September 8, 2002
Splitsville
As an admitted baseball/stats geek, one of my favorite things to do is check out player "splits."
For those of you not familar with splits, it has nothing to do with gymnastics.
Splits are the various ways that a player's stats can be broken down into categories.
Some examples of splits include: road games, home games, vs. lefties, vs. righties, pre all-star, post all-star, batting leadoff, batting cleanup, wearing boxers, wearing briefs and on and on and on.
Here are some interesting players and their splits that I came across while strolling through the stats...
(For those of you that are new to the world of baseball geekdom, .300/.400/.500 represents a players batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage).
Alfonso Soriano
VS Boston = .343/.378/.671 (70 ABs)
0-0 count = .477/.484/.852 (88 ABs)
0-2 count = .211/.211/.355 (76 ABs)
Another reason for Yankees' fans to love Soriano, he kills the BoSox.
Derek Jeter
Pre All-Star = .312/.385/.456 (349 ABs)
Post All-Star = .283/.361/.365 (219 ABs)
Alex Rodriguez
VS Righties = .333/.418/.700 (403 ABs)
VS Lefties = .263/.353/.489 (137 ABs)
0-0 count = .431/.525/1.078 (51 ABs)
Runner in Scoring Position = .385/.488/.762 (130 ABs)
Runner on 2nd = .425/.521/1.225 (40 ABs)
ARod strangely having some trouble with lefties. If he ever gets a normal platoon split for a righty (better against lefties) look out!
I get the feeling that the Rangers' runners like to give signs to ARod when he's up and they are on 2nd base.
Bernie Williams
April = .236/.367/.292 (89 ABs)
May = .374/.455/.670 (115 ABs)
August = .402/.453/.564 (117 ABs)
Post All-Star = .379/.438/.534 (219 ABs)
Ichiro!
VS Righties = .318/.384/.413 (402 ABs)
VS Lefties = .368/.430/.493 (152 ABs)
Pre All-Star = .357/.430/.461 (347 ABs)
Post All-Star = .290/.338/.391 (207 ABs)
0-0 count = .413/.532/.640 (75 ABs)
Ichiro! has completely reversed his lefty/righty platoon split from last year.
Is it possible the league is finally figuring him out after about a season and a half?
Vlad Guerrero
VS Righties = .351/.410/.644 (413 ABs)
VS Lefties = .278/.424/.470 (115 ABs)
0-0 count = .343/.462/.676 (108 ABs)
0-2 count = .218/.232/.309 (55 ABs)
Lance Berkman
VS Righties = .305/.421/.635 (400 ABs)
VS Lefties = .245/.358/.392 (102 ABs)
Maybe Berkman should try hitting lefty full-time?
David Eckstein
Pre All-Star = .271/.353/.376 (303 ABs)
Post All-Star = .341/.401/.445 (220 ABs)
Bases Loaded = .353/.300/1.059 (17 ABs)
Pat Burrell
VS Righties = .276/.351/.528 (409 ABs)
VS Lefties = .327/.478/.683 (104 ABs)
Home = .267/.338/.504 (240 ABs)
Away = .304/.413/.608 (273 ABs)
Adam Dunn
VS Righties = .259/.423/.444 (313 ABs)
VS Lefties = .267/.399/.560 (150 ABs)
Pre All-Star = .300/.452/.544 (283 ABs)
Post All-Star = .200/.356/.383 (180 ABs)
The future of my Diamond-Mind keeper team has gone in the tank since the All-Star break!
Jeff Kent
VS Righties = .306/.354/.541 (412 ABs)
VS Lefties = .394/.465/.740 (127 ABs)
Pre All-Star = .320/.373/.512 (334 ABs)
Post All-Star = .337/.396/.712 (205 ABs)
Batting #3 = .366/.417/.756 (205 ABs)
Batting #4 = .303/.361/.486 (333 ABs)
I wonder if pitchers give him better pitches to hit with Superman batting behind him? That .756 Slugging % batting 3rd says they do.
Troy Glaus
VS Righties = .220/.329/.396 (359 ABs)
VS Lefties = .314/.404/.521 (140 ABs)
Home = .227/.316/.389 (247 ABs)
Away = .266/.381/.472 (252 ABs)
Bret Boone
VS Righties = .262/.322/.415 (393 ABs)
VS Lefties = .293/.368/.549 (133 ABs)
Pre All-Star = .229/.301/.390 (328 ABs)
Post All-Star = .338/.390/.545 (198 ABs)
0-0 count = .377/.402/.740 (77 ABs)
Boone's 2nd half #s this year are almost identical to his full season #s for last year (.331/.372/.578).
Chipper Jones
Pre All-Star = .307/.396/.454 (313 ABs)
Post All-Star = .335/.495/.665 (164 ABs)
Shea Hillenbrand
Home = .272/.314/.377 (265 ABs)
Away = .345/.373/.581 (284 ABs)
Luis Castillo
Pre All-Star = .341/.399/.398 (337 ABs)
Post All-Star = .245/.292/.311 (196 ABs)
Todd Helton
Home = .390/.480/.675 (231 ABs)
Away = .277/.373/.482 (253 ABs)
0-0 count = .500/.563/.861 (72 ABs)
This is why Rockies' hitters should pray that they never get traded.
Mike Lowell
Pre All-Star = .311/.374/.527 (338 ABs)
Post All-Star = .174/.278/.281 (167 ABs)
April = .385/.434/.673 (104 ABs)
August = .145/.269/.193 (83 ABs)
WOW!
Cristian Guzman
Pre All-Star = .257/.273/.341 (346 ABs)
Post All-Star = .302/.322/.439 (205 ABs)
So damn frustrating, he makes me crazy!
Omar Vizquel
Pre All-Star = .285/.370/.466 (305 ABs)
Post All-Star = .260/.288/.350 (200 ABs)
Batting #1 = .293/.426/.485 (99 ABs)
Batting #2 = .272/.316/.405 (405 ABs)
Sammy Sosa
VS Righties = .284/.383/.602 (377 ABs)
VS Lefties = .368/.524/.726 (95 ABs)
Home = .278/.401/.580 (245 ABs)
Away = .326/.429/.678 (227 ABs)
Craig Biggio
VS Righties = .272/.344/.437 (419 ABs)
VS Lefties = .222/.340/.309 (81 ABs)
Biggio struggling badly against lefties for the 3rd year in a row.
Jacque Jones
VS Righties = .326/.365/.565 (393 ABs)
VS Lefties = .202/.248/.333 (129 ABs)
Home = .262/.299/.415 (248 ABs)
Away = .325/.371/.591 (274 ABs)
I have a complaint with Gardenhire (and believe me, I have very few) here, Jones desperately needs to be platooned (and maybe he should stay on the plane when they come home to Minnesota).
Eric Chavez
VS Righties = .306/.385/.587 (366 ABs)
VS Lefties = .221/.267/.400 (140 ABs)
Chavez has yet to hit lefties in his major league career.
An Eric Chavez/Olmedo Saenz straight platoon would be great, but it is tough to bench a star player.
Juan Pierre
Home = .315/.353/.374 (257 ABs)
Away = .223/.273/.250 (264 ABs)
If my leadoff hitter hit like that, he wouldn't.
Paul Konerko
Pre All-Star = .328/.379/.571 (326 ABs)
Post All-Star = .277/.347/.418 (177 ABs)
June = .340/.409/.742 (97 ABs)
July = .215/.295/.333 (93 ABs)
Juan Uribe
April = .373/.416/.510 (102 ABs)
May = .188/.264/.241 (112 ABs)
June = .194/.206/.296 (98 ABs)
July = .188/.244/.275 (80 ABs)
August = .202/.229/.298 (104 ABs)
I chose this guy over David Eckstein as my DMB SS of the future.
Think I may have made a mistake?
How can a guy hit .373 in the first month of the season and then fail to hit above .202 in the next 4 months?!
Adrian Beltre
Pre All-Star = .238/.289/.356 (320 ABs)
Post All-Star = .326/.357/.610 (187 ABs)
Might finally be approaching the star status that people have been expecting of him.
Jim Thome
VS Righties = .324/.477/.759 (278 ABs)
VS Lefties = .212/.329/.417 (132 ABs)
Another star that should be platooned.
One of my favorite players and my DMB team's 1st baseman.
Carl Everett
Pre All-Star = .193/.239/.331 (166 ABs)
Post All-Star = .329/.412/.544 (158 ABs)
Crazy Carl, in addition to not believing in Dinosaurs, has actually played well in the 2nd half.
He can't play centerfield anymore, so he better hit if he wants to be valuable.
And finally, I saved the best for last...
Barry Bonds
VS Righties = .374/.597/.783 (235 ABs)
VS Lefties = .352/.520/.889 (108 ABs)
Home = .353/.571/.767 (150 ABs)
Away = .378/.578/.855 (193 ABs)
Pre All-Star = .345/.562/.780 (232 ABs)
Post All-Star = .414/.601/.892 (111 ABs)
August = .447/.621/.961 (76 ABs)
0-0 count = .439/.677/1.053 (57 ABs)
Runners On = .333/.600/.770 (135 ABs)
Scoring Position = .309/.634/.824 (68 ABs)
I only listed a few of his many amazing splits.
It is very difficult to find a split that Bonds does not have an OPS of at least 1.000 in.
Day, Night, Home, Away, Grass, Turf, Dome, Open, Righty, Lefty, April, May, June, July, August, September, Pre All-Star, Post All-Star, Batting 3rd, Batting 4th, None On, Runners On, Scoring Position, 1B Only, 1st and 2nd Base, Scoring Position 2 Out, Close and Late...You name the split and Barry Bonds pretty much has an OPS of over 1.000.
If anyone knows of a really good split that I missed here, feel free to email me.
For a guy that hates math, I sure love statistics!
