Revere's Plate Discipline

[Curt]

Ben Revere draws very few walks. His BB% is 4.4% compared to the league average of 8.3%. That is a fact demonstrated by the data.

 

I have read a number of comments that he has poor plate discipline or is overly aggressive. Do the stats support this as well?

 

Does he swing at too many pitches?

 

1. His o-Swing% (swings at pitches outside of strike zone) is very average. 29.6% compared to league average of 29.7%.

 

2. His z-Swing% (swings at pitches inside the strike zone) is pretty low. 51.6% compared to league average of 63.9%.

 

3. Overall, his Swing% is 39.9%. League average is 45.2%.

 

Then why doesn't he draw walks? Because he hits the ball and puts it in play.

 

1. His o-Contact% (makes contact with pitches swung at outside the strike zone) is 82.4%. The league average is 68.1%.

 

2. His z-Contact% (makes contact with pitches swung at inside the strike zone) is 98.4% (!). The league average is 87.4%.

 

3. His overall Contact% is 92.1%. The league average is 80.5%.

 

4. His foul-ball strike percentage is 19% while the league average is 27%.

 

5. His ball-in-play percentage is 39% while the league average is 30%.

 

So, he doesn't draw walks because he makes contact at a high rate and puts the ball in play at a high rate when he does make contact. He literally is too good at putting the ball in play!

 

Can he draw more walks. Maybe. How about this?

 

1. Improve o-Swing. As a low power hitter, he needs to be more selective than the average player. Plouffe 28.3%, Mauer 24.7%, Carroll 23.4 (18.4% for career), Span 21.9% and Willingham 20.5% all have better percentages than Revere.

 

2. Work at fouling off borderline pitches rather than put them in play. This will lengthen the at-bat improving the opportunity to get four balls.

 

 

[Riverbrian]

Ben Revere draws very few walks. His BB% is 4.4% compared to the league average of 8.3%. That is a fact demonstrated by the data.

 

I have read a number of comments that he has poor plate discipline or is overly aggressive. Do the stats support this as well?

 

Does he swing at too many pitches?

1. His o-Swing% (swings at pitches outside of strike zone) is very average. 29.6% compared to league average of 29.7%.

 

2. His z-Swing% (swings at pitches inside the strike zone) is pretty low. 51.6% compared to league average of 63.9%.

 

3. Overall, his Swing% is 39.9%. League average is 45.2%.

 

Then why doesn't he draw walks? Because he hits the ball and puts it in play.

1. His o-Contact% (makes contact with pitches swung at outside the strike zone) is 82.4%. The league average is 68.1%.

 

2. His z-Contact% (makes contact with pitches swung at inside the strike zone) is 98.4% (!). The league average is 87.4%.

 

3. His overall Contact% is 92.1%. The league average is 80.5%.

 

4. His foul-ball strike percentage is 19% while the league average is 27%.

 

5. His ball-in-play percentage is 39% while the league average is 30%.

 

So, he doesn't draw walks because he makes contact at a high rate and puts the ball in play at a high rate when he does make contact. He literally is too good at putting the ball in play!

 

Can he draw more walks. Maybe. How about this?

1. Improve o-Swing. As a low power hitter, he needs to be more selective than the average player. Plouffe 28.3%, Mauer 24.7%, Carroll 23.4 (18.4% for career), Span 21.9% and Willingham 20.5% all have better percentages than Revere.

 

2. Work at fouling off borderline pitches rather than put them in play. This will lengthen the at-bat improving the opportunity to get four balls.

 

 

Nice job Curt.

 

Do you have any info on the percentage of strikes thrown to Ben in comparison to the league average. I could be wrong but I suspect that Ben sees more strikes than average and that will also add to his lack of walks.

 

Regardless, fouling off some pitches will help because in order to get walks you need to see more pitches and if they get put in play with a swing or two... That kinda stops that train.

[ALessKosherScott]

I don't think Revere's plate discipline is a problem at all. His swinging strike percentage is currently sitting at 3.2. To put that in perspective, Mauer is sitting at 4.0%. He doesn't walk because there's no reason for a pitcher to not groove him a meatball when he's down in the count. The worst case scenario is a well-placed ball becomes a double. If he starts hitting more doubles and the odd ball over the fence, his walk rate will jump because pitchers will have to start being a little more fine with their pitches. If not, he's still a useful player.

