No Wonder the Cubs Didnt Like Him

I found this amusing.

Updating a previous item, The San Francisco Chronicle's Susan Slusser reports Boston Red Sox IF Mark Bellhorn burned his former team, the Oakland Athletics, with three hits, including a homer, five RBIs (matching his career high) and four runs (a career high) Tuesday, May 25. "When he came up here, he didn't get much of an opportunity, and at times, he took a lot of pitches,'' Athletics manager Ken Macha said. "It was a break for him to go somewhere else and he absolutely took advantage of it.

To be labeled as taking to many pitches? Ohhh the horror! The horror! He clearly didn't fit the mold of Cubs hitters whose philosophy is swing early and swing often. On average he see's about 4.23 pitches per plate appearance. Sosa and Derek Lee are the only other Cubs to come close with around 4.00 pitches per plate appearance. And to think people bitch about them striking out, yet give Alex Gonzalez a free pass.

Bellhorn's average still isnt up above .250, other than that he is having a great season. Currently he is batting .249, with 6 HR's, and 32 RBI. He has 41 walks which ranks him #5 in all of baseball. Ofcourse he also has 58 SO's. If he manages to get 500 AB's he will punch out about 163 times this season.

He isnt the perfect fit for 2nd base for any team. But if you have some real hitters in your lineup all you need is a guy who has the ability to get on base ahead you. And Mark Bellhorn is doing that for the Boston Redsox. The Redsox understand that, the Cubs? Well we like to insert the .300 OBP and below guys usually at the top of the order. Then the Cubs wonder why they cant score runs.

Positional wise Bellhorn ranks #2 in RBI only behind Jeff Kent, #2 in runs scored with 36, #4 in HR's, and #3 in OBP. Not bad for a guy labeled as being to patient at the plate, wait wasn't that the knock on Hee Seop Choi by the Cubs? He isnt around anymore either.