« What's Up With Johnny Damon? | Main | Pags Radio »
July 09, 2007
Bad Will Hunting
Phil Allard has just published "Oh No, Yankee Mid-Term Report Cards Are In." It's a good read. Here's Phil's take on Wil Nieves:
Wil Nieves: One of the worst hitting catchers in baseball history. This is the best the Yanks can do? Below is a list of the worst hitting catchers by batting average since 1900. (At least 125 plate appearances): And I really don't want to hear about "small sample size." Would you really want the Nieves sample size to get any larger? F
CAREER*
MODERN (1900-)
BATTING AVG
1 Al Pardo .132
2 John Butler .134
3 Wil Nieves .144
4 Tom Doran .145
5 Frank Crossin .147
6 Jim Campanis .147
7 Charlie Armbruster .149
8 Billy Holm .156
9 Steve Korcheck .159
10 Dick Gossett .159
I went to the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia just now to take it a step further...using batting average against the league average, just Yankees catchers with at least 50 PA:
Wil Nieves sits alone at the top. He's the Yankees' worst. Ever.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at July 9, 2007 01:55 PM
Comments
Think Jim Leyritz was using OTD as a try-out?
Posted by: Jen ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at July 9, 2007 02:25 PM
And compared to all Yankees, not just C (but, P omitted), he's #1 in worst OPS vs. the league average, 2nd in worst SLG vs. the league average and 4th in worst OBA vs. the league average.
Posted by: Lee Sinins at July 9, 2007 03:30 PM
~~~Think Jim Leyritz was using OTD as a try-out? ~~~
For what, Designated Sumo?
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at July 9, 2007 03:41 PM
~~~And compared to all Yankees, not just C (but, P omitted), he's #1 in worst OPS vs. the league average, 2nd in worst SLG vs. the league average and 4th in worst OBA vs. the league average.~~~
Who are the ones that are worse in OBA and SLG?
Posted by: Steve Lombardi at July 9, 2007 03:45 PM
OBA--Angel Aragon (1917), Tom Shopay (1969), Walt Williams (1974)
SLG--Paul Zuvella (1986)
Posted by: Lee Sinins at July 9, 2007 05:33 PM
3 words: small sample size.
His minor league numbers suggest he can be at least in the top 80% of backup catchers. Not good, but not the worst.
His BB/K numbers are not that awful. He should have no problem hitting .230-.240. Not that that's good at all, but as an incremental improvement over what he's done it would make him much more bearable.
Posted by: bobo at July 9, 2007 06:18 PM
Haha, I just read the article. I still say small sample size.
Cairo should have a B grade at the worst. It's not his fault he's playing 1B. He is doing exactly what is expected of him. Maybe even more as he currently has his 2nd highest OBP of the last 6 years.
Posted by: bobo at July 9, 2007 06:30 PM