Micheal Salzman has been defensively-minded over the past week. No, wait, that's an understatement.
His last hit was a three-run homer in the first inning of a 7-4 loss to River Cities...and that was a week ago. After that hit, he's gone 0-for-TWENTY, striking out seven times and walking once.
On the other side of the plate, he didn't make a single error over the course of those games, and participated in no fewer than seven double plays.
You know, I think it's even a little worse than that. Before the home run you mention, he was on a 0-12 streak. In all, it looks like in his last 9 games and 6 innings, Mr. Salzman is 1-33 with the three-run homer, one walk, and 11 strikeouts. I think that makes his batting line for that stretch something like:
ReplyDelete.030/.058/.121
I'm no expert, but I don't think a .179 OPS is really what you're hoping for when you slot someone in at the fifth spot in the line-up.
Before that though, to continue the weirdness, he was 6-11 to start July with two doubles, three home runs and 8 RBI. I put his line there at .545/.545/1.545. I imagine you would slightly prefer the 2.090 OPS he displayed there.
Can y'all say 'sample size', kids? Great! I knew you could!
ReplyDeleteJust because it's easily explainable doesn't make it any less interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh, I never said it wasn't. These little things make up the fabric of analysis.
ReplyDeleteI once did a breakdown on the 80s Cubs (God help me) that showed that for most of each season they were very competitive but there would be one or two bad two-week periods per season where they'd go 2-10 or 3-9 or so and those were the difference between being in the race and being in the rear.