[Riverbrian]

I don't think Revere's plate discipline is a problem at all. His swinging strike percentage is currently sitting at 3.2. To put that in perspective, Mauer is sitting at 4.0%. He doesn't walk because there's no reason for a pitcher to not groove him a meatball when he's down in the count. The worst case scenario is a well-placed ball becomes a double. If he starts hitting more doubles and the odd ball over the fence, his walk rate will jump because pitchers will have to start being a little more fine with their pitches. If not, he's still a useful player.

Exactly... I've been driving that point for awhile. I wonder if the stats back that up with a higher strike percentage.

 

I could be wrong. I'm curious to see if I am.

[James]

Exactly... I've been driving that point for awhile. I wonder if the stats back that up with a higher strike percentage.

 

I could be wrong. I'm curious to see if I am.

I would love to see this data as well. We have pretty good anecdotal evidence that pitchers aren't afraid to throw to him, but I would love to see some data behind it.

 

Curt- This was a very good write up. Thanks for that.

[Curt]

Do you have any info on the percentage of strikes thrown to Ben in comparison to the league average. I could be wrong but I suspect that Ben sees more strikes than average and that will also add to his lack of walks.

 

This is from FanGraphs.com as is much of the data I posted above. Zone% is the percent of pitches in the strike zone. I've included all Twins with 100+ PA. This shows Revere sees about 1.5% more strikes than the league average.

 

[TABLE]

[TD=width: 86]Player[/TD]

[TD=width: 86]Zone%[/TD]

Parmalee

38.20%

Doumit

41.40%

Morneau

41.70%

Mauer

42.30%

Willingham

44.60%

Casilla

45.10%

Span

46.40%

Revere

46.90%

Plouffe

48.30%

Dozier

49.00%

Carroll

50.10%

Valencia

50.90%

Twins Avg

45.60%

AL Avg

45.38%

[/TABLE]

[diehardtwinsfan]

Kind of curious how Plouffe will adjust when he starts seeing less strikes.

[John Bonnes]

This is from FanGraphs.com as is much of the data I posted above. Zone% is the percent of pitches in the strike zone. I've included all Twins with 100+ PA. This shows Revere sees about 1.5% more strikes than the league average.

 

[TABLE]

Player

[TD=width: 86]Zone%

[/TD]

Parmalee

38.20%

Doumit

41.40%

Morneau

41.70%

Mauer

42.30%

Willingham

44.60%

Casilla

45.10%

Span

46.40%

Revere

46.90%

Plouffe

48.30%

Dozier

49.00%

Carroll

50.10%

Valencia

50.90%

Twins Avg

45.60%

AL Avg

45.38%

[/TABLE]

 

 

That is a lot lower percentage than I would have anticipated. It's weird that Carroll has a higher percentage but comes away with so many additional walks. Is he just more willing to take strike 1 and strike 2 in the hopes that he gets a walk? Is that what is being implied here?

[Snortwood]

Last year it felt as if 2 or 3 times a game Ben was dribbling it back to the mound. This year he has a game or 2 like that and then BAM! he's getting 3 or 4 hits for a few games and all over the bases true with mostly singles and maybe an occasional walk or hbp. But he's busy on the bases.

 

Remember - we talk about the best hitters in the world in the MLB (c.f., Nishioka, JLB hitting champ = <.200 MLB) and tend to think there's a way to improve on .320 when, in fact, hitting for a living is very VERY difficult because it's highly competitive out there and if Ben can eliminate one bad thing and add one good thing per year, at that rate we're talking about someone with the aptitude to be an absolutely great HOF maybe Tony Gwynn caliber hitter. Let's repair one thing at a time. This year, eliminate those dribblers back to the mound and let's get hard grounders and liners. Next year, future years, cut back on the fly balls and get some gappers and greater selectivity.

 

OTOH, if Ben stays about where he's at, a .320 singles hitter with great speed hey! that's awfully good as is and top of the order stuff. Like Bill Wigglestick said, "Striving to better oft we mar what's well."

[Curt]

That is a lot lower percentage than I would have anticipated. It's weird that Carroll has a higher percentage but comes away with so many additional walks. Is he just more willing to take strike 1 and strike 2 in the hopes that he gets a walk? Is that what is being implied here?

