Royals Research May Update

I have 2 research projects going regarding he 2006 Royals. I am charting actual defense runs saved and allowed and Angel Berroa batting habits regarding swining at 1rst pitches and falling behind early in the count. I also for amusement added another AB to the study -Andres Blanco when he got called up.

Criteria: subtract 1 fior each defensive negative outcome, subtract 1 for each run scores due to mishap, add 1 for each defensive positve outcome that is beyond the normal expectation of a fielder, + 1 per run saved due to the play, +1 for every play that ends an ing

Royals defense ( + = runs saved, - = runs allowed)
Name May April Overall
P Bako +2 +2 +4
J Buck 0 -1 -1
D Mienkewivcz +5 +3 +8 very active 1b- kept busy by left sideinfield
T Graffanino 1b -1 -5 -6
3b +1 0 +1
M Grudzalanek +1 +3 +4
A Berroa -9 -3 -12
A Blanco +5 dnp +5
E German 3b -4 -2 -6
2b -1 0 -1
OF 0 -7 -7 (OF better in LF than CF)
M Teahan 0 -3 -3
E Brown +1 -10 -9 continues to be incredibly active in plays- he had some very solid games this month (Stl series especially) but is still waaay too involved in run scoring plays
D Dejesus 0 0 0 injuries have limited him- yet to make a play to be scored 1 way or another- very strange for a CF- he's getting to what's routine but perhaps hamstring is limiting plays he goes full force for
S Costa -2 +1 -1 not good in CF especially- better in RF
A Guiel 0 dnp 0 has good d rep but had several negative plays
R Sanders -2 0 -2 fascinating to cotnrast to Brown in other corner- as active as Brown is-Sanders is rarely involved in a scoring play- hamstring issues caused 2 plays where he couldn't get to balls that he normally would of
K Robinson -1 dnp -1
pitchers -11 -1 -12 Sisco at -8 bad defensive pitcher, Affeldt-4 play, only positive defensive plays for Royal pitchers Elarton +1 and Mike Wood +1- under-reported defensive position

Team -16 -22 -38 Royals play better defense but still hurting overall- E Brown improved- German playing less in CF, Blanco playing some SS- but Berroa played even worse and Royals pitchers had some gastly outings- injuries hurting CF and RF play

Brown was involved in 14 scoring plays in May, Sanders -2 - do bad fielders simply look worse because they are not confident. Browns plays are pretty obvious-far from subtle. His score is reflective of his skills and impact. Players like Sanders and DeJesus may be the ones the system struggles to gauge especially if they are injured and might not be going out for some balls- i.e. a double in the gap- E Brown goes all out and it bounces off his glove for a minus score- Sanders may not go all out if hammy tight and only make plays he thinks he reasonably can- thus smae score Sanders is a 0 as I don't see the play as makable. Sanders seems a more instinctive outfielder than Brown- Brown struggles to adjust to almost every ball while Sanders may get penalized as well for making plays look smooth and easy ala Amos Otis years ago. He may also be smarter in how he positions himself. Either way playing the field is a struggle for Emil.

Angel Berroa Study % He swings at 1rst pitch and % he is behind the count in 1rst 3 pitches
April:
Angel swung at 1rst pitch 13/28 chances viewed 46%
Angel was behind in count 1rst 3 pitches 22/28 79% of time

May:
Angel swung at 1rst pitch 34/72 47%
Angel behind in count 51/72 71%

Total
1rst pitch 47/100 47%
behind 73/100 73%

These numbers appear to be terrible and explains his poor overall numbers I think. Yet what are average player numbers? Not sure but I can point to another extreme. I love Andres Blanco. Blanco stinks as a hitter -flat out but his defense is way above Berroa's and at least Blanco knows he stinks and adjusts his hitting to that reality.

Blanco
1rst pitch swings 1/18 5% and BTW the 1 time was a sac bunt-
behind coutn in 3 pitches 6/18 33% almost inverted from Berroa
actually the 2nd number is surprising. It's so obvious Blanco takes the 1rst pitch why wouldn't pitchers groove strikes. I am stunned at how many balls he gets 1rst pitch. Blanco also shortens up his swing and battles into counts so much better than Berroa which helps the offense a little as well. So Bart if this is so much better why is Blanco still a worse hitter (.185 ish) as he was sent down. Well as I said Blanco stinks as a hitter but he has advantage of knowing it and adjusting his game. He hit a very poor batting average 50 points below Berroa but he did walk. He walked more in his brief stint than Berroa did all year! Berroa recently passed him with his 3rd walk. Berroa walked 2/3 times while Blanco was up. Berroa also was exercising much more patience at plate (for him) after Blanco started playing some- so Angel got the message-it's not like he doesn't realize it.
Berroa- batting .243 on base .258 181 at bats 3 walks 33 strikeouts
Blanco batting .176 on base .263 17 at bats 2 walks 2 strikeouts

Factoring in his defense and the liklihood that Blanco will improve his hitting suggested by his approach and willingness to play to his skills I say right now the Royals are better with Blanco than Berroa even if he's hitting .176- that's how bad Berroa is.