JS Brewers Report Card

[rluzinski]

So, are we to judge from Branyan's C that they expected all along that Branyan would be called up from AAA, carry the team for a month, and be a major factor in saving the team's season? Ridiculous.

 

And in his case, I don't think it would be hard to sell to the fans regarding his offensive worth. A HR every 11 AB isn't a tough sell.

[MNBrew]

Only two reactions:

 

1. Given the chances he had, Rivera easily should've graded out at an A, or at the very worst an A-. 14 RBIs in 50 or so ABs is a good ratio. It's not Rivera's fault Kendall's name was in the starting lineup 149 times.

 

2. At the time when Branyan had 12 HRs, he had only 20 RBIs, which did include a couple RBI singles, too. Granted, some of his HRs were pretty clutch and he gave the offense a good jolt. But the guy hardly did anything when anyone was on base. I think their grade for him wasn't far off.

[Godspeed]

Clearly Russell Branyan should have willed the batters ahead of him to get on base prior to his home runs.

 

Explaining to your readers that grades are given out based on pre-season expectations and statistal merit and then giving a 'C' grade to a guy who started the season as minor league depth and ended up with a .925 major league OPS is a joke.

 

'Fair and balanced' analysis, once again.

[kramnoj]

2. At the time when Branyan had 12 HRs, he had only 20 RBIs, which did include a couple RBI singles, too. Granted, some of his HRs were pretty clutch and he gave the offense a good jolt. But the guy hardly did anything when anyone was on base. I think their grade for him wasn't far off.

 

Branyan only had 62 PA when men were on base. His OPS of .722 was certainly low for him in those situations, but that's not far off from what a few Brewers had for their production. With RISP, Branyan's OPS was .742 in 38 PA. His production was lower compared to when he had nobody on, but it's not terrible production and it's a small sample.

 

Looking at small samples is kinda crazy fun. In the 79 ABs that Branyan had with nobody on, Branyan had 22 hits. Those 22 hits included 9 HR and 6 doubles. So 15 extra base hits in 22 hits. 9 HRs in 22 hits. Incredible.

[rluzinski]

If we are more concerned with the impact of player's performances (in terms of winning and losing), I would just stick with WPA. Again, WPA just looks at how much the probability of a team winning changes per AB, summing up the net change for each batter. It can be somewhat unfair, since not every player is given an equal opportunity to impact a game (Branyan, for instance) but I guess we don't care about such things.

 

Here are how some of the batter's did in terms of WPA/600 AB:

 

Rivera: 6.68

Braun: 3.61

Fielder: 3.27

Branyan: 3.27

Kapler: 3.17

Weeks: 2.20

Hardy: 2.00

Cameron: 1.12

Dillon: .24

Hall: -.53

Hart: -1.04

Counsell: -1.79

Kendall: -1.79

 

Interesting stuff. Rivera, Branyan and Kapler all made the best of their limited opportunities. Weeks did well with translating his mediocre offensive numbers into a positive impact. Hart being right next to Counsell and Kendall, while playing a corner outfield spot, shows how silly his B- really is.

[endaround]

Since I *know* Kendall and Counsell are clutch those numbers can't possibly be right! I mean if that was true you would think the manager would consider lifting them for a pinch hitter when down late in games....

[MNBrew]

Clearly Russell Branyan should have willed the batters ahead of him to get on base prior to his home runs.

Wasn't suggesting that, for goodness' sake! The point was clearly there. Lots of power with no one on base. Little run production with runners on. Where's the blue type?

 

Branyan sure helped in June, no doubt about that. Not that the HRs are worthless, either. It's just very clearly there in the analysis that his power carried his OPS in the numbers cited in this threaad. He just didn't produce a whole lot when he wasn't hitting solo HRs.

[logan82]

MNBrew wrote:

He just didn't produce a whole lot when he wasn't hitting solo HRs.

That's our 3TO. Walk, strikeout, or HR.