Did You Know?: April 29th, 2011

Did You Know?

If you weren't already aware, know this. I am a box score guy. I love the simplicity of the story it tells with numbers. I'm also excited about all of the new baseball statistics that seem to pop up yearly and even though I'm a little late to the game in understanding their utmost importance in using them when evaluating fantasy baseball players, it doesn't mean that I'm not paying attention. I hope to incorporate more of them into my analysis as I see fit. Stay tuned.

Now on to some statistics which you may not be aware of nearly a full month into the season in the latest installment of Did You Know?:

• Adam Dunn has just two home runs and 10 RBI in 19 games this season, while Ben Zobrist accomplished those numbers in yesterday's doubleheader.
• Names I did not expect to see in the top 10 in Total Bases this early in the season: Lance Berkman (1st), Jeff Francoeur (tied 6th) and Ike Davis (tied 9th).
• Aren't stolen base guys supposed to be stealing bases? Juan Pierre has five steals and has been caught six times. Brett Gardner has four steals and has been caught three times. Chone Figgins has three steals and three caught stealings.
• Josh Johnson has allowed just 13 hits in 34 innings pitched. Batters are "hitting" .116 off of him this season.
• Austin Jackson is hitting just .167 (16/96) and has nearly twice the number of K's (31) as hits (16).
• Vladimir Guerrero is hitting .284 with a .303 BABIP with zero walks in 95 at-bats. He must like his own chances when swinging the bat. Hopefully you don't own him in an OBP league.
• Ryan Dempster has allowed 33 earned runs in 31 innings pitched. His ERA of 9.58 is higher than his K/9 ratio of 8.42.
• At age 37, Johnny Damon is on pace for 130 RBI in just 136 games played (20 RBI in 21 of Rays first 35 games). Don't forget about 26 HR/26 SB pace, too.
• Jorge Posada and Russell Martin have each hit six home runs in exactly 69 at-bats this season. Martin is batting .290 compared to Posada's .130 average.
• Huston Street leads the majors with nine saves and is on pace for 63 total.
• Matt Garza has 41 K's in just 30.2 innings pitched for a staggering 12.03 K/9 ratio yet he's 0-3 with a 4.11 ERA and an ugly WHIP of 1.47.

Are there some surprising statistics floating around out there already that have you scrambling to acquire or drop a player? If so, share them with the group, please. We all have a right to know.

Did You Know? 09/23/2010

Did You Know?

This edition of Did You Know? is all about Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays and his improbable assault on the 50-home run mark:

• Bautista owns the Blue Jays' single-season home run record, breaking George Bell's 23-year-old mark of 47.
• Bautista is the 26th player in MLB history to reach the 50-home run mark in a season, and the first since Alex Rodriguez (54) and Prince Fielder (50) both did it in 2007.
• All 50 of Bautista's home runs have been to left or left centerfield.
• Bautista has 26 home runs since the All Star break, a Blue Jays’ record.
• Bautista has a major league-high 31 home runs at home this season.

Fantasy owners will have to decide how high (or low) to draft Bautista in 2011. He's currently the 10th ranked player on ESPN and 9th ranked on Yahoo!. He will still be 3B/OF eligible next season, having played 48 games at 3B and 105 in the OF.

Did You Know? 07/10/2010

Did You Know?

Here are some statistical tidbits worth knowing:

• SP Brett Myers, HOU has 18 consecutive outings of six or more innings.
• SP Cliff Lee, TEX allowed three home runs in his first nine innings as a Ranger, after allowing a measly five homers in 105 2/3 innings with the Mariners.
• 2B/3B Neil Walker, PIT ranks fourth among National League rookies with a .289 batting average and has reached safely in 27 of his 34 games.
• C/1B Buster Posey, SF has homered five times in his last seven games and hitting .351 in 37 games. How is he only owned in 79 % of ESPN leagues and 62% of Yahoo! leagues?
• OF Nick Markakis, BAL, a lefty, is hitting .392 (40/102) versus lefties.
• OF Michael Stanton, FLA hit his third in the last five games and pushed his extra-base hit streak to six games. He's struck out 44 times and only walked six times in just 27 games.
• SP Ian Kennedy, ARI has allowed 19 home runs in 18 starts but has struck out 100 in 111.1 innings pitched.
• OF Adam Jones, BAL hit his 13th home run and is on pace for 26. His career high is 19.
• SP Scott Kazmir, LAA is 0-4 in his last four starts and has allowed a whopping 30 earned runs in 19 2/3 innings.
• C Chris Snyder, ARI is tied for fourth among all catchers with ten homers.
• OF Angel Pagan, NYM has five multi-hit efforts in the last six games, going 12-for-26 with five extra-base hits and four stolen bases. His 19 stolen bases have him tied for fourth in the NL.

