Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Noticing Elliot Johnson

Game 123: Durham Bulls 6; Charlotte Knights 2
Season: 76-47
Wrap, Box

We are really late today, but I’ve been wanting to devote most of a post to one of my favorite players for 2010 — Elliot Johnson. He had a great night last night, so the time seems right.

His 4 for 4, two-homer game last night is just icing on a very good year. In fact, you can say that quite possibly the best thing that happened to the Bulls this season was for Elliot to pass through waivers and land here (not that he should have been waivered in the first place). You’ve got to think that there is a GM somewhere who’s really unhappy that he didn’t put a bid in when he could have.

There was a time (2007) when I would not have thought so. It says a lot for this young (26) man that he has had two not very stellar years and is here today with some of the best numbers in the International League.

Numbers:
  • Average: .318 (#2 in the IL)
  • OBP: .378 (#5 in the IL)
  • OPS: .858 (#8 in the IL)
  • Stolen bases: 24 (#7 in the IL)
  • wOBA .373, bRAA +12.1 (393 PA)

Mostly a middle infielder (53 starts at SS, 16 starts at 2B) he’s done some time in the corner outfields (16 games in left, 9 games in right).

And plenty of RBI — 50 — which is quite a few for a guy who mostly bats in the #2 spot.

If there’s a “problem” for Elliot it’s that there are a lot of guys up on the Rays roster — Bartlett, Brignac, S. Rodriguez, Zobrist to name a few — who have middle infield credentials. The Bulls fan in me thinks that is just fine — he’ll likely be with us through the playoffs. Once they are over, however, here’s hoping he finds a place in the majors.

Points of interest in last night’s game:

At thirteen wins, Richard De Los Santos tied a Bulls record. Here’s hoping he pushes on past the tie.

In a very Maddon-esque move, Montoyo put new pitcher Brian Shouse in to face one batter in the 8th. One pitch, one out. Then Winston Abreu came on in a non-save situation to close it out in the 9th. Sure there was a good reason for that, just can’t figure out what it was.

2 comments:

  1. Interesting interview in the Independant this week with Fernando Perez...Also interesting is the fact the interview was broken up over several lunches.
    When I'm at the ballpark watching the fans gorge themselves on junk food I often wondered what the players eat and when..

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  2. Love this post! :) Blake and I were there for Elliot's game last night and we had a great time cheering for him as he hit both those home runs! Yahoo!!

    www.baseballwifeblog.com

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