Just Another Number: Debunking the "Age" and Other Myths
With the ongoing debates about a player's age factoring into their stats over time, I wanted to prove some of the critics wrong, yet again, by displaying exactly why the age argument is not always a solid one. In doing so, I also intend to highlight why the human element seems to always be taken out of this game in favor of complicated formulas meant to treat players like robots. For my example, I shall highlight none other than your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis.
The first thing that has been noted many times, including by yours truly, is the night and day offensive stat line splits between his two positions:
As a Catcher: .288/.326/.652
As a DH: .210/.286/.340
This is evidence that a player such as Evan Gattis actually really does better with his bat when he can get out and defend in his natural position, and should be both treated and trusted as such. Better that than stewing over previous at-bats, and dealing with the mental anguish that can come with that. It only further sets up the team and the player for a collective failure.
Does it mean Evan Gattis cannot DH at all? Of course not! Certainly, the current script of him backup catching and primarily DHing should be flipped next season and beyond. And even Evan can still benefit from serving as DH on occasion. Especially, if he needs a break from behind the plate, OR if the following splits hold true:
Vs. RHP: .218/.289/.398
Vs. LHP: .278/.324/.563
There have been some out there that argue that he only catches against lefties and DH's against righties. Though some of the splits have been skewed in those directions, that argument is not completely true. A week ago Friday in Toronto, for example, against lefty Francisco Liriano, Gattis served as DH and went 4-for-5 in that game. Even on his gnome night against the Angels last month, he was catching against righty Jered Weaver, and went 2-for-3 with the two home runs and a drawn walk.
Digging a little further into my research, I found that of the 33 games he has started as a catcher this season, 19 were against LHP, and the other 14 were against RHP. Factor in the 4 games in which he came in late or switched between DH and Catcher (3 late catching spots against RHP and 1 against LHP), and guess what, ladies and gentlemen? His total between all 37 games that he has made some appearance as a catcher gives him the following splits:
LHP - 20; RHP - 17
Since he's played the other 58 games as a DH, I didn't have enough time to go through every last one of those. Sufficed to say, the ones I saw appeared to be pretty evenly split against LHP and RHP. Gattis may struggle against RHP, but he is not a completely helpless zombie against them, either.
But you see folks, these are the things that the advanced statisticians and sabermetric snobs DON'T want you to hear. Despite the real observations of the sheer impact that El Oso Blanco has on this game, these people seek to be as contrarian as possible. The job of these folks are to write articles with twisted figures to make you think that a player like Evan Gattis is overrated. When I can attest, just from my own research by itself, he's far from it. Here are some more offensive stat lines to show you just what I mean:
Pre All Star Break: .215/.281/.425
Post All Star Break: .294/.347/.532
Last 15 Games: .345/.400/.527
Last 7 Games: .318/.400/.500
Since turning 30 on August 18th at the start of the series with the Baltimore Orioles: .
.438/.526/.688
(Including 1 double, a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 drawn walks in that span from this past series!)
And he is still even above average in some defensive categories:
Throwing
Caught Stealing Ratio: 50% (MLB League Average - 30%)
Framing
oStr% (Percentage of balls outside the strike zone called for strikes): 7.9% (MLB League Average - 7.2%)
zball% (Percentage of balls inside the strike zone called for balls): 12.5% (MLB League Average - 14.5%)
Overall Catcher's ERA, or CERA: 3.57 (MLB League Average - 3.91)
And not that far off in others:
Defensive Runs Above Average: 2.7 (League Average for a catcher is 4)
Catcher +Calls: 20 (League average is 30)
+Calls per game: 0.54 (League average is 0.75)
Of course, there will always be areas for Evan to improve upon. His blocking behind the plate, some of his discipline with the bat, etc. But these things can only get better with more playing time. And mark my words, when he gets a full spring training under his belt with no lingering health issues since the hernia surgery, he is going to be a catching force to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball, even more so than he already is now!
So yes, angry mob being fueled by the contrarian stat snobs that include tweets like this:
You all can put away the torches and pitchforks, because you are only making yourselves look worse. Like it or not, Evan Gattis is still an anomaly of an impact player, even at his age. He may be a late bloomer to the big leagues, but that is actually working to his and the Astros' collective advantages. And barring something catastrophic, or in tonight's case of playing in a NL park, they're gonna keep finding a way to get this bear in the lineup. Despite what you critics, doubters and haters may think, as my evidence has shown, age really is just another number.
Original Photo Credit: Troy Taormina of USA Today Sports
And 30 has never looked better on this bear!!!!