Hope you find these statistical gems helpful heading into the All-Star break. Be sure to look me up on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.

Did You Know? 05/04/2010

Did You Know?

This edition of "Did You Know?" focuses on some more statistical* randomness regarding hits, walks and strikeouts.

Players with more walks than hits:

• 1B Nick Johnson, NYY - 9 H, 22 BB, .134 BA
• 2B/3B Chone Figgins, SEA - 18 H, 21 BB, .209 BA
• 3B Chipper Jones, ATL - 14 H, 18 BB, .206 BA
• 1B Mark Teixeira, NYY - 17 H, 18 BB, .181 BA
• C Carlos Ruiz, PHI - 17 H, 18 BB, .270 BA
• OF Jason Kubel, MIN - 16 H, 17 BB, .203 BA
• C Brian McCann, ATL - 16 H, 17 BB, .242 BA

Players with more strikeouts than hits:

• OF Justin Upton, ARI - 23 H, 38 K, .225 BA
• 2B Richie Weeks, MIL - 26 H, 33 K, .252 BA
• 1B/3B Mark Reynolds, ARI - 23 H, 33 K, .253 BA
• OF Cameron Maybin, FLA - 24 H, 32 K, .247 BA
• OF Kyle Blanks, SD - 14 H, 32 K, .194 BA
• OF Jason Bay, NYM - 24 H, 30 K, .255 BA
• 3B David Wright, NYM - 25 H, 30 K, .281
• OF J.D. Drew, BOS - 22 H, 29 K, ,247 BA

I was very surprised to see how low player's batting averages were that walked a lot compared to how much higher player's averages were that strike out a lot. Are "free swingers" more valuable to a fantasy roster's batting average than "patient" hitters? Anyone else surprised by that information? Share your opinions on the matter.

* Stats are accurate through games played as of 05/03/2010.

Did You Know? 04/25/2010

Did You Know?

Here's some statistical* randomness to enjoy in the initial installment of Did You Know?

• Miguel Cabrera, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau are all higher-ranked first basemen than Albert Pujols in ESPN leagues. And Jorge Cantu is ahead of him, too, in Yahoo! leagues.
• No disappointment in drafting Joe Mauer early (.381 BA, 11 R, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB) but you could have gotten Ivan Rodriguez (.434 BA, 10 R, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB) and Miguel Olivo (.297 BA, 7 R, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB) at the end of nearly every draft if you passed on the top tier of catchers.
• Here's a look at the top five players leading MLB in total bases: (1) Vernon Wells (2) Jose Guillen (3) Matt Kemp (4) Miguel Cabrera (t5) Nelson Cruz (t5) Ryan Braun. Mull that list over for a bit.
• Matt Capps' MLB leading seven saves will solidify people's beliefs that you "never pay for saves", but are people that paid for Mariano Rivera's six saves, 0.00 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, .208 OBA and 6:1 K:BB in 7 IP disappointed that they paid for those saves? (I think not).
• No surprise that Adam Wainwright, Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez and Tim Lincecum are 4-for-4 in quality starts but so are these guys: Andy Pettitte, Barry Zito, Jeremy Guthrie, Roy Oswalt, Fausto Carmona, Jered Weaver, Ubaldo Jimenez, Dallas Braden and Ricky Romero.
• Everyone likes to talk about how shallow the third base position is in fantasy baseball but only three shortstops qualify in the top 100 using Yahoo! rankings: Rafael Furcal (17th), Derek Jeter (45th) and Alex Gonzalez (58th).
• Only five pitchers have a K:BB ratio of 6:1 or better: Carl Pavano (17:1), Roy Halladay (9.33:1), Kevin Millwood (6:1), Carlos Sliva (6:1) and Hiroki Kuroda (6:1).
• Matt Kemp has 7 HRs and 7 SB attempts. Unfortunately he's been caught stealing 5 of 7 times. This seems like a guy that is out to prove he can go 30/30 or even 40/40.
• Vernon Wells and Kelly Johnson lead the majors in extra-base hits with 14 each. Alex Gonzalez and Miguel Cabrera are next with 13 each.

* All statistics accurate as of 04/24/2010