ESPN article on Ryan Braun: "Ryan Braun's power outage"

[Dragonbait]

They talk about his lack of power and the opposite field hitting... but the rest is an insider article....

[torts]

cant stand buster onley

[SRB]

Hard to believe people actually pay money for the privilege of reading Buster Olney's thoughts on anything.

[monty57]

So he's got an .878 OPS (the 18th highest in all of baseball) when he's got a pretty bad injury to his thumb, and ESPN decides they need to write a negative article about him?

 

I don't have "insider," so I can't read the article, but I'll guess that when discussing his "power outage" they don't mention that he's got as many HR as Puig in 38 less AB.

[trwi7]

In a blog post headlined "Ryan Braun's power outage," ESPN's Buster Olney examines how different a hitter Braun has been this season compared to past seasons, particularly 2012 and '11.

 

Olney quotes an unidentified evaluator who has seen Braun a few times this season, one in which Braun has dealt with a variety of injuries.

 

“Takes the ball to the opposite field a lot,” said the evaluator. “I think he’s more of an opposite field hitter than almost anybody in baseball. He doesn’t really pull the ball anymore, and I don’t think he hits the ball as far as he used to.”

 

Olney then uses data about Braun generated by senior researcher Justin Havens who found that 46.1% of Braun's hits this season were to the opposite field, compared to 32.8% in 2013, 31.4% in '12 and 27.8% in '11. He ranks 146th out of 163 batters in percent of hits pulled (30.8%).

 

Braun's slugging percentage notably is down when he does pull the ball. And his batted balls simply are not traveling as far, down 17 feet on average from last season. Braun also is chasing pitches out of the strike zone more than he has in the past -- 39% this season, which Havens said is one of the highest marks in baseball. With two strikes his chase rate is 55% this season compared to 41.7% last season.

 

"The numbers are clear: a far greater percentage of Braun's hits are going to opposite field than in previous seasons, and the balls he does pull are being pulled with noticeably less authority," Olney said. "What has caused this clear departure is for others to speculate on, but it is clear Braun is not the hitter he was in previous seasons."

 

Olney notes: "Braun is having a good season, without question, with a .354 on-base percentage. He’s on track to accumulate a respectable 63 extra-base hits -- but with 19 homers and 37 walks, very different from his 2012 totals of 41 homers and 63 walks."

 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/268130232.html

 

I like the end where it has his 2012 numbers. Yeah, he tested positive in 2011, Buster. So any point you were trying to prove just went out the door. Unless you're implying that he was using in 2012 too but that would be really dumb on his part and he didn't fail a test in 2012, so it would be stupid to assume he was using PED's.

[Brewcrew]

My husband and I were talking about this last night when Braunie came to bat and I mentioned that Braun was having a good season despite his injuries. And we agreed that his thumb was the main reason behind his power loss, and that he had made the kind of adjustments an elite player would make in order to compensate for it with extra base and opposite field hits (okay, we didn't really agree, but my husband nodded as if I had said something very profound...he loves the Crew but is not nearly into baseball as I am). I suppose the only outstanding question is whether the thumb will heal enough for him to regain that power swing, but I'm not that worried. He gets it done.

 

So there, Buster. I just fixed your article in two minutes of conversation with another Brewers fan.

[fondybrewfan]

Oh my god the horror. Is he going to dissect Chris Davis from the Orioles this year as well.

 

The guy has had well chronicled issues with his thumb and oblique this year; if Olney what have done any due diligence before this piece he might have come up with a reason for his lower power this year other than what he is obviously implying.

 

And count me in with everyone in saying that if this what a bad year for Ryan Braun is then I will take that 100 times out of 100.

 

Home runs seem way down across the board this year but its no surprise that Olney is singling out Braun. He is acting like going opposite field is a bad thing.

[SRB]

[sarcasm]Don't worry, if/when Braun hits 40 HR next season, Olney will pen a thoughtful analysis of the return of Braun's power and apologize for this his good faith mistake with piece. A tough investigative journalist like Olney is nothing if not fair.[/sarcasm]

[torts]

I love this board

[chadomac]

ESPN is the worst

[brewmann04]

espn and Buster are jokes sorry would not waste my time reading him

[homer]

Didn't JSOnline have an article just a few weeks ago about Braun hitting to right field specifically because of his injuries?

