Sunday, February 8, 2009

Left-handed pitching? I own you.

So I was wondering - as I generally do when Grey's Anatomy is on - about the Astros versus left-handed pitching. I want to know who, over the last three years, has shown the most improvement in base stats against left-handed pitching. We won't take Michael Bourn into account, as we don't have more than 2008 to compare.

Let's look:
Lance Berkman
2006 - .266/.374/.416
2007 - .265/.361/.439
2008 - .276/.354/.449

Aaron Boone
2006 - .280/.369/.421
2007 - .213/.350/.255
2008 - .275/.365/.451

Darin Erstad
2006 - .192/.300/.346
2007 - .157/.205/.229
2008 - .243/.270/.329

Carlos Lee
2006 - .313/.354/.490
2007 - .338/.408/.547
2008 - .330/.374/.585

Kaz Matsui
2006 - .119/.229/.143 (that's in 42 at-bats)
2007 - .271/.311/.386
2008 - .291/.345/.408

Hunter Pence
2007 - .354/.407/.586
2008 - .250/.294/.428

Humberto Quintero
2007 - .211/.250/.263
2008 - .274/.294/.333

Miguel Tejada
2006 - .335/.375/.503
2007 - .323/.404/.508
2008 - .282/.326/.417

To recap, the players who showed improvement in all three categories over three (or two) years are: Kaz Matsui, Humberto Quintero.
Improvement in two categories: Lance Berkman, Aaron Boone and Carlos Lee.
Regression in two categories: Darin Erstad.
Regression in all categories: Hunter Pence and Miguel Tejada. Miggs' stats have alarm bells going off. Hunter Pence's stats can be chalked up to being in the League for his first full season and making adjustments