It is interesting to compare Revere to Carroll because, like Revere, he has little power, unlike Revere, Carroll walks a lot, 10.3%.

 

WARNING: Data overload ahead.

 

[TABLE]

[TD=width: 86][/TD]

[TD=width: 27][/TD]

[TD=width: 51, bgcolor: #E6E6E6]Carroll[/TD]

[TD=width: 51, bgcolor: #E6E6E6]Revere[/TD]

[TD=width: 51, bgcolor: #E6E6E6]AL Avg[/TD]

[TD=width: 25][/TD]

[TD=width: 689, bgcolor: #E6E6E6]Definition[/TD]

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]Pit/PA[/TD]

[/TD]

3.98

3.47

3.85

Pitches per Plate Appearance

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]Str%

[/TD]

62%

64%

63%

Strike Percentage. Includes both pitches in the zone and those swung at out of the zone. Strikes / Total Pitches.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]L/Str

[/TD]

40%

36%

29%

Strikes Looking / Strikes. All strikes looking divided by all strikes.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]S/Str

[/TD]

6%

6%

15%

Swinging Strike Percentage. Strikes Swinging (w/o contact) / Total Strikes.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]F/Str

[/TD]

23%

19%

27%

Foul Ball Strikes Percentage. Pitches Fouled Off / Total Strikes Seen.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]I/Str

[/TD]

31%

39%

30%

Ball In Play Percentage. Balls put into Play / Total Strikes.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]AS/Str

[/TD]

60%

64%

71%

Swung at Strikes Percentage. (Inplay + Foul + Swinging Strikes) / Total Strikes.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]I/Bll

[/TD]

0%

0%

1%

Intentional Ball Percentage. Intentional Balls / All Balls.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]AS/Pit

[/TD]

37%

41%

45%

Percentage of Pitches Swung At. (Inplay + Foul + Swinging Strikes) / Total Pitches.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]Con

[/TD]

90%

91%

79%

Contact Percentage. (Foul + Inplay Strikes) / (Foul + Inplay + Swinging Strikes).

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]1stS

[/TD]

12%

10%

25%

First Pitch Swinging Percentage. First Pitch Swinging / PA.

[TD=bgcolor: #E6E6E6]L/SO

[/TD]

38%

38%

24%

Strikeout Looking Percentage. Strikeouts Looking / All Strikeouts.

O-Swing%

23.4%

29.6%

29.7%

The percentage of pitches a batter swings at outside the strike zone.

Z-Swing%

50.8%

51.6%

63.9%

The percentage of pitches a batter swings at inside the strike zone.

Swing%

37.1%

39.9%

45.2%

The overall percentage of pitches a batter swings at.

O-Contact%

83.7%

82.4%

68.1%

The percentage of pitches a batter makes contact with outside the strike zone when swinging the bat.

Z-Contact%

95.5%

98.4%

87.4%

The percentage of pitches a batter makes contact with inside the strike zone when swinging the bat.

Contact%

91.8%

92.1%

80.5%

The overall percentage of a batter makes contact with when swinging the bat.

Zone%

50.1%

46.9%

45.4%

The overall percentage of pitches a batter sees inside the strike zone.

F-Strike%

59.6%

58.6%

59.0%

The percentage of first pitch strikes.

SwStr%

3.0%

3.2%

8.6%

[TD]The percentage of total pitches a batter swings and misses on.

[/TABLE]

[drjim]

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting Curt.

[glunn]

This is a very interesting and educational thread. Thanks, Curt.

[Riverbrian]

This is from FanGraphs.com as is much of the data I posted above. Zone% is the percent of pitches in the strike zone. I've included all Twins with 100+ PA. This shows Revere sees about 1.5% more strikes than the league average.

 

[TABLE]

Player

Zone%

Parmalee

38.20%

Doumit

41.40%

Morneau

41.70%

Mauer

42.30%

Willingham

44.60%

Casilla

45.10%

Span

46.40%

Revere

46.90%

Plouffe

48.30%

Dozier

49.00%

Carroll

50.10%

Valencia

50.90%

Twins Avg

45.60%

AL Avg

45.38%

[/TABLE]

 

I stand corrected... Nothing here to support my claim that Ben is getting cookies. Although when you consider that Ben has only struck out 16 times that will obviously lessen his strike percentage because he does not see the third strike typically.