[superfly]

[sarcasm]Don't worry, if/when Braun hits 40 HR next season, Olney will pen a thoughtful analysis of the return of Braun's power and apologize for this his good faith mistake with piece. A tough investigative journalist like Olney is nothing if not fair.[/sarcasm]

 

No...then they will begin the conspiracy theories if he is back on the PEDs again. It's a neverending revolving wheel for these losers.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I read this article today then Braun hit that Opposite Field HR and I just laughed.

[Pugger]

My husband and I were talking about this last night when Braunie came to bat and I mentioned that Braun was having a good season despite his injuries. And we agreed that his thumb was the main reason behind his power loss, and that he had made the kind of adjustments an elite player would make in order to compensate for it with extra base and opposite field hits (okay, we didn't really agree, but my husband nodded as if I had said something very profound...he loves the Crew but is not nearly into baseball as I am). I suppose the only outstanding question is whether the thumb will heal enough for him to regain that power swing, but I'm not that worried. He gets it done.

 

So there, Buster. I just fixed your article in two minutes of conversation with another Brewers fan.

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only gal here on this site.

[3and2Fastball]

I printed that article, rolled it up in a ball and let my cats swat it around the house like a toy mouse. After they got done with it I threw it in the garbage. Best use of a Buster Olney article I could think of....

[JohnBriggs12]

When all is said and done this year Braun will be closer to 30 HR than 19, but ESPN will ignore that.

[CheezWizHed]

I printed that article, rolled it up in a ball and let my cats swat it around the house like a toy mouse. After they got done with it I threw it in the garbage. Best use of a Buster Olney article I could think of....

 

You could have lined the litter box with it....

[Funketown]

...and just like that, Braun's ISO is only 0.30 points below his career average.

 

The top half of that lineup against RHP with Gennett healthy is really impressive, so hopefully Gennett doesn't miss too much time.

[guylanderfridancies]

Buster Olney is to baseball analysis what Matthew Berry is to football analysis for ESPN.

 

I'm sure many of you play fantasy football and know who I'm talking about.. he was never involved in football until he failed at being a stand-up comedian and decided to write about football. These are the types of guys ESPN has writing for them. At least the guy that came over from MTV doesn't try to act like he knows sports and just finds the sob stories.

[dlk9s]

I'm cool with Matthew Berry. He knows what he is and doesn't pretend to be anything other than a fantasy football guy. Had a funny appearance on "The League." He was also once a writer in Hollywood - I heard him on Howard Stern once talking about how he and a friend wrote Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (which he admitted was awful, IIRC) and Paul Hogan insisted on taking the writing credit. I think they got to the point where they took legal action, but my memory of the interview is fuzzy.

[Brewer Fever]

Lemme guess, Olney makes no mention of the fact that Braun is 6th in the NL in slugging percentage.

[fondybrewfan]

It seems really weird for an entire article to come out about a player's "Down Power Season" when said player is Top 10 in OPS and Top 5 (?) in SLG in the National League. I mean a really good 2nd half could put Braun in the running for an MVP; not that he will actually ever win one again.

[Fear The Chorizo]

If Buster had just inserted "MLB hitters" in place for every time he wrote "Ryan Braun" in that article, I'd have less of a problem with it.

 

Offense, slugging, and HR are down league-wide, in part due to better pitching, in part due to fewer players on PEDs/amphetimines, in part due to unseasonably cold weather in alot of MLB parks so far this year. Singling out Braun at this stage of the season when he's among the league leaders in alot of power categories aside from HR is pretty silly. One hot month from Braun will put him right in line with his career averages for HR, even while playing in fewer games due to his nagging injuries.

[swheeler23]

Here is an excellent article comparing Braun to Luc's 2014. Braun is very close to his numbers or better in 15 fewer games. People don't want to believe Braun is still a great player.

 

http://reelmissing.tumblr.com/post/92847823340/ryan-braun-is-defying-conventional-wisdom-and-mlb