Around the Leagues, or is Ben Zobrist for Real?
This is a post to discuss happenings around baseball that aren’t Giants-specific and don’t include those two teams from back east if you can avoid it. So offer up your interesting stats, a player that has caught you by surprise, the under/over-performance of a team, or the fact that Kevin Frandsen must have had sex with Brian Sabean’s wife in an uncomfortable place (the backseat of a Volkswagen). I will start: If memory serves me, a batter is required to have 3.1 PA’s per game played by his team to qualify for the various batting metrics. Ben Zobrist is right on the cusp of qualification, and within a few days will be qualifying now that he is starting every game (why was he not starting every game?). A little perspective: as of this afternoon, Zobrist has 203 PA, so while we are still looking at small sample size, he has about a third of the plate appearances he will end up with by the end of the year. Right now he would be leading the majors in wOBA, second to Albert Pujols in SLG, fifth in OBP, tied for first in ISO with Pujols, and is playing solid defense according to current UZR numbers (yes, SSS disclaimer heard). Bottom line is the guy is hitting the crap out of the ball, and while I realized he was playing well, I didn’t realize he was playing Pujols-well. I know there was a Zobrist-centered post a couple of weeks ago, but hopefully this branches into a discussion about other baseball happenings as well. Now that I have jinxed him, it’s your turn…



