CUBS bats come alive !!

[Fred Hornkohl]

Since I last took a look at the team's rankings about 3 weeks ago.... the CUBS have jumped up in the rankings from 16th to 15th in hits, and from 16th all the way to 12th in batting average......

 

06/25           AB   R    H  2B  3B  HR   TB RBI  BB   SO  SB  CS     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
NY Mets       2631 394  705 158  20 101 1206 376 243  491  83  14  0.268  0.335  0.458  0.794
LA Dodgers    2573 400  726 137  23  69 1116 387 297  428  60  16  0.282  0.359  0.434  0.792
Cincinnati    2571 369  664 147   8 103 1136 353 304  549  63  12  0.258  0.340  0.442  0.782
Milwaukee     2526 352  667 146   7  98 1121 333 243  576  43  15  0.264  0.334  0.444  0.778
St. Louis     2492 372  698 137  13  70 1071 355 240  379  32  21  0.280  0.348  0.430  0.778
Colorado      2511 341  678 147  24  70 1083 321 231  495  29  20  0.270  0.337  0.431  0.768
Philadelphia  2526 358  639 135  12  96 1086 340 266  538  42  18  0.253  0.330  0.430  0.760
Florida       2369 324  623 135  15  73 1007 306 225  562  51  26  0.263  0.333  0.425  0.758
Atlanta       2588 359  676 127  15  87 1094 349 250  571  32  18  0.261  0.328  0.423  0.751
Arizona       2585 361  683 146  15  72 1075 346 254  444  37  16  0.264  0.333  0.416  0.748
San Francisco 2485 347  644 121  29  67 1024 324 261  388  19  14  0.259  0.333  0.412  0.745
Pittsburgh    2599 342  675 137   7  85 1081 323 223  537  28  10  0.260  0.325  0.416  0.741
Houston       2556 346  659 131   9  79 1045 333 265  490  32  14  0.258  0.332  0.409  0.741
Washington    2568 337  652 141   8  82 1055 315 253  510  42  28  0.254  0.327  0.411  0.737
San Diego     2520 323  643 131  16  66 1004 303 235  512  57  12  0.255  0.322  0.398  0.720
CUBS          2479 292  642 108  19  61  971 273 172  370  50  21  0.259  0.310  0.392  0.700

Average       2536 351  667 137  15  80 1073 334 248  490  44  17  0.263  0.333  0.423  0.756
Maximum       2631 400  726 158  29 103 1206 387 304  576  83  28  0.282  0.359  0.458  0.794
Minimum       2369 292  623 108   7  61  971 273 172  370  19  10  0.253  0.310  0.392  0.700

 

 

          Avg    Max    Min  St Dev   CUBS   Rank  Zscore
AB       2536   2631   2369   60.66   2479     15   -0.94
R         351    400    292   25.79    292     16   -2.29
H         667    726    623   26.41    642     15   -0.95
2B        137    158    108   11.43    108     16   -2.49
3B         15     29      7    6.41     19      5    0.62
HR         80    103     61   13.20     61     16   -1.43
TB       1073   1206    971   55.69    971     16   -1.84
RBI       334    387    273   27.38    273     16   -2.21
BB        248    304    172   29.46    172     16   -2.57
SO        490    576    370   66.68    370      1   -1.80
SB         44     83     19   15.79     50      6    0.40
CS         17     28     10    4.85     21     12    0.79
BA      0.263  0.282  0.253    0.01  0.259     12   -0.49
OBP     0.333  0.359  0.310    0.01  0.310     16   -2.18
SLG     0.423  0.458  0.392    0.02  0.392     16   -1.87
OPS     0.756  0.794  0.700    0.03  0.700     16   -2.23

 

This is just sad.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Phew, up to 16th in OBP. Wait a minute...

[Big Fergie J]

I wonder how many of those triples we left stranded !?!?

[goonys evil twin]

Good thing they aren't striking out, because we all know the key to winning is just putting the ball in play.

[Chocolate Milk]

Good thing they aren't striking out, because we all know the key to winning is just putting the ball in play.

 

Puts the defense under tremendous pressure.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

We have 51 less BB than the next lowest? 51?!?!

[Fred Hornkohl]

We have 51 less BB than the next lowest? 51?!?!

 

CUBS are on a pace to draw 379 walks this year..... compared to 419 last year

CUBS have drawn 20 BBs in their last 13 games..... 34 BBs in their last 19 games

 

It just keeps getting worse !!

[goonys evil twin]

Sometimes I feel like I go a little overboard in my desperate pleas for more walks by Cubs hitters. But then I look at stuff like this and feel absolutely justified.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Sometimes I feel like I go a little overboard in my desperate pleas for more walks by Cubs hitters. But then I look at stuff like this and feel absolutely justified.

 

11 H, 1 BB, 1 run

 

No... you're not overboard.

[FergieJ31]

I scanned down the depressing Rank column, saw the one outlier and thought 'woohoo at least we're not striking out' :(

 

no goony, you're completely justified

[Fred Hornkohl]

..... and we're really clutch, too !!

 

06/25           R    H  BB HBP    R/BR
NY Mets       394  705 243  34   0.401
LA Dodgers    400  726 297  22   0.383
St. Louis     372  698 240  34   0.383
Philadelphia  358  639 266  33   0.382
Atlanta       359  676 250  19   0.380
Arizona       361  683 254  26   0.375
San Francisco 347  644 261  25   0.373
Milwaukee     352  667 243  35   0.372
Cincinnati    369  664 304  27   0.371
Florida       324  623 225  34   0.367
Pittsburgh    342  675 223  41   0.364
Houston       346  659 265  31   0.362
Colorado      341  678 231  33   0.362
San Diego     323  643 235  23   0.358
Washington    337  652 253  37   0.358
CUBS          292  642 172  19   0.351

Average       351  667 248  31   0.375
Maximum       400  726 304  41   0.401
Minimum       292  623 172  19   0.351

[Guest]

..... and we're really clutch, too !!

