August’s Five Worst Hitters
With wRC+ as our measuring stick, these five hitters have separated themselves from the pack in the worst way possible (we’ve included a few other statistics for good measure).
This upcoming sequence isn’t going to be good for Royals fans. First up is Cheslor Cuthbert, who is on track to post his third negative fWAR in three years. His season-long wRC+ has been trending up during that time, but it hasn’t been anything worth writing home about (56, 61, 71). His 37.3% hard-hit rate is on pace to be a new career high, but while his 38.6% fly-ball rate looks healthy, it’s been paired with a 20.0% infield-fly rate that’s limiting his overall production.
August hasn’t been the only tough part of Bubba Starling‘s rookie season. His first 151 plate appearances have resulted in a .211/.253/.303 line, a 31.8% strikeout rate, a 44 wRC+, and -0.5 fWAR. He’s been getting a steady diet of sliders since getting promoted (26.1% clip), and his results against them have been quite terrible: 61.1% strikeout rate and 30 wRC+.
Alex Gordon started this year looking like his old self — he posted a 142 wRC+ in March/April, followed by a 108 mark in May. Since then, he has posted a wRC+ higher than 100 one other time (116 in July), but his extreme struggles in June (58) and August (21) have torpedoed his overall stats. After seeing these three here, it’s not at all surprising to hear that the Royals’ team wRC+ of 73 was among the worst in baseball last month. Probably the biggest shock, though, was that it wasn’t the worst (the Texas Rangers posted a team wRC+ of 65).
Lewis Brinson has spent a good chunk of 2019 in Triple-A, where he performed well (.270/.361/.510 line with a 110 wRC+ 339 plate appearances). Unfortunately, none of those good feelings have transferred to the big leagues. If we’re looking for any kind of silver lining, though, the outfielder has nearly doubled his walk rate (2.4% to 4.1%) while cutting his strikeout rate (34.1% to 28.6%) between his first- and second-half numbers.
After watching his power basically disappear between 2017 and 2018 (.130 ISO to .072 ISO), Orlando Arcia has found it again (.130 ISO and 14 homers in ’19). However, his -0.2 fWAR is on pace to be his third negative fWAR in four years. His 32.2% hard-hit rate would be a new career high if the season ended today, but he’s also never gotten his soft-hit rate below 20.0%. With a ground-ball rate above 50.0% and a line-drive rate that’s decreased each of the last two years, it’s hard for the young shortstop to find consistent success. One could’ve hoped his impressive 2018 postseason (.303/.324/.576 line and 132 wRC+ in 34 plate appearances) would’ve been a springboard for a breakout year, but that clearly hasn’t happened.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book and created an online class about how to get started as a sports blogger. Check those out and more helpful tips on sports blogging at his website.
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