 

I thnk curt nailed it with his first post. Ben just makes absurd contact. Couple that with his speed and you've got a fun player.

 

If he keeps up that contact rate and betters his discipline by avoiding the contact outside the zone and learns to foul off some tougher pitches. The walk rate should improve. And his BA can even go higher.

 

Of course that's also like saying that if Liriano learns to spot his slider perfectly and drops his whip a full point... His era will improve. Easier said than done.

 

Last year Ben did hit a bunch of dribblers back to the pitcher and he still has that happening but that is a by product of what he has been taught. All coaches tell a guy with Bens speed and power to beat the ball into the ground. The middle is the best place for that. When you are shooting for the middle the pitcher can get in the way.

 

Looking at Carrolls numbers. They are hard to explain. High percentage Strikes thrown... High percentage contact and low percentage of balls fouled off. Yet decent Walk total.

 

Excellent stuff Curt... I applaud your efforts. Thank you.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Last year it felt as if 2 or 3 times a game Ben was dribbling it back to the mound. This year he has a game or 2 like that and then BAM! he's getting 3 or 4 hits for a few games and all over the bases true with mostly singles and maybe an occasional walk or hbp. But he's busy on the bases.

 

Remember - we talk about the best hitters in the world in the MLB (c.f., Nishioka, JLB hitting champ = <.200 MLB) and tend to think there's a way to improve on .320 when, in fact, hitting for a living is very VERY difficult because it's highly competitive out there and if Ben can eliminate one bad thing and add one good thing per year, at that rate we're talking about someone with the aptitude to be an absolutely great HOF maybe Tony Gwynn caliber hitter. Let's repair one thing at a time. This year, eliminate those dribblers back to the mound and let's get hard grounders and liners. Next year, future years, cut back on the fly balls and get some gappers and greater selectivity.

 

OTOH, if Ben stays about where he's at, a .320 singles hitter with great speed hey! that's awfully good as is and top of the order stuff. Like Bill Wigglestick said, "Striving to better oft we mar what's well."

Let's not get carried away or anything. Ben is a super speedy guy who relies on making contact... much like his pitch to contact guys on the mound, there's a very very very fine line he needs to walk in order to remain productive. It isn't as simple as removing one bad thing and adding a good one, not to mention, opponents will adjust.

[70charger]

As said before, if you're as fast as Revere, any coach will tell you to smack the ball and run it out with your speed. I'm pleased with his contact rate; he's hit at every stop in the minors, and I never thought he wouldn't hit in the majors. He's blowing me away with .320, but even with some regression to the mean, he can still be a dangerous table setter. Add his outfield range, and you're looking at one heck of a solid piece.

 

Going back to the Carroll/Revere comparison, one of the (few) differences I saw is Carroll's higher tendency to foul off pitches. Do you think maybe he is better at fouling off the marginal pitches to keep the at bat alive, thus making it statistically more likely that he'll draw a walk? After all, you'll never draw a walk if hit a marginal pitch poorly in play; you might draw a walk if you flip a marginal pitch foul and live to see another one.

[ALessKosherScott]

I stand corrected... Nothing here to support my claim that Ben is getting cookies. Although when you consider that Ben has only struck out 16 times that will obviously lessen his strike percentage because he does not see the third strike typically.

 

I thnk curt nailed it with his first post. Ben just makes absurd contact. Couple that with his speed and you've got a fun player.

 

Looking at Carrolls numbers. They are hard to explain. High percentage Strikes thrown... High percentage contact and low percentage of balls fouled off. Yet decent Walk total.

 

 

It's off, to an extent. The pitcher isn't going to throw Revere the cookie on every pitch. He's going to throw it when he's down in the count or risking a walk to Revere. Curt's numbers take a look over every pitch. But what happens on the ultimate payoff pitch-- 3-2? Revere gets strikes 84% of the time. Using Carroll as a control, he gets a strike 76.1% of the time. But it gets more interesting when you look at where the pitches are in the zone.

 

Here's Revere:

http://pitchfx.texasleaguers.com/batter/519184/?pitchers=A&count=32&pitches=AA&from=4%2F1%2F2012&to=7%2F11%2F2012

 

Here's Carroll:

http://pitchfx.texasleaguers.com/batter/425206/?pitchers=A&count=32&pitches=AA&from=4%2F1%2F2012&to=7%2F11%2F2012

[Curt]

It's off, to an extent. The pitcher isn't going to throw Revere the cookie on every pitch. He's going to throw it when he's down in the count or risking a walk to Revere. Curt's numbers take a look over every pitch. But what happens on the ultimate payoff pitch-- 3-2? Revere gets strikes 84% of the time. Using Carroll as a control, he gets a strike 76.1% of the time. But it gets more interesting when you look at where the pitches are in the zone.

