Better Words

I was looking through some old articles on the Cub Reporter and came across a Patterson post from Feb 11th 2004 written by Neil that sums up what I was trying to explain in my earlier post about Patterson being a good option at the top of the order...

2 points:

1. Does 'working the count' only apply to lead-off hitters in Dusty's book? If so then it's too bad Hee Seop Choi was so tall.

2. Reading the comments about Patterson reminded me that I read a couple of months ago that he had been 2nd best in the majors at getting into scoring position of his own volition, i.e. through extra base hits and stolen bases.

This prompted some quick and dirty crunching. Here's what I got.

Grudz OBA .366
Patterson OBA .329

Difference in times on base over 600 PA, Grudz +22.

Counting extra base hits, difference in SB to CS, and subtracting sacrifices from PAs: percentage of times in scoring positon unaided:

Grudz .090
Patterson .139

Difference over 600 PAs, Patterson +29.

So it could be argued that while Grudz is more likely to get on base, Patterson is more likely to score a run.

I know it's small samples etc., but Patterson represents a better option at lead-off than might first meet the eye. FWIW, I'd bat him down the order but purely because of his LHB.

Like I said, even if Patterson has a .320 OBP from the lead-off spot he will be a much better option to have at the top of the order to take advantage of his speed so the team can score more runs.