...

Thanks for sharing these great posts with us. They are always very informative and I hope the new season will be able to be played this year. Have a great rest of your day and keep up the fun posts.
Greg Prosmushkin