What We Learned In Week Two
Our look back at the last seven days continues, as we find out what we learned in week two.
Shin-Soo Choo is a decent hitter.
11 for 19, 3 2B, 3 HR, 6 BB, 1 K, and a stolen base for good measure. Over the last week, Choo has posted a .756 wOBA. He created +8.8 wRAA in 25 plate appearances. Choo flew under the radar a bit last year, despite a 5+ win season, but he should be firmly entrenched in people’s minds now. Grady Sizemore is still the franchise player in Cleveland, but he has a sidekick now. There should be no more doubting whether Shin-Soo Choo is for real.
Perhaps pitchers should pay attention to Joey Votto.
Last year, Votto played 131 games, came to bat 544 times, and stole four bases. Last week, Votto played seven games, came to bat 23 times, and stole four bases. It’s not like he just piled them up against one pitcher who wasn’t paying attention, either. He stole a base on the 12th, the 14th, the 15th, and the 17th. He’s now four for five in thievery this year, despite entering the year with 12 career steals in 18 attempts.
We know Votto can hit. Apparently, he wants to add running to his repertoire. He’s probably fast enough to steal double digit bases (he did collect 24 steals in Double-A back in 2006), but it will be interesting to see how quickly pitchers adjust to his new found desire to run.
Rich Harden is not right.
In two starts last week, Harden lasted just 9 2/3 innings, walked nine guys, hit two more, and threw a wild pitch. Command has never been his forte, but he’s now running a 9.45 BB/9 on the season. His fastball averaged just 90.6 MPH, and only 41 percent of his pitches were in the strike zone.
This version of Harden doesn’t appear to have good enough stuff to challenge hitters, and his already poor command just compounds the problem. The upside with him is obvious (he’s still missing bats), but given how he’s throwing right now, it’s hard to see the Rangers getting a real return on their investment from Harden this year. Meanwhile, Derek Holland is destroying the Pacific Coast League – it might not be a bad idea to make a switch, send Harden out on a rehab assignment, and let him work on building some arm strength. Having him try to get back to full speed in the majors isn’t working very well.
Dave is the Managing Editor of FanGraphs.
Is the “Bavasi screwed the franchise” meme dead yet? Or are we still allowed to bring it out?
Adam Jones and Chris Tillman say ‘hi.’
You forgot Asdrubal Cabrera (for Eduardo Perez), Rafael Soriano (for Horacio Ramírez), and Matt Thornton (for Joe Borchard). And Kam Mickolio was in the Bedard trade as well.
I don’t think anyone was seriously doubting if Soo-Choo was for real after two good seasons in a row.
And, another thing, what with sabermetrics constantly preaching the weakness of small sample size, aren’t these topic titles…well, to be frank, awfully stupid?
Exactly what I was going to say. Anybody who just learned in week 2 that Choo is a good hitter hasn’t been paying any attention.
suggested title changes
What We Probably Learned in Week ___
What We May End Up Proving After the Sample Size is Large Enough in Week ___
Who the Hell Cares What People are Doing until June 1st in Week ___
The Red Sox Are Idiots for Focusing on Defense in Week ___
What Hath We Learn’ed in Weeketh ___?
Entropy and Change Are Still Constants in Week ____
“Don’t be the Kind of Tedious Troll Who Takes This Title Literally in Week_____”
Yes, it should probably be called something like “Interesting Performances for Week X” or “Things You May Not Have Noticed Yet This Season” or something like that; but whatever it is called, baseball is long season full of lots of players and it’s hard to catch everything as it happens, especially if you only follow one league or one division closely. I’m sure there are people in NL cities (for example) who “pay attention” but don’t play fantasy and never see Indians games and so have no strong sense of Choo beyond being an unusual name that started turning up on the leaderboards in the past year or so. I don’t know, I could be wrong: maybe everybody here at Fangraphs knows Choo inside and out. But does that mean his performance so far isn’t worth noting?
I also have no idea why people obsess over headlines, even to the extent of ignoring the actual body of the article. Human nature is a funny thing.
you understood that i was being sarcastic, correct, joser? cuz i agree with you.
Yes, just piling on. (I actually started that comment while you posted yours, but got to multitasking with other things)
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but these “what we’ve learned” entries tend to stay away from things like “OMG MARTIN PRADO IS A FUTURE BATTING CHAMPION!!!” or other small sample size silliness. Votto running more, Harden scuffling, Choo following up a great previous season with a fantastic beginning to this one, all of these are things you can get a good sense of in a short period of time.
Maybe the analysis, but the sub-headlines, last year at least, were pretty much bold statements for pretty much no good reason. We didn’t learn Soo-Choo was a good hitter in week 2 also. Just like we didn’t learn Renteria was a good hitter in week 2. We’re really basing this almost completely on last year.
I’m not trolling, but really, you don’t have to baby me by telling me Soo-Choo is a good hitter. If you haven’t figured this out now, you’re really, REALLY late to the party.
Any other pitchers who don’t look right so far this year? One guy I’m concerned about is Javier Vazquez. Not only is he sporting an uncharacteristic 1.80 K/BB, but his fastball velocity is down about 2-3 MPH from its normal level. Sure it’s early yet, but are there any signs that he might be dealing with something physical?
Sure, he’s got something lodged in his throat. Just ask Yankee fans.
/embarrassed by people who root for the same team I do
How about Silva being sprinkled with fairy dust and turned into a pitcher again? That’s got to rank up there with the loaves and fishes miracle.
Choo is cool. I hope he keeps it up so even the casual fan will know his name.
Votto is my dark-horse candidate for NL MVP.
Harden most definitely is not right.
May I add that Sheets is not quite right-while he’s been effective, his K rate is sub par. The A’s and Sheets may have been better served had he opened the season on the DL, with some rehab assignments-he hadn’t pitched in more than a year.
We need more talk about Tyler motherfucking Clippard. Maybe some about Cody Ransom kicking ass? What about Dave Cameron fucking off and having Tyler Clippard use this as his own personal blog? You fucking horse pussy.