Tom Brennan - WHAT DO THESE PLAYERS HAVE IN COMMON?
JOE DIMAGGIO - in 1941, in 139 games, he hit .357 and fanned just 13 times.
ICHIRO SUZUKI - in 2004, in 762 plate appearances, he hit .372 and fanned 63 times.
ROD CAREW - in 1977, he hit .388 in 694 plate appearances and fanned 55 times.
MATTY ALOU, in 1970, hit .329 in 718 plate appearances and fanned a Dimaggio-like 18 times. (He fanned 18 times also in his first short season at age 22, in 217 PAs, so he started out at a low rate, that got a whole lot lower over time.)
TONY GWYNN, in 1987, hit .370, with just 35 Ks in 680 PAs.
DAVE MAGADAN - in 1990, hit .328 with our Metsies, with only 55 Ks in 541 PAs.
JOSE REYES in 2011, hit .337 with 41 Ks in 586 PAs.
Fast forward to the present:
JEFF MCNEIL in 2018, through September 15, was hitting .335 with 17 Ks in 187 plate appearances.
The first 7 of the above, all of whom (other than Magadan) have been bona fide baseball stars, all had one time-proven combo:
High contact and low Ks, leading to high batting averages.
All of them understood Baseball 101: if a hitter fans 100 times, the hitter's average for those 100 ABs is .000, give or take. I'm not good at math, so please double-check that for me..
All of them understood Baseball 101: if a hitter fans 100 times, the hitter's average for those 100 ABs is .000, give or take. I'm not good at math, so please double-check that for me..
McNeil is following, it appears, in those smart, extremely high contact rate footsteps - because he deliberately acts upon this fundamental concept.
He is striking out once in each 11 PAs - but actually doing better for most of his time since call-up - he fanned in 5 straight games (games 4 thru 8) when he debuted, giving him 5 in 24 PAs.
Since then, 12 in 163 PAs, or one in each 13.6 ABs.
Since then, 12 in 163 PAs, or one in each 13.6 ABs.
I see no fluke here - I think Jeff is a diamond in the rough.
Is it a coincidence the Mets have thrived since he arrived?
If a person thinks a high average from a high contact hitter is a coincidence, that person has lost CONTACT with reality.
Keep up the contact, Jeff, and you'll play long and prosper.
Keep up the contact, Jeff, and you'll play long and prosper.
13 comments:
Very nice, Thomas.
BTW, Wade Boggs in 1988 (.366, 584AB) K'd 34 times... 7 swinging.
Joe D and McNeil in the same story.
SMH
Wow
Add McNeil with another high on base player Nimmo
at the top of the order and there should be lots of RBI opportunites,for the middle of the order
Steve
Nice stats, Tom.
(OK, so I have a thing for stats.....no big deal)
I like his potential and it makes me wonder if the "Baseball Gods"
have given the Mets a "do over" for the Daniel Murphy debacle??
Jeff is my Second Baseman until proven otherwise.
For a guy with a bad rep on defense, he's sure made some eye popping plays in the field as well. Please say no to a Murphy reunion unless it accompanies a Frazier trade so McNeil can stay in the lineup.
Mack, it's McNeil and DiMaggio, not DiMaggio and McNeil, just to be clear...this is a Mets site LOL.
Hobie, very good point on Boggs, another guy who McNeil should try to emulate. I just hope he is more Boggs than Magadan - we need McNeil to excel for this team to excel. Nimmo, McNeil, and Rosario could exert a lot of pressure on opposing pitchers. Alonso (whose name translates to RBI) will soon be there to send them scurrying around the basepaths.
Mike, I sure hope he is Daniel II. I do not like, however good-natured, the other players (Thor) calling him Squirrel, though - high schoolish stuff.
Reese, I wanted Murphy to stay in 2016 to play first base, not second base. the cheaper McNeil will hopefully be a fine, cheaper, and much more youthful version of Murphy in 2019. Cheaper is good, so we can spend money where most needed (hint: B..U..L..L..P..E..N)
C-A-T-C-H-E-R!!!
Also what a novel concept like trying to hit thru the cavernous holes in all this new wave shifting (which I hate by the way). He reminds me a little of old Buddy Harrelson in his play, not his hitting, all out and loves a dirty uniform and so do we.
Reese is correct.
The number one improvement needed is behind the plate.
For me, I think the pen's poor performance has damaged this team more than the catcher spot over the past 2 years. Fix both, but prioritize the pen fix,
A few points:
-Per at bat, Plawecki has as much fWAR as Barnhart or many catchers. Also, his DP/ PA ratio is once every 20 at bats, while every other year it was once every 50-66 at bats. My point is, he’s actaully had bad luck this year.
- Speaking of contact, Conforto’s homerun to dead center came on a very short stroke of simply bat meeting ball with power. Conversely, the next hitter, Frazier, spent the whole night swinging out of his shoes. The worst thing to happen to that guy was winning the homerun challenge at the all-star game early in his career. He was a quality hitter until the. That used all fields.
- If McNeil can be Tony Gwynn, I think Mets fans would be in for a great. Gwynn was a great pure hitter that worked very hard on his defense and became a good glove player.
Lastly, did y’all see where Fangraphs has Gimenez as their #30 MLB prospect? Also, did you see in MLBTR on Sunday night that Bruce wants “assurances” on his playing time next year? What a complete ass. I’ve never seen a player with any self worth keep wanting guarantees and worry about losing his job. Maybe he should just work harder? Even when I try to like the guy, he won’t let me with another selfish quip.
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