Bingo. I