A Look At the Hitters ... and More

How are the Bulls hitters doing this year?

One answer is, good enough to win most of their games. But to take a little closer look here's a chart with numbers for the current roster.

click on chart for a larger image

The players are sorted by their wOBA, Weighted On-Base Average, a sort of pumped up on-base average that provides a better picture of a player’s performance than just batting average. Also displayed is the traditional batting average number, which, mostly, tracks wOBA.

The players marked with asterisks “*” are on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster. The numbers in parentheses are the plate appearances for each batter. The sources for the data are Stat Corner and Baseball Reference.

A couple of things jump out.

The infield isn’t doing very well at bat. Russ Canzler is the only infielder (other than Lobaton) hitting above the team average. Four players are below the Mendoza Line. The sample size is way too small to jump to any conclusions regarding Felipe Lopez, but he has not done too well since his arrival.

Should we start worrying about J.J. Furmaniak and Robinson Chirinos? In a word, yes, even though they are very different players. J.J. is a veteran who can be expected to climb back up into the middle to high .200’s BA. Chirinos is a bit different because expectations were set so high coming out of spring training and because he’s on the 40-man. Nevertheless, Chirinos is more likely to be judged on his defensive skills than his hitting.

I worry more about Leslie Anderson than any of the others. His play at first base seems to be improving, but he simply is not getting on base enough. That said, his hitting has been very timely. His 14 RBIs count for something.

Webworld

• The News & Observer (the News & Observer? I know. I am as shocked as you all) did an interesting piece on Justin Ruggiano.
• Triangle Offense has a good interview with visiting reliever J.P. Howell.

Quiet Day, Mostly

Game 34: Durham Bulls 1; Indianapolis Indians 0
Season: 21-13; Last 10: 8-2; This Home Stand: 6-1
Wrap, Box

First inning, second batter, Justin Ruggiano hits a home run, his 6th and ran up his team-leading total of RBIs to 28. There is no doubt that Ruggiano has been locked in these last couple of weeks and is setting a very high standard for the rest of the team’s hitters. By the way, that was the only, and obviously game-winning, run of the game.

Pitching ruled the rest of the game. The Bulls got a runner to second base in the 5th, but that was as close as they came. An Indians runner got to third base in the 6th (single, sacrifice, stolen base), but not close to getting across. But the pitchers were the only guys who didn’t have play 11 innings yesterday and then get up for an eleven o’clock game today.

Our guys collected the Bulls’ fourth shutout and the second of this home stand.

Alex Cobb picked up his third win and looked very comfortable through six. J.P. Howell gave up a hit in his inning, but really had no trouble at all.

For the first time since his arrival, Jake McGee looked like the pitcher we saw here last year. Two innings, 4 K’s (2 looking), a troublesome 4-pitch walk, and that was it. His velocity (when I noticed) was usually marked at 94, with a couple of 93s and at least one 95 in the mix.

As is all too often the case, Brandon Guyer’s “cup of coffee” has cost him back here with the Bulls. He’s 2 for 11 since his return. Still, can’t complain. What a thrill that home run must have been up in Baltimore.

Did anyone see the game on MLB? If so, how did it look?

Beautiful Extra-Inning Win, With Puzzles

Game 29: Durham Bulls 3; Syracuse Chiefs 1
Wrap, Box, Indy Week,Herald-Sun

Game 30: Durham Bulls 6; Syracuse Chiefs 5 (11 innings)
Wrap, Box, Herald-Sun
Season: 18-12; Streak: 4-0

Justin Ruggiano had yet another amazing game Saturday night. In fact he sort of had to win it twice. In the 10th with the score tied 2-2, Ray Olmedo tried to score on Ruggiano's single to center field, but he was thrown out. So when Rugg came to bat in the 11th with the bases loaded and the score tied 5-5 [Ooops! Thanks, Chris D] Chiefs 5, Bulls 4, it was naturally assumed that he would hit in the winning runs — and he did with a single to center.

The win kept the Bulls two games in front of the Gwinnett Braves and its spectacular nature obscured a couple of oddities and issues that are worth mentioning.

What we witnessed for 6 innings was a superb scoreless pitchers' duel between the Bulls Alex Torres and the Chiefs Yuneska Maya. All of these games with the Chiefs have shown them to have a fine crowd of starting pitchers. But (who else) Justin Ruggiano broke the tie with a RBI double and Russ Canzler hit him in. That certainly looked good enough.

But then in a puzzling move, after J.P. Howell did his rehab inning, Chris Bootcheck came in, walked the Chief's #9 batter, and was pulled for Jake McGee. McGee got a ground out fielder's choice then gave up a home run that tied the game. My question is, why was Bootcheck pulled? He's just off the DL and did give up a walk, but something could have been wrong. And why McGee back-to-back? He pitched part of an inning on Friday and was back for this session.

Then there was the 11th. New guy Ryan Reid got a ground out and gave up a walk. R.J. Swindle came in to give up three runs with a homer, single, double and hit batter. Not good. In fact, this is not a good year for R.J. This was his first time on the mound since April 30th (2/3 inning). He's being hit hard. In 11 innings he has given up 5 home runs, 11 earned runs, 16 hits. His signature slow curve has disappeared. As a final peculiarity, after giving up 3 runs in the top of the 11th last night, when the Bulls came back with 4 in the bottom of the inning, Swindle got the win! Overall, I'm beginning to think that R.J. may not be long for the Bulls. That's too bad, because he was a key figure in last year's championship team.

We saw Felipe Lopez for the first time. He did a fine job at third base, where he was quite busy early in the game. On the other hand, he left Ruggiano hanging out in scoring position three different times.

Meanwhile, for Rays' futurists, the Montgomery Biscuits have been over in Zebulon and won one last night as well.

Our guys up with the Rays: Brandon Guyer did not get into the Rays' 8-2 win over Baltimore, but Brandon Gomes pitched a scoreless 9th (1 BB, 2 K's).

Rays' Rehaber(s) to Bulls

According to this item, J.P. Howell will be joining the Durham Bulls sometime soon as part of his rehabilitation path. Lefty Howell was out all of last year and may be the reason that Jake McGee is with the Rays instead of continuing his development with the Durham Bulls. And then there's Evan Longoria, but his rehab may not involve any treks to the minor leagues.

In both cases, however, we'll feel some effects.

We might get to see Howell. However, with this long road trip and the pace of his rehab, it could all happen on the road.

The Rays will have to make room for Howell (and Longoria) on the roster. Plus the Bulls have two players on the DL as well.

Result? The Bulls that come back in May probably won't be the same Bulls who leave town tomorrow.

J. P. Howell May Start Season With the Bulls

48 days to start of the season (@ Gwinnett)

55 days to the home opener (April 14)

Way back in the dark ages — that would be the 2007 season — the Bulls had a pretty good starting left hander named J. P. Howell. It was Charlie Montoyo's first season as manager. Pretty good batch of pitchers with Jeff Neimann, Mitch Talbot, Jason Hammel, Jeff Ridgeway, Andy Sonnanstine, and my personal favorite, reliever Seth McClung.

Down in St. Pete, J.P. became a reliever and did well in 2008 and 2009 (stats) but shoulder problems took him out of the game in 2010.

Which leads to the report that we may get to see him on the mound a couple of times this year. Hope so, because it would mean that he's on his way back.