Willie’s Blooming Power

by
May 14, 2009

Last season, in 192 plate appearances Willie Bloomquist recorded 46 hits, 45 of which were singles. That’s good for a batting line of .279/.377/.285, or an ISO of 0.006, one of the lowest in major league history. Naturally, Bloomquist has followed his powerless exhibition with 70 plate appearances and a .509 slugging percentage this season.

Ignore the .408 BABIP, the fact that Bloomuqist only has four extra base hits, and that his HR/FB% is well above career norms, and just focus on the sample sizes at play. Which is more likely to tell us of Willie Bloomquist’s true talent level:

A) ~70 plate appearances with a .500+ slugging
B) ~1,400 plate appearances with a .324 slugging

It seems like common sense, but sometimes our desires and optimism as fans lead us astray to the point where a few weeks’ worth of plate appearances that deviate upward from the norm cause us to start reasoning against the past. Bloomquist played at Safeco Park, which is known to sap right-handed power. The Mariners clubhouse was reportedly a miserable place last season, perhaps that affected Bloomquist as well. Maybe the Royals coaching staff is better too.

Even if you park adjust and somehow attempt and objectively credit his improved power to coaching and an improved atmosphere, you still won’t be able to add nearly 0.200 points of slugging – and if you did, you probably did it wrong. At the end of the day this is still Willie Bloomquist. The hot start is certainly going to help his end of season numbers, but the reason ZiPS projects Bloomquist to finish with a .385 slugging is not because it hates him, but because there’s an entire body of evidence suggesting against Bloomquist’s new found power stroke.

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devil_fingers
16 years ago

WRONG R.J.! The reason ZiPS, you and every other analyst that thinks this is a temporary situation with Willie is because of your OBVIOUS hatred and bias towards Willie and the Bravest GM in Baseball , Dayton Moore. I’m SO SICK of it. Behind Willie, the Professor, Mike Jacobs, and Jose “Hoagy” Guillen, Dayton Moore and Trey Hillman are going lead the Royals to a 10 game lead in the AL Central by mid-July.

Now, if you had just said that, then we’d know you were being objective.

1
Basil Ganglia
16 years ago
Reply to  devil_fingers

The reason ZiPS, you and every other analyst that thinks this is a temporary situation with Willie is because of your OBVIOUS hatred and bias towards Willie and the Bravest GM in Baseball
At first glance I thought you had written “the Bavasiest GM in baseball”.

2
devil_fingers
16 years ago
Reply to  Basil Ganglia

t first glance I thought you had written “the Bavasiest GM in baseball”.

There’s a difference?

0
Jason T
16 years ago
Reply to  devil_fingers

Well played, sir.

0