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While I must disclose that I am personally am a fan of Twins SS/2B Nick Punto because of his fielding, hustle & tenacity, I can’t quite understand why he’s seen so much playing time when he’s batting a paltry .209. Being a fan of someone does not mean I’m blind to numbers like that, so I did about 8 minutes of research. I was somewhat surprised what I found.Punto’s on base percentage is .326. Who is above him? Mauer (.432), Morneau (.399), Kubel (.385), Span (.370), Cuddyer (.354), & another .209 hitter, Brian Buscher (.347; no wonder he pinch hits so often). If the top two spots in the batting order should go to guys with some speed, who get on base, then considering Kubel, Morneau & Cuddy are middle of the line-up guys (and have no speed anyway), it actually makes numerical sense for Punto to be at the spot, as much as he is struggling with hitting this year, unless the Twins wanted to move everyone up again to have Mauer batting 2nd. The goal is to get on base for the guys that come next. He didn’t have a good showing there in game 1 in Oakland (his 0 for night is what led me to look into why Gardy plays him so much), but even with those numbers from tonight, in terms of getting on base, he may actually be a better option than the other choices currently on the roster.
Since these numbers are for the whole season, and I think more recent play is always important when looking at stats, I also looked at his June & July numbers. Turns out in the past month & a half, he is batting .250 with a .369 on base percentage (which is just below Span’s .370 OBP for the season). Walks (logically) seem to be the key. While he’s only had 17 hits in that span (no pun intended), he has 16 walks as well.
Then I thought I’d see how the Twins do when he plays in the games, as winning would be the top goal. Since he has often been a late inning replacement in games where the Twins are leading, I only looked at games in which he had 3 or more plate appearances. This season, the Twins are one game above .500 overall, barely sneaking in with a .505 winning percentage. However, when Punto plays the majority of the, the Twins are 4 games above .500, with a .534 winning percentage. Huh. That doesn’t seem like a big difference, but game 163 last year showed the importance of each and every win. Maybe this Ron Gardenhire guy actually does know what he is doing.
Even as a Punto fan though, I would like to see him start getting some extra base hits again, as he only has 6 of those, and 0 triples. But if he can keep increasing his batting average and on base percentage throughout the year, and is batting in front of Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, Cuddyer, and/or Crede, he should start scoring a lot more runs, which would make everybody in Twins Territory happy!
As for the pitching debacle & less than shining defense in Oakland, topped off with a pathetic call on the game tying run for the Twins by an out of position umpire, well, I just don’t want to think about that game anymore.
Nick Punto Photo taken by me, Liz Strand, 05/03/07 at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
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I'll post this with a disclaimer that I'm *not* a LNP fan, but I also don't see Twins games outside of national broadcasts and Ranger games.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I don't like him, he does provide the "hustle"--diving after a ball on defense or pulling a header into first. Sometimes little things like that (no matter how foolish) inspire a team. Harris should be an everyday player, and LNP and Alexi should be platooned. The platoon is basically for defense--I like Harris, but I don't think his range at SS is as good as LNP, and so a game where Buscher is starting at 3B, LNP should be his SS.
::disclaimer--I don't play around with stats as much as what I see in game action.::
I forgot to mention that I don't like the headfirst diving into 1st...but he has put a lot of thought into why he does it, for better or worse.
ReplyDeleteI don't think stats tell the whole story either, but I find as a fan, I often connect to things emotionally, and don't always look at the details, so the stats help me balance it out. Wins & loses are the only true stat that counts, but other stats are fun to play around with too. I can count how many tweets I've seen with people complaining (and wanting Gardy fired) for playing a guy hitting .200, but if he's getting on base as much as the guys hitting .300, he's doing something right.
I like Harris a lot too, and I want Casilla to do well, even if he's been less than impressive this year. I want whatever helps them win. But I do think intangibles that don't show up on stats are rather important too. I like to mesh all of that stuff together!