 

06/25           R    H  BB HBP    R/BR
NY Mets       394  705 243  34   0.401
LA Dodgers    400  726 297  22   0.383
St. Louis     372  698 240  34   0.383
Philadelphia  358  639 266  33   0.382
Atlanta       359  676 250  19   0.380
Arizona       361  683 254  26   0.375
San Francisco 347  644 261  25   0.373
Milwaukee     352  667 243  35   0.372
Cincinnati    369  664 304  27   0.371
Florida       324  623 225  34   0.367
Pittsburgh    342  675 223  41   0.364
Houston       346  659 265  31   0.362
Colorado      341  678 231  33   0.362
San Diego     323  643 235  23   0.358
Washington    337  652 253  37   0.358
CUBS          292  642 172  19   0.351

Average       351  667 248  31   0.375
Maximum       400  726 304  41   0.401
Minimum       292  623 172  19   0.351

To be completely fair you should probably subtract HR from the run and hit totals. (Otherwise "clutch" teams will be biased toward those that hit a lot of homeruns, as home runs have a 100% R/BR ratio.)

Edited June 26, 2006 by Anonymous

[sethuel1]

A .700 OPS! Yes! A division title is only a little more speed and defense away.

[BigbadB]

..... and we're really clutch, too !!

 

06/25           R    H  BB HBP    R/BR
NY Mets       394  705 243  34   0.401
LA Dodgers    400  726 297  22   0.383
St. Louis     372  698 240  34   0.383
Philadelphia  358  639 266  33   0.382
Atlanta       359  676 250  19   0.380
Arizona       361  683 254  26   0.375
San Francisco 347  644 261  25   0.373
Milwaukee     352  667 243  35   0.372
Cincinnati    369  664 304  27   0.371
Florida       324  623 225  34   0.367
Pittsburgh    342  675 223  41   0.364
Houston       346  659 265  31   0.362
Colorado      341  678 231  33   0.362
San Diego     323  643 235  23   0.358
Washington    337  652 253  37   0.358
CUBS          292  642 172  19   0.351

Average       351  667 248  31   0.375
Maximum       400  726 304  41   0.401
Minimum       292  623 172  19   0.351

To be completely fair you should probably subtract HR from the run and hit totals. (Otherwise "clutch" teams will be biased toward those that hit a lot of homeruns, as home runs have a 100% R/BR ratio.)

 

But, isn't that the problem of those teams that don't hit a lot of home runs? If you were to count a triple that cleared the bases, how can you not count a home run that clears the bases?

[Guest]

To be completely fair you should probably subtract HR from the run and hit totals. (Otherwise "clutch" teams will be biased toward those that hit a lot of homeruns, as home runs have a 100% R/BR ratio.)

 

But, isn't that the problem of those teams that don't hit a lot of home runs? If you were to count a triple that cleared the bases, how can you not count a home run that clears the bases?

It's not about clearing the bases, it's about the run scored by the batter. A guy who hits a home run is never technically on base so he can't be driven in. If you are attempting to measure a clutch factor by looking at the percentage of runners on base driven in it's best to leave HR out of the picture. (Whatever runners were on base when the player hit the HR would still count, just not the run scored by the batter.)

[BigbadB]

To be completely fair you should probably subtract HR from the run and hit totals. (Otherwise "clutch" teams will be biased toward those that hit a lot of homeruns, as home runs have a 100% R/BR ratio.)

 

But, isn't that the problem of those teams that don't hit a lot of home runs? If you were to count a triple that cleared the bases, how can you not count a home run that clears the bases?

It's not about clearing the bases, it's about the run scored by the batter. A guy who hits a home run is never technically on base so he can't be driven in. If you are attempting to measure a clutch factor by looking at the percentage of runners on base driven in it's best to leave HR out of the picture. (Whatever runners were on base when the player hit the HR would still count, just not the run scored by the batter.)

 

I don't mean to argue with you on this subject, since I do think you are much more knowledgeable in this field. However, the runs total isn't just measuring clutchness. If a guy scores on a wild pitch, it's still a run scored.

 

If you were truly rating clutchness, wouldn't you measure it by RBI and hits rather than runs and hits? I didn't really think Fred's stats were measuring clutchness, but rather the percentage of runners on base that score, whether they were driven in, got themselves in safely via hit, out or error.

[Fred Hornkohl]

All good points. I described the block of data by using the word clutch.... maybe it's a misnomer. I don't really think of R/BR as a measure of clutch, but rather as a kind of measurement of the efficiency of an offense. This is why I used R rather than RBI, and why I didn't back out HR. After all, what could be more efficient than a HR ? Anyway you slice it, though, the CUBS just don't measure up.

[moorecg]

We're over 50 walks behind the next worse team...wow. That's about all I can say.

 

That's almost another full base runner a game we would have had...and that's not getting us up to average...that's getting us up to second to last.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

All good points. I described the block of data by using the word clutch.... maybe it's a misnomer. I don't really think of R/BR as a measure of clutch, but rather as a kind of measurement of the efficiency of an offense. This is why I used R rather than RBI, and why I didn't back out HR. After all, what could be more efficient than a HR ? Anyway you slice it, though, the CUBS just don't measure up.

 

Truer words may never have been spoken.