 

Nice. Carroll has many more full count opportunities... We can see that Carroll gets to more full counts (46% more) and walks more when he gets there (113% more). We can also see what happens when Revere gets pitches down the middle, an OPS of 1.336.

[TABLE]

[TD=width: 51]

[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]PA[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]FC[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]FC%[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]BB[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]BB%[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]SO[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]SO%[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]BA[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]OBP[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]SLG[/TD]

[TD=width: 46]OPS[/TD]

Carroll

312

46

14.7%

17

37.0%

7

15.2%

0.302

0.408

0.368

0.776

Revere

227

23

10.1%

4

17.4%

0

0.0%

0.579

0.652

0.684

1.336

[/TABLE]

 

Carroll sees more strikes than Revere (50.1% to 46.9%) but gets to 3-2 much more often because (?) he swings less, especially at pitches out of the strike zone (23.4% to 29.6%), hits more foul balls (23% to 19%) and puts fewer into play (31% to 39%).

[Fanatic Jack]

I'm just curious where are all the bloggers who personally attacked Ben Revere last year saying he did not hit for a high enough average and was unable to get on base. Most of them nearly had a heart attack when Span was traded to the Nationals at the deadline last year. I wonder if they need to be called out or if they will just admit they were wrong.

[FrodaddyG]

I'm just curious where are all the bloggers who personally attacked Ben Revere last year saying he did not hit for a high enough average and was unable to get on base. Most of them nearly had a heart attack when Span was traded to the Nationals at the deadline last year. I wonder if they need to be called out or if they will just admit they were wrong.

I'm no blogger, but Revere hasn't really proven wrong the people who thought his upside was as a defense-oriented singles hitter who needed to be fortunate on his BABIP to succeed. He still can't get an XBH or take a walk to save his life. This year has pretty much been on the upper end of expectations for his production (to this point). If his average creeps down into the .300 range, and his OPS dips back into the 600s, has he really made anyone who deemed him as (ideally) a fourth outfielder eat crow?

[jimbo92107]

On Base Percentage:

 

Denard Span: .334

Ben Revere: .350

Joe Mauer: .416

 

I think Revere's doing pretty well.

[DaveW]

My biggest hope for Revere is he ends up being Juan Pierre with a few less stolen bases but a little better defensively. He can be the stop gap CF until Hicks is ready, at that point you either trade him or keep him around as a nice 4th OF.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm just curious where are all the bloggers who personally attacked Ben Revere last year saying he did not hit for a high enough average and was unable to get on base. Most of them nearly had a heart attack when Span was traded to the Nationals at the deadline last year. I wonder if they need to be called out or if they will just admit they were wrong.

Less than half a season of .338 BABIP ball with little power isn't proving anyone wrong. Like Fro said, if that BABIP drops to even .320 and Revere dips down to under a .700 OPS, those doubters weren't wrong. Revere suddenly turns into a punchless OFer with great defense, which is what most of the doubters feared was his ceiling.

 

I'm very hopeful about Revere's progression and how he's been playing this season but let's not start declaring him the center fielder of the future quite yet. Ben's play has made me think that trading Span is a good idea but there's still a risk there. Revere could regress at any moment and then the Twins are in a pretty tight spot.

 

By the way, Revere posted a .704 OPS in June and a .662 OPS in July (SSS, obviously). Those numbers aren't proving any doubters wrong. Without his .799 OPS in May, his numbers are entirely pedestrian. Still, he's made progress and we should be happy about that. It makes trading Span a lot easier pill to swallow.

[Fanatic Jack]

Rocketpig,

 

Who cares about Revere's OPS. His job is to get on base (By hitting, making contact, or drawing walks), steal bases, score runs, ignite the offense, and provide great defense in the outfield. People make too much of him not hitting for power. Sure it would be great if Revere could sprinkle in a few more doubles and triples. However, with his speed he turns infield hits into doubles and triples. His range is so good in centerfield that it makes his arm not even a issue. He is much better, cheaper, and more durable than Span. Span is expendable!!!

