Comments on: Joe Mauer and Fastballs

By: twinsfan

twinsfan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:33:57 +0000

Span no, he’s fantastic at the top of the lineup.

Cabrera? He certainly qualifies as awful and has no business at the top of anyone’s lineup.

By: Steve H

Steve H — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:24:34 +0000

part of that is the fact he NEVER swing on the first pitch of an-at bat and almost always seemingly gets ahead in a count

so the pitcher often times HAS to come in with a fast-ball with Justin Mornea and Jason Kubel and the RED HOT Michael Cuddyer on deck and in the hole.

By: Dave Allen

Dave Allen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:03:38 +0000

Span hit lead-off for the Twins all season and has solid on-base skills.

By: PhD Brian

PhD Brian — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:58:53 +0000

The twins need some lead off hitters that can get on base.

By: adohaj

adohaj — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:22:00 +0000

I wouldn’t call Span/Cabrerra awful. The platoon of lineup placeholders that occupied the 2 hole before the allstar break on the other hand…

By: twinsfan

twinsfan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:41:56 +0000

Gardenhire should be ashamed of sticking so many awful hitters in front of Joe.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:38:52 +0000

Could this have anything to do with Mauer batting in a disproportionate number of situations with the bases empty (compared to other good players)?

i noticed he hit 20 solo HRs.

he had 55% of his PA’s with the bases empty.

just picking another guy who mostly batted 3rd, Teixiera only had 47.5% of his PA’s with the bases empty.

are pitchers just being more aggressive b/c there is no one on base?

By: zach

zach — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:14:21 +0000

Could you look at it by count? Mauer probably sees as many 3 ball pitches as anyone.

By: Dave Allen

Dave Allen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:51:41 +0000

Yeah I made a mistake, ‘more’ in the second sentence should be ‘fewer.’ I changed it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Just like teh doctor says below this comment.

By: doctor_teh

doctor_teh — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:50:14 +0000

I can explain them, the second one was a mistake, clearly that was not what he meant to say. I’m sure he will fix it up shortly.