The first thing that has been noted many times, including by yours truly, is the night and day offensive stat line splits between his two positions:
As a Catcher: .288/.326/.652
As a DH: .210/.286/.340
This is evidence that a player such as Evan Gattis actually really does better with his bat when he can get out and defend in his natural position, and should be both treated and trusted as such. Better that than stewing over previous at-bats, and dealing with the mental anguish that can come with that. It only further sets up the team and the player for a collective failure.
Does it mean Evan Gattis cannot DH at all? Of course not! Certainly, the current script of him backup catching and primarily DHing should be flipped next season and beyond. And even Evan can still benefit from serving as DH on occasion. Especially, if he needs a break from behind the plate, OR if the following splits hold true:
Vs. RHP: .218/.289/.398
Vs. LHP: .278/.324/.563
There have been some out there that argue that he only catches against lefties and DH's against righties. Though some of the splits have been skewed in those directions, that argument is not completely true. A week ago Friday in Toronto, for example, against lefty Francisco Liriano, Gattis served as DH and went 4-for-5 in that game. Even on his gnome night against the Angels last month, he was catching against righty Jered Weaver, and went 2-for-3 with the two home runs and a drawn walk.
Digging a little further into my research, I found that of the 33 games he has started as a catcher this season, 19 were against LHP, and the other 14 were against RHP. Factor in the 4 games in which he came in late or switched between DH and Catcher (3 late catching spots against RHP and 1 against LHP), and guess what, ladies and gentlemen? His total between all 37 games that he has made some appearance as a catcher gives him the following splits:
LHP - 20; RHP - 17
Since he's played the other 58 games as a DH, I didn't have enough time to go through every last one of those. Sufficed to say, the ones I saw appeared to be pretty evenly split against LHP and RHP. Gattis may struggle against RHP, but he is not a completely helpless zombie against them, either.
But you see folks, these are the things that the advanced statisticians and sabermetric snobs DON'T want you to hear. Despite the real observations of the sheer impact that El Oso Blanco has on this game, these people seek to be as contrarian as possible. The job of these folks are to write articles with twisted figures to make you think that a player like Evan Gattis is overrated. When I can attest, just from my own research by itself, he's far from it. Here are some more offensive stat lines to show you just what I mean:
Pre All Star Break: .215/.281/.425
Post All Star Break: .294/.347/.532
Last 15 Games: .345/.400/.527
Last 7 Games: .318/.400/.500
Since turning 30 on August 18th at the start of the series with the Baltimore Orioles: .
.438/.526/.688
(Including 1 double, a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 drawn walks in that span from this past series!)
And he is still even above average in some defensive categories:
Throwing
Caught Stealing Ratio: 50% (MLB League Average - 30%)
Framing
oStr% (Percentage of balls outside the strike zone called for strikes): 7.9% (MLB League Average - 7.2%)
zball% (Percentage of balls inside the strike zone called for balls): 12.5% (MLB League Average - 14.5%)
Overall Catcher's ERA, or CERA: 3.57 (MLB League Average - 3.91)
And not that far off in others:
Defensive Runs Above Average: 2.7 (League Average for a catcher is 4)
Catcher +Calls: 20 (League average is 30)
+Calls per game: 0.54 (League average is 0.75)
Of course, there will always be areas for Evan to improve upon. His blocking behind the plate, some of his discipline with the bat, etc. But these things can only get better with more playing time. And mark my words, when he gets a full spring training under his belt with no lingering health issues since the hernia surgery, he is going to be a catching force to be reckoned with on both sides of the ball, even more so than he already is now!
So yes, angry mob being fueled by the contrarian stat snobs that include tweets like this:
I would be completely fine with him not DH'ing for the rest of the season— Astros Future (@AstrosFuture) August 22, 2016
@AstrosFuture Rest of his Astros career.— 'Stros Fan (@astroslogy) August 22, 2016
@AstrosFuture no reason for him and Castro to be in the lineup together. Now that Gurriel is here, he should DH for the rest of the year— fabian hernandez (@balistictxmob) August 22, 2016
@AstrosFuture It's a shame he's such a disaster on defense as a catcher— Cody Mahan (@comahan) August 22, 2016
You all can put away the torches and pitchforks, because you are only making yourselves look worse. Like it or not, Evan Gattis is still an anomaly of an impact player, even at his age. He may be a late bloomer to the big leagues, but that is actually working to his and the Astros' collective advantages. And barring something catastrophic, or in tonight's case of playing in a NL park, they're gonna keep finding a way to get this bear in the lineup. Despite what you critics, doubters and haters may think, as my evidence has shown, age really is just another number.
And 30 has never looked better on this bear!!!!
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