Spring Training Stats Translating to Early Season Success

We all know the argument that Spring Stats don’t matter.  Veterans take the time to get at-bats, work on seeing pitches, work on different pitches, and enjoy the game of baseball.  The failures in spring can often be attributed to these types of happy-go-lucky attitudes, or “I’m just getting work in.”  But, at the end of Spring, I highlighted a couple guys who put up monster numbers during Spring Training.  As we transition into summer (trust me 95 across the South today means its summer), I figure we should take a look at how our Spring Superstars are doing 2 months into the season.

1) Erick Almonte:  After owning March, Almonte has NOT enjoyed the Regular season.  He’s the backup first baseman in Milwaukee (Prince Fielder is still employed there), and after getting only 3 hits in 29 at bats (.103 BA) was struck in the head during BP (AFLAC… get it? like duck. Anyway…).  He spent a week in a nauseous state where he could not even watch television without experiencing dizziness and was barred completely from exercising in Late April.  He then became the first Major Leaguer to go on the 7 day concussion DL but he hasn’t seen Major League action yet.  Feel better Erick. Pretend it’s March again.

2) Michael Morse: Morse clubbed 9 HR in 63 at bats during the Spring.  He’s clubbed 7 in 128 ABs since the start of the Regular Season. He’s hit 5 HR in his last 7 games so Morse getting hot like he was in March seems possible.  He hasn’t been a superstar but a .289 BA and .492 slugging are more than acceptable.

3) Kila Ka’aihue:  Kila can’t hit a curveball.  He was hitting .195 with as many strikeouts as total bases before being sent down to AAA in favor of Eric Hosmer who has absolutely lit up Major League pitching.  I still believe that Kila can help somebody down the road as a power hitter off the bench ala Eric Hinske or Matt Stairs.

4) Starlin Castro and Rajai Davis:  Castro has been great in Chicago. He’s hitting .320 and leading the Chicago Cubs offense. Rajai Davis… not as awesome.  He’s hit .277 with 15 steals.  Pretty much the prototypical leadoff hitter in today’s game (fast but doesn’t get on enough: .319 OBP).

5) Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera, Chipper Jones:  A-Rod’s .277/.351/.473 line is all below his career line of .302/.386/.569 but he’s still been a presence in the Yankees lineup.  Miguel Cabrera has shown no signs of the DUI.  His .314/.427/.562 validates his normal superstar status.  Chipper Jones is what he is at this stage in his career.  He’s only hitting .250 but owns a .344 OBP and has not particularly carried over the success from March.

6)  Kyle McClellan:  McClellan has been the talk of much of the baseball world after his last few appearances.  Despite giving up 7 ER in his last start, McClellan still owns a 3.89 ERA and an impressive 6-2 record.  He has been a godsend in St. Louis.

7)  Tyson Ross:  Ross made 6 starts for the A’s before going down with an oblique injury.  In that time, he posted a 2.75 ERA and allowed only 1 HR.

8) Erik Bedard and Brandon Beachy:  Bedard’s March numbers did not quite carry over but, he’s pitching very effectively for the Seattle Mariners:  3.42 ERA and almost a strikeout per inning pitched. Beachy went down with an oblique strain (5/13) but before that, he was in the top 10 in the league in K’s and had posted a 3.45 ERA.

9.  Justin Verlander (3.12 ERA and 76 K’s in 86.1 IP with a 0.95 WHIP) and Roy Halladay (2.56 ERA and 91 K’s in 91.1 IP with a 7-3 record) are really good… but, we already knew that.

So, what’d we learn?  Absolutely nothing.  Some guys carry the success over, some don’t.  It seems like the pitchers who succeed in the Spring have a bit more success in carrying over their success than do the hitters.  Additionally, I’ll say that finding these early season gems (McClellan or Ross or Castro) and knowing who they are before they’re successful is quite a rewarding feeling.  Now that you know that I’ll wrap this bad boy up with the…

Stat of the Day: Jair Jurrjens is a league leading 7-1 with a league leading 1.51 ERA.  Does anyone pay attention to the stats or do they just look at the radar readings?  Let’s start getting this guy some attention.

-Sean Morash