Game Thread: Twins vs. Tigers, 5/23/18 @ 12:10PM CT

[jun]

Goodrum looks way better than Adrianza in the lineup.

[BoofBonser]

One last stat: 

Jake Arrieta, Julio Teheran, Nick Pivetta, Dan Straily, Luis Castillo, Jackson Stephens, Carlos Carrasco, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Clayton Richard, Jon Gray, Zack Wheeler, Patrick Corbin, Steven Brault, German Marquez, Max Scherzer, Daniel Mengden, Odrisamer Despaigne, Robbie Erlin, Brent Suter, Drew Hutchison, Luis Perdomo, Josh Hader, Derek Law, JA Happ, AJ Cole, Justin Verlander, Wade Miley, Ian Kennedy, Charlie Morton, Jorge De La Rosa,  and Vince Velasquez among others (all pitchers) have a higher OPS than Byron Buxton 

[yarnivek1972]

I fail to understand why Addison Reed didn’t pitch the 9th. He hasn’t pitched since Sunday. Tomorrow is an off day. Today was Pressly’s 4th outing in the last 5 games. It isn’t why the Twins lost, of course. Still. Puzzling to say the least.

[mrmpls]

 

I fail to understand why Addison Reed didn’t pitch the 9th. He hasn’t pitched since Sunday. Tomorrow is an off day. Today was Pressly’s 4th outing in the last 5 games. It isn’t why the Twins lost, of course. Still. Puzzling to say the least.

Thinking the same thing ??

[sampleSizeOfOne]

What do we get to eat if not chicken?

 

Do we just go hungry on days like this?

[mickeymental]

 

Adrianza: .220 average, OPS of .603, slowest player on the team at shortstop? 

Wilson: .174 average, OPS of .584, cool, he hit his first HR in two years 

Buxton: .167 average, OPS of .408, sheesh 

Cave: 1-8 with a dinger... 3 poor AB's today
 

Thankfully Robbie and LoMo are heating up a bit

you are right -- can't argue that those numbers are anything but dreadful. just seemed like an odd time to make the point. a bit of quick ciphering for the three-game series (but didn't double-check my work): 

 

4-5-6 in the order:

3-for-31 (.097) w/2r, 5bb, 1rbi, 1xbh

 

7-8-9 in the order:

7-for-24 (.292) w/6r, 3bb, 4rbi, 5xbh

[Squirrel]

 

Pressly's problem is he always seems to let inherited runners score.

He didn't last night.

[ewen21]

 

One last stat: 

Jake Arrieta, Julio Teheran, Nick Pivetta, Dan Straily, Luis Castillo, Jackson Stephens, Carlos Carrasco, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Clayton Richard, Jon Gray, Zack Wheeler, Patrick Corbin, Steven Brault, German Marquez, Max Scherzer, Daniel Mengden, Odrisamer Despaigne, Robbie Erlin, Brent Suter, Drew Hutchison, Luis Perdomo, Josh Hader, Derek Law, JA Happ, AJ Cole, Justin Verlander, Wade Miley, Ian Kennedy, Charlie Morton, Jorge De La Rosa,  and Vince Velasquez among others (all pitchers) have a higher OPS than Byron Buxton 

Byron Buxton is fast.

[ashbury]

Looking at the box score and Buxton’s .167 average. Does anyone know the lowest BA to qualify? That would be 3.1 PAs per scheduled game.

baseball-reference.com's Play Index feature locates quite a number of qualifying batters with BA lower than Buxton's. Most played in the 19th century, and that's a mixed bag that maybe isn't worth exploring for this purpose.

 

Going back to only 1901, legendary all-glove no-stick catcher Bill Bergen hit .139 in 1909. That was hardly his only putrid season, as he's also second on the list with .159 in 1906. His manager knew what he was getting when he penciled him into the lineup, and kept doing it anyway - altogether Bergen shows up 6 times in the bottom 16 in this dimension. Buxton should be so lucky.

 

Note that Buxton himself doesn't yet have enough PA this year to qualify. Among 2018 batters who do, Dexter Fowler is hitting .155, Baltimore's Chris Davis is at .158, and Lewis Brinson and Kole Calhoun are each at .160.

 

Bad hitters don't usually get enough chances to qualify for a batting title over a full season. So that somewhat skews this way of looking at it, since Buxton is at only 76 PA (when you asked). If you relax the search to allow for players with that many PA since the expansion era, guys like Ron Karkovice (arguably the Bill Bergen of his day, except that teams were by now smarter) show up with a BA of .071 - and Buxton doesn't even crack the bottom 200.

 

So while Buxton's numbers are gag-inducing, at this stage of the season he is hardly alone. Maybe that provides some perspective, maybe it just brings more misery.

[Vanimal46]

What do we get to eat if not chicken?

 

Do we just go hungry on days like this?

Tuna in a can...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Tuna in a can...

I sea what you did theah.