Gattis, The Big Bat White Bear
No matter what corner of the baseball world I turn to, there always seems to be this same poisonous sentiment about your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis. Phrases like the following:
"He's so one-dimensional."
"Gattis is such a limited player."
"He can't hold up long enough in a season."
"He strikes out too much."
"So boom or bust!"
"Gattis is always all or nothing at the plate."
"He'll always be trade bait."
Every time I see something like this said online, in articles, or even by some in the Houston Astros organization, it just makes me feel more blue this Christmas. And trust me, it's already bad enough being too far away from family this season. People seem to love slinging mud and focus so much on every little mistake El Oso Blanco makes. Like there is somehow only negative things to say about him.
How quickly do people forget the single season records he broke last year in the following:
HR: 32
Walk %: 8.7 (Was averaging 5.8% before that.)
OBP: .319 (Up from below .300 in 2015)
SLG: .508
OPS: .827 (Up from his previous record of .810 in 2014 with the Atlanta Braves)
WAR (wins above replacement): 3.0, highest it has ever been!
And being a much better defender than given credit for with pitch framing/defensive numbers like these:
oStr%: 8 (average is 7.2) This relates to pitches caught outside of the strike zone that the ump calls a strike.
+calls per game: 0.75 (average is 0.50) This relates to the percentage of favorable calls for game that a catcher gets from the umpire.
RAA: 4.8 (average is 4.0) This relates to runs above average. On the defensive side, it's how much a player saves or prevents the other team from scoring when a certain player plays their position. In this case, Evan prevents nearly 5 runs from the opposition on average per each game he catches.
catcher ERA: 3.46 (average is 3.9) This is the ERA of a pitcher when a particular catcher is behind the dish.
CS ratio (Caught Stealing as a catcher): 46.8%, near elite numbers. League average is 30%
He also broke a team record, becoming the player with the highest number of home runs as a catcher in franchise history, surpassing the same record once held by departing catcher, Jason Castro. It's frustrating that no one seems to want to mention such things when it comes to the bear.
Even skipper Hinch stated something gut wrenching in an interview on SportsTalk 790 yesterday. You can hear it 9:05 in here. I'll admit that him saying, "Evan Gattis is gonna be fighting for playing time," could just be just a showing of impartiality protocol in order to not play favorites. But hearing that still made my heart drop, nonetheless.
Why must it always be Evan fighting for playing time? Why aren't his numbers, which stat and metric snobs all over the place are so much into, not enough to get him a steady spot in the lineup? And why should his age matter, when other players somehow get a free pass on that? I wish I had the answers to all of these questions. But the truth is, I don't. And it kills me a little inside every time I come across those know-it-all's who keep constantly wanting to cast doubt on Evan.
In a future post, I'll try to crunch the numbers myself, and see how these 13 position guys can get enough time, assuming all things remain in tact, health wise and otherwise. But to combat all of this negativity, I decided to use my writer powers for good, as I always do. I will now end by favoring you readers with a revamped Rudolph poem I wrote in time for this holiday season. Haters can now look away!
"He's so one-dimensional."
"Gattis is such a limited player."
"He can't hold up long enough in a season."
"He strikes out too much."
"So boom or bust!"
"Gattis is always all or nothing at the plate."
"He'll always be trade bait."
Every time I see something like this said online, in articles, or even by some in the Houston Astros organization, it just makes me feel more blue this Christmas. And trust me, it's already bad enough being too far away from family this season. People seem to love slinging mud and focus so much on every little mistake El Oso Blanco makes. Like there is somehow only negative things to say about him.
How quickly do people forget the single season records he broke last year in the following:
HR: 32
Walk %: 8.7 (Was averaging 5.8% before that.)
OBP: .319 (Up from below .300 in 2015)
SLG: .508
OPS: .827 (Up from his previous record of .810 in 2014 with the Atlanta Braves)
WAR (wins above replacement): 3.0, highest it has ever been!
And being a much better defender than given credit for with pitch framing/defensive numbers like these:
oStr%: 8 (average is 7.2) This relates to pitches caught outside of the strike zone that the ump calls a strike.
+calls per game: 0.75 (average is 0.50) This relates to the percentage of favorable calls for game that a catcher gets from the umpire.
RAA: 4.8 (average is 4.0) This relates to runs above average. On the defensive side, it's how much a player saves or prevents the other team from scoring when a certain player plays their position. In this case, Evan prevents nearly 5 runs from the opposition on average per each game he catches.
catcher ERA: 3.46 (average is 3.9) This is the ERA of a pitcher when a particular catcher is behind the dish.
CS ratio (Caught Stealing as a catcher): 46.8%, near elite numbers. League average is 30%
He also broke a team record, becoming the player with the highest number of home runs as a catcher in franchise history, surpassing the same record once held by departing catcher, Jason Castro. It's frustrating that no one seems to want to mention such things when it comes to the bear.
Even skipper Hinch stated something gut wrenching in an interview on SportsTalk 790 yesterday. You can hear it 9:05 in here. I'll admit that him saying, "Evan Gattis is gonna be fighting for playing time," could just be just a showing of impartiality protocol in order to not play favorites. But hearing that still made my heart drop, nonetheless.
Why must it always be Evan fighting for playing time? Why aren't his numbers, which stat and metric snobs all over the place are so much into, not enough to get him a steady spot in the lineup? And why should his age matter, when other players somehow get a free pass on that? I wish I had the answers to all of these questions. But the truth is, I don't. And it kills me a little inside every time I come across those know-it-all's who keep constantly wanting to cast doubt on Evan.
In a future post, I'll try to crunch the numbers myself, and see how these 13 position guys can get enough time, assuming all things remain in tact, health wise and otherwise. But to combat all of this negativity, I decided to use my writer powers for good, as I always do. I will now end by favoring you readers with a revamped Rudolph poem I wrote in time for this holiday season. Haters can now look away!
Gattis, the big bat white bear,
has some very stellar skills.
And if you ever see them,
they would give you such good thrills.
A lot of other ball fans,
seem to laugh and call him names.
Skips barely let poor Gattis
play in enough baseball games.
Then one cloudy winter eve,
Lunhow came to say:
"Gattis with your bat of might,
come play Houston ball tonight."
Then how the Astros loved him,
as fans shouted out with glee.
"Gattis, the big bat white bear,
will make H-Town history!"
Portrait courtesy of a dear friend of mine, and talented illustrator, Tim Williams. Friend him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @timwilliamsart. You won't be sorry!
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