Under the Radar Keppinger
Throw on your guessing caps and then write down the top five in batter BB/K ratio this season. Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer are layups. Aubrey Huff is a shocker and Daric Barton is the black beauty amongst the group, but none of those four leads the league. Nope, that honor goes to Jeff Keppinger as the 30-year-old’s 1.38 ratio nary edges out Pujols’ 1.30.
Keppinger’s wOBA is at .331, above league average, and he should very well surpass his previous career best – an insane 2.2 figure from 2007 that he racked up in 276 plate appearances. Not too bad for someone whose career transactions include being traded in the Kris Benson to New York deal as well as in separate deals for Ruben Gotay, Russ Haltiwanger, and Drew Sutton.
Sometimes I wonder if we’ve become so prone to looking at walk rates and isolated slugging ability that we forget about contact skills entirely. Not that one group of players has more value than the other on a wide-scale basis, obviously, it varies case-by-case, but a guy like Keppinger is flying under the radar because he doesn’t hit for much power nor does he get on base an insane amount of time. He does make a lot of contact, though, and that is a good attribute to have.
Keppinger also has one of the more, uh, interesting and vulgar sponsorships going at Baseball-Reference. Really, just check it out for yourself. Keppinger brings out the passion in folks.
The first sentence of the second paragraph needs attention. It took a little work to figure out what the “2.2 figure” actually was.
To be fair, a 2.200 wOBA would be pretty insane.
The main issue with Keppinger is that he’s not a good fielder at second base, to put it kindly. Still, as one of the few players on the Astros who actually gets on base at a respectable rate, he’s a welcome part of the lineup.
Couldn’t agree more. There’s something to be said of guys that always put the ball in play. I’ve always had a soft spot for guys like Keppinger and Kevin Frandsen. At the very least, they always give themselves the chance of a hit, and a worst case scenario has them hitting .270 with a .320 OBP. I can deal with a player that guarantees me that, with a more likely scenario of .280/.340. They won’t win you a division, but they won’t lose it for you either, and there’s something to be said for that given the low salary cost.