Quote:
Originally Posted by Drugs Delaney
Also, while I really like Hannigan, I think his OBP prowess is a bit overrated. Seemed like he got a ton of two out walks where pitchers pitches around him to bring up the pitcher. Thus, I think his walk rates are really inflated. If you put him higher in the order, I suspect his OBP would really suffer.
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I thought that this was an interesting theory, so I went ahead and checked it out. According to baseball reference, Hanigan maintained a slash line of .253/.388/.293 with two outs in the inning in 2012. While the OBP jump is noticeable (and quite frankly, to be expected) your theory kind of tapers out a bit when considering his slash line with 0 outs and 1 out.
0 outs: .313/.363/.384
1 out: .255/.344/.330
It's important to note that the plate appearances are pretty close: 128 with 0 outs, 122 with 1, and 121 with 2.
To me, this shows that Hanigan's propensity for solid OBP numbers are probably more reflective of the fact that he doesn't strike out much and appears to show a lot of knowledge of the strike zone. In short, he's a disciplined hitter, and thusly his OBP reflects this. I do agree with you though that if he were to hit higher in the order, his OBP would probably suffer, but not exceedingly so.
Just for the record, this isn't intended to be a "show-up" post. I'm just bored and thought that it would be interesting to check out.
