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« on: September 13, 2017, 10:42:49 am »
I believe it was Jim and Chuck having a back and forth in the game thread last night about Beltran. I think he's been such a disappointment at the plate that it is worth a little debate/conversation. Like Chuck, I too have grown weary of seeing Beltran's subpar performance. I can also see Jim's point about what Carlos does beyond the numbers, and I think it has legitimate value, but certainly not 16 million worth. The question becomes, what are the Astros' other options. I did look at some of his and other players numbers. Each of us, and the Astros, has their own stats they value. Personally, I place importance in OBP and strikeout percentage. I want guys who can get on base along with guys who don't wastes ab's with strikeouts. I looked at Beltran in those categories. We all know he is MUCH better from the left side against RHP. His OBP as a lefty hitter is .303 and he strikes out only 20% of the time batting leftie. Hitting righty however, Beltran's OBP plummets to .236 and his strikeout rate increases to 28% from the right side. The Astros started Beltran as the DH against Mariners' lefty Miranda last week. We face another lefty pitcher tonight. I don't understand why Hinch does this. We have MUCH better options from the right side against a lefty. Consider.....
Maybin - .325 OBP 23% strikeout
T. White - .364 OBP 28% strikeout
J. Davis - .310 OBP 29% strikeout
M. Stassi - .391 OBP 11% strikeout
Marisnick - .316 OBP 39% strikeout
Stassi's numbers are in very limited AB's and Marisnick strikes out too much for me. But why in the world would you put Carlos in the DH position if a lefty is on the hill when you have the options you have above? Three of the four listed above have OBP's 80 points or better than Beltran from the right side. Makes no sense to me, and if Beltran is the DH tonight I'm going to beat my head against the wall.
Now, against right handed pitchers I don't have as big an issue with Beltran at DH. The left handed options are not much better. Only Fisher is a viable option and as bad as some of us on here have talked about Fisher, his OBP is actually 14 points higher than Beltran's from that side of the plate. Fisher's OBP is .317 compared to Beltran's .303. Fisher strikes out more however at 33%.
It is just interesting to look at some of the numbers. There may be other numbers you could find to make Beltran look better if you dig deeper. I just looked at two stats I feel are important. For me personally, I think Beltran should only DH left handed from now on. He should never step in the bis right handed again as we have better options from the right side. I guess we will see tonight if Hinch uses any of those other options or continues to let Beltran struggle. Personally, I would only put him in situations where I thought he could be successful. Last week against Miranda wasn't a good spot and tonight isn't either. Just my opinion.
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