So, I've just been looking at some stats, and I'm struck by the stat lines of two different players, who are having some comparable factors in their seasons. One of them is known as a flashy defender, but is otherwise not regarded all that highly by the national baseball press. The other has been hailed by the baseball press as the Second Coming of the Baseball Messiah, even though Kyle Schwarber has shown better defensive chops than him this year.
As of this morning, the first guy is slashing .269/.300/.570, with 52 total hits, 9 2Bs, 5 3Bs, 13 HRs, 32 RS, 42 RBIs, and 45 SOs. The second guy is slashing 283/.418/.567, with 53 total hits, 11 2Bs, 0 3Bs, 14 HRs, 39 RS, 39 RBIs and 68 SOs. Note the second guy has exactly the same number of RBIs and RS -- a sign of lack of peak productivity, either of the player himself or by the lineup as constructed.
The first guy is Javy Baez. The second guy is Aaron Judge.
Yep, Judge takes a lot more walks, playing in the #2 slot in the lineup every day. Javy has been played in nearly every slot in the order, batting in front of everyone from KB to the pitcher's slot.
Judge is by far and away worse at striking out. Javy may be a free swinger, but he ain't nothing compared to Judge. Considering the rest of the numbers, Javy puts the ball into play a
hell of a lot more than Judge does.
Considering the one major difference in their stats -- Judge has walked 42 times, as compared to Javy's six, count 'em, six, walks (four of which have been intentional) -- and considering the big lumber that comes up behind Judge, I have to come to the conclusion that the additional seven runs Judge has scored over Javy is *way* less than you would expect from the walk inequality. And the fact that Judge has the same number of runs scored as RBIs is another indicator of under-performance -- the guy must be hitting mostly solo shots, otherwise he'd be getting more guys in in front of him.
So, you have two guys with pretty even performance, except for walks, which don't appear to be having as large of an impact for the Yankees as you'd expect. And yet, the New York-dominated media still hail Aaron Judge as the be-all and end-all of baseball performance.
Which just goes to show, the New York-based baseball media have their heads up their asses, from which vantage point they can only see baseball played in New York...