[Brock Beauchamp]

Rocketpig,

 

Who cares about Revere's OPS. His job is to get on base (By hitting, making contact, or drawing walks), steal bases, score runs, ignite the offense, and provide great defense in the outfield. People make too much of him not hitting for power. Sure it would be great if Revere could sprinkle in a few more doubles and triples. However, with his speed he turns infield hits into doubles and triples. His range is so good in centerfield that it makes his arm not even a issue. He is much better, cheaper, and more durable than Span. Span is expendable!!!

Which is why I said I'm hopeful about Revere but let's not pretend that it's not possible for him to backslide. Speedy guys without historically strong OBP skills walk a very fine line. Their BABIP drops and suddenly they're a marginal player. They suffer even a minor lower body injury and suddenly they're a marginal player. Pitchers adjust to them and suddenly they're a marginal player.

 

I'm hoping that won't happen to Revere (otherwise I wouldn't be advocating a trade of Span) but it's a possibility. It happens to "hit it on the ground and burn to first" players in their early to mid 20s all the time.

[FrodaddyG]

Which is why I said I'm hopeful about Revere but let's not pretend that it's not possible for him to backslide. Speedy guys without historically strong OBP skills walk a very fine line. Their BABIP drops and suddenly they're a marginal player. They suffer even a minor lower body injury and suddenly they're a marginal player. Pitchers adjust to them and suddenly they're a marginal player.

 

I'm hoping that won't happen to Revere (otherwise I wouldn't be advocating a trade of Span) but it's a possibility. It happens to "hit it on the ground and burn to first" players in their early to mid 20s all the time.

Come on, Pig, all he has to do is "ignite the offense". And he "turns infield singles into doubles and triples"! Insert other generic platitude here!

[Cychotic]

Rocketpig,

 

Who cares about Revere's OPS. His job is to get on base (By hitting, making contact, or drawing walks), steal bases, score runs, ignite the offense, and provide great defense in the outfield. People make too much of him not hitting for power. Sure it would be great if Revere could sprinkle in a few more doubles and triples. However, with his speed he turns infield hits into doubles and triples. His range is so good in centerfield that it makes his arm not even a issue. He is much better, cheaper, and more durable than Span. Span is expendable!!!

A single and a steal does not equal a double if there are runners on base at the time. A double with a runner on second will usually result in a run scored. A single and a steal with a man on second will probably result in zero runs and runners on second and third. Call me crazy, but I prefer the actual double.

[greengoblinrulz]

Ben has exceeded everyones hope but the problem is gonna be that he is only as valuable as his batting average. That can be dangerous, but so far this year, so good.

With Benson, Arcia & Hicks all about ready (give or take) & Buxton possibly a couple yrs out (#2 picks should make majors in 3/4 yrs IMO), Ben could be a 4th OF....but a very valuable one.

[Riverbrian]

Ben could eventually be pushed out by our prospects in the future. Although... Hes a Gardy type of player and it may not happen under Gardenhire. I don't know.

 

However... Those players are not here right now. This is the 2012 Twins and Ben is without question a 2012 starter.

 

I'm enjoying watching him play ball and I can't understand how others don't feel the same. This guy plays baseball how it's supposed to be played. I really don't recall seeing any player like him for quite some time.

 

That catch he almost made tonight would have given him another MLB play of the year award. The play he made on Vlad last year that gave him the award last year was beyond words. Sensational catch after sensational catch. .300 hitter.

 

This kid can put some butts in the seats.

 

Are doubles really the sticking point for the anti Revere crowd. It alludes me.

[Bark's Lounge]

In the past half year I have been a sometimes vocal opponent of Ben Revere, I now must back River Brian in the fact that Revere is a magic maker, a shaman of baseball.

 

This young man might not have the greatest abilities when it comes to stereotypical baseball performance, but he is magic on the field and seemingly brings it on a day in and day out basis. He will not accrue many assists as an outfielder, he will not hit many extra-base hits at the plate.

 

This kid will play a gold glove outfield without a good arm, he will hit near .300 without any pop, and he will steal a ton of bases.

 

Ben Revere has a magic quality to him, and he will succeed. He is baseball... and a reminder why I love this game.

[Bark's Lounge]

... He brings excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!!