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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 5, 2019 22:55:16 GMT -5
. How many bad at-bats how many weekly hit balls how many failure in RBI situations are we going to have to put up with until Bochy realizes that buster ain't the guy?
I'm getting tired of whining about it, and I simply cannot believe that the coaching staff doesn't see it. I really don't
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Post by rxmeister on Aug 6, 2019 9:25:20 GMT -5
Should be a straight platoon of Vogt and Posey, but this is the reason the Giants are forcing Bochy into retirement. Sentimentality before anything guides his decisions. He doesn’t have the heart to bench the players that won him three World Series. Next year will be different.
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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 6, 2019 10:02:46 GMT -5
I posted back in March or April that the Giants, in particular, Farhan, were forcing Bochy out, Mark, but I got crucified on the board.
No one agreed.
No one.
What are your reasons, other than the one stated, that make you believe he's being forced out?
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Post by sharksrog on Aug 7, 2019 4:51:32 GMT -5
how many weekly hit balls Rog -- If you're speaking of balls hit in fair territory, the Giants have averaged about 165 per week!  |
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Post by klaiggeb on Aug 7, 2019 9:43:24 GMT -5
No, I'm talking about Buster's penchant for getting a hit with no one on, or no one in scoring position.
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Post by sharksrog on Aug 7, 2019 15:10:19 GMT -5
Buster's RBI totals are abysmal this season. Just 33 RBI's is almost unfathomable. Which is why we should probably try to fathom the situation.
One obvious problem has been Buster's lack of power. Six home runs doesn't provide a lot of RBI's. But in Buster's case it has provided 15. Whereas the average homer comes with fewer than one runner on base, Buster has hit his home runs with an average of 1 1/2 runners on base -- more than three times the norm. That's clutch.
Then of course there is the matter of having runners in scoring position for Buster. That is where his teammates have failed him. They've put only 65 runners in scoring position in his at bats. He's done his part, hitting .293 with RISP and driving in 20 of those 65 runners - even though only 8 times the Giants have given him an at bat with a runner at third base and fewer than two outs. He's performed quite well in those situations, batting .500 (and slugging 1.000), driving in 9 runners in those 8 at bats.
Certainly he could have hit with more power, but in reality, his RBI totals are SO low in great part because they Giants haven't given him enough runners to drive in, and overall they aren't the fastest base runners when he does get a hit.
Analytics are important here, since they show that while Buster certainly hasn't hit with enough power, he's been clutch when the Giants have gotten runners in scoring position for him. That his RBI totals are low have been more related to too few opportunities than to not hitting in the clutch (which he has) or even his lower power totals.
The comment that he has had a penchant for getting his hits with no one on (only a .247 average) and with runners on but not in scoring position (an even worse .223) shows the tricks our emotions and memory can play on us. One would look at Buster's low RBI total and say it must be true that he's hitting better with no one or or runners not in scoring position, but that's why it's important to look a couple of levels below the surface.
Buster has actually hit quite WELL (.293 average with a .569 SLG) with runners in scoring position. That .569 SLG is 109 points HIGHER than his career slugging percentage. It's also 10th-best among all major league hitters this season with 50 or more at bats with RISP.
I'm just guessing here, but I think it's quite possible that aside from his 2012 MVP season, Buster has hit better with runners in scoring position this year than any of his other nine seasons. It's with no one one or no one in scoring position that he's failed.
Again, that's why it's important not to simply rely on what our memories of watching the games tell us what has happened. Buster has been MUCH better with runners in scoring position this season than we've given him credit for. Half his home runs have come with RISP even though only a fifth of his at bats have come in such situations. Buster has been 40(!) times as likely to homer with runners in scoring position as in his other at bats.
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Post by sharksrog on Aug 7, 2019 15:11:31 GMT -5
In short, Buster has been one of the best hitters in the league this season with runners in scoring position. It's in his other 232 at bats that he's been among the worst hitters.
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Post by sharksrog on Aug 7, 2019 15:12:31 GMT -5
And if anything, that's just about the OPPOSITE of what one would expect from his very low RBI total.
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