SB Nation User Blog: lonestarJon

7/9 GDT#2

lonestarJon — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:15:58 -0000

7/9 GDT#2

7/8 GDT3

lonestarJon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:25:41 -0000

7/8 GDT3

7/7 GDT #2

lonestarJon — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:03:02 -0000

7/7 GDT #2

6/30 GDT #2 Because the original is over 650 comments.

lonestarJon — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:40:46 -0000

6/30 GDT #2

Because the original is over 650 comments.

37-32 (6-23 postgame)

lonestarJon — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 04:34:04 -0000

So, we've now lost 5 straight games, one to the 18th, three to the 29th and now one to the 21st place team in the majors in wOBA. They've outscored us 24 to 12 in those 5 games.

I think the Rangers need to show this warning before all offensive innings:

via i291.photobucket.com

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

A REAL 6-18 minors thread

lonestarJon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:22:09 -0000

So people don't have to put up with HurlerHurley's bullshit, here's some actual minors information...

OKC is tied with Nashville, 6-6 in the 9th. Josh Rupe continues to be horrible, allowing all 6 runs (although only three are earned) over 6.1 IP.

Julio Borbon is 3-5 with an RBI, and Jose Vallejo is 2-4 with his second AAA homer. Max Ramirez is a big 0-5.

~~Frisco is just wrapped up a slugfest win over Corpus Christi, winning 13-9~~ Check that, Beau Jones has actually blown the lead, and it's 13-13. I thought the box score said it was over, but apparently not. Frank Francisco and Dustin Nippert, both on rehab assignments, didn't allow a hit in 3 innings between them, but Kasey Kiker got lit up for 5 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits and a walk in 4 innings.

On the offensive side, Mitch Moreland continues to rake, going 3-5 with a double, and Marcus Lemon went 3-5 with 4 RBI. Somehow Johnny Whittleman went 4-5 with 2 doubles, as well.

Bakersfield is scoreless in the third with Visalia, 2 hits and no runs for both teams. Ryan Tatusko's on the mound for the Blaze.

And finally, Hickory got hammered by West Virginia today, with the previously untouchable Wilfredo Boscan getting ripped for 5 runs on 7 hits and a walk in 2.2 innings. Fabio Castillo also gave up 3 on 6 hits in 2.1 IP.

On the bright side, Macumba De Los Santos was 3-4 with a double and 3 RBI.

6-6 Minors "after the fact" thread

lonestarJon — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:43:58 -0000

Didn't see a minors thread today, and since it was mentioned in one of the GDT's that there should be more minor league coverage on LSB, I thought I'd fill the void (since it appears Kinslerhomer and Firebat took the day off). Shroom's calendar has all the box scores and stuff, as usual.

- The Redhawks are heading to the top of the 9th in Albuquerque, enduring a 13-3 pounding at the hands of the Isotopes (Hollywood's favorite Minor League Baseball team). Most of the damage has come against Nolan Ryan favorite Brian Gordon (who surrendered 7 runs in 1.2 IP) and 40-man residee John Bannister (5 runs, 4 earned in 2 IP).

Tommy Hunter gave up 5 hits and struck out just 1 in 2.1 IP, but allowed just one run, so the good news is he was pulled before the carnage began. The highlights would probably be Julio Borbon, who has enjoyed a 3-hit night, and Steve Murphy, who literally just picked up his third hit as I write.

Kevin Richardson, however, just grounded into a double play, so now the game's over.

- Frisco lost 4-3 to NW Arkansas, with Beau Jones giving up 2 runs in the 9th inning to take the loss after the game had been tied 2-2 through 8.

The notable highlights: Matt Harrison went 3 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 BB and 5 K's in his first rehab start, Mitch Moreland went 2-4 with a homer, and Tim Smith went 2-3 with a double in his second game in the Texas League.

- Bakersfield also lost 5-2 in San Jose, with Richard Bleier giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and a walk in 6 innings, despite posting a season-high 7 strikeouts. Literally the only Bakersfield offense to speak of came from Ian Gac's 2-run homer (he had 2 of the 4 BAK hits).

- And finally, in the days real attraction, Hickory beat Greensboro 5-2 behind the always exciting Jake Brigham/Martin Perez tandem. Brigam went 4 innings, gave up both runs (only 1 earned) on 4 hits and 2 walks, K'ing 4, but it was Perez who shined, as usual: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.

On the offensive side, Mike Bianucci and Macumba De Los Santos both registered 2 hit games, and Christian Santana hit just his first HR of the season, one of a pair in the game by Hickory.

Random Ranger plate discipline stats

lonestarJon — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:45:23 -0000

Accumulated from Fangraphs leaderboards:

BB%: 7.2, second-lowest in majors
K%: 23.1, 6th-highest in majors
BB/K: .33, lowest in majors
Swing%: 49.5, second highest in majors
Z-swing%: 73.3, highest in majors
O-Swing%: 27.2, fourth highest in majors
Contact%: 74.7%, lowest in majors
Z-Contact%: 81.9, lowest in majors
O-Contact%: 56.5, second-lowest in majors

So, first off the most noteable stat is the Rangers have the second-worst walk rate in the majors. In our company is Seattle (the only team worse than us) with a 7.1, and the Giants who are one above us with a 7.3. From there it jumps over an entire point to the Twins and Angels at 8.4. The mean would seem to be in the mid-high 9's to low 10's, judging by the leaderboard.

Now, our K% is only 6th-worst in the majors (the Brewers, Rays, DBacks, Nats and Marlins are all worse) But the lack of walks means we have the majors worst BB/K ratio of .33%. To put that in perspective, the Giants (.34) are the only other team below .41. Scary.

You'll also see we've swung at the second most pitches in the majors overall - only the Giants have barely swung at more, offering at 49.6% of the pitches they've seen. After the Rangers and the Giants things drop 2 whole points to the Mariners at 47.3 and the White Sox at 47.1. The mean would seem to be in the 44% range.

We're the only team in the majors that has swung at over 70% of pitches in the zone (z-swing%). I suppose we can take a certain amount of comfort in the fact that while our 27.2 O-swing% (the amount of pitches out of the zone we've swung at) is pretty bad, it's nowhere near the Giants MLB-worst 32.2%... a kind of morbid comfort, anyway.

Now, as far as making contact goes... well, we've been horrible at that, too. Our 74.7 contact% is almost three points lower than the second to last Brewers (77.1). There's only one other team below 78%, and that's the Diamondbacks who have the worst OBP in the majors (and still, by the way, have a 9.0 BB%).

As the overall number would indicate, the contact numbers for pitches in the zone are also horrible - the 81.9 z-contact% is again 2-3 points lower than the second to last Brewers (84.2). But hey, at least we're 2 points better at making contact with pitches out of the zone (56.5%) than the dead-last Padres (54.3%).

To summarize:

Well, we're not walking, which is because we're swinging at everything. We're also having lots of problems making contact - yet we have the majors 5th-highest BABIP at .321. I'm admittedly not the smartest guy when it comes to drawing conclusions from this kind of stuff, but it looks to me like we've been incredibly lucky so far for a team that can't get on base any other way than hacking it's way aboard. Unless this offense can maintain another BABIP in the 320's again (they did it last year to the tune of .329) I would think we could be in for a big decline in runs scored if (or when) that BABIP comes down, unless this offense seriously revises it's approach.

***

So waddya think guys? Does this mean anything, or am I just overreacting?And please tell me it's the latter.

LSJ previews the rest of the AL West

lonestarJon — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:22:08 -0000

LSJ previews the rest of the AL West

I hope nobody minds the self-plug, but I've put together an amateur preview of the other teams in the AL West over on Hello Win Column. Feel free to stop by and lemme know what y'all think.

Mystery solved: CJ has a blister

lonestarJon — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:13:41 -0000

Mystery solved: CJ has a blister

Apparently this is why CJ didn't pitch today - supposedly he was scheduled to pitch the 7th, but apparently the blister developed and popped during morning workouts.

Still kind of odd that we didn't hear about it until after the game (and after two minor leaguers who aren't even NRI's blew the game).

Update: EG says CJ didn't even travel with the team out to Glendale.