Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 09:50:30 -0500
Reply-To: Texas Rangers MLB Discussion <RANGERS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU>
Sender: Texas Rangers MLB Discussion <RANGERS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU>
From: Beau Sharbrough <beau@SHARBROUGH.NET>
Subject: Random Grades

In the business world, a popular phrase these days is, "Hire for talent, train for skill." It means that you hire people with the attitude and aptitude you need, and train them to do the jobs that your company needs. It's not a bad approach to team building, especially in a time when work skills become obsolete overnight. But in baseball, there are probably a lot of people who wouldn't follow that line of thinking. It is widely assumed that baseball skills ARE talent, a kind of natural ability that a person either has or hasn't got.

I'm convinced that if a guy throws 60 miles an hour, he isn't likely to be able to practice his way up to 95. However, I think that if you have a lot of guys who throw 88, you might be able to help some of them throw faster. And I'm sure that you can help them all throw better. It appears that baseball skills and baseball stats might not be related as simply as one would think.

For example, can a player learn to walk more? Can a player improve his footwork on defense? Can a player stop swinging at that outside breaking ball, or start going with the pitch? Can a fan predict career power hitting based on first year stats?

Only three years ago, an infield of Cami, Arod, Velarde, Irod and Palmeiro might have gotten you into the world series with an average pitching staff and an outfield of JeffF, GaryP, and me. How the mighty have fallen. This year, Cami, Velarde, Palmeiro, and I have all slowed down way too much to contribute.

Grading, like the Oscars, is a great way to keep the public thinking about the products without buying commercial ads. And, like the Oscars, it's subjective as hell. Consider the following statements:

Catalanotto's powerless walk-free season just wasn't all that great for a corner OF.
Catalanotto led the AL in on-base percentage for leadoff hitters.
Catalanotto played several positions without complaint.
Catalanotto has stayed healthy for three years and looks fit for several more.

Different yardsticks, different results. I don't understand this idea of grading offensive performance based on defensive position, in general. I do like comparing them to the other people who play that position, but that doesn't mean that they have to be the same kind of hitter. If most shortstops are banjo hitting players, is ARod out of position defensively? How about if you put Cat in left and ARod at short, then close your eyes, and swap their offensive stats? Would you like the team better?

I watched Knoblauch in LF last night and thought how much better Cat is in every way.

I'm giving Cat an A because he broke out, from a reserve player to a league leader. His speed is a great asset on offense and defense. I want to see what kind of player he is in the spring.

As for Raffy, I thought this was a pretty disappointing year for him. Simply, he made a lot more outs than he has made in his career, and his pace on the bases was strictly Mickey - Tettleton, not Rivers.

I'm guessing that a young pitcher will have a lot of trouble getting the approval of this list if Doug Davis can't get any props here.

That said, I graded some of the players on the DaMN website but I kept getting all of these pop-under ads and I think it used up all of my system resources. In other words, I got tired of the slow response <g>.

My grades?
A LIST
ARod, IRod, MYoung, Cat, Haselman, Zimm, Moreno, Narron

B LIST
Kolb, Lamb, Davis, Sierra

C LIST
Helling, Melvin, Palmeiro, Kapler, Myette, Sheldon, Velarde

D LIST
Bell, Crabtree, Venafro, Rogers

F LIST
Darren Oliver, Oates, Mateo, Brantley, Big Cat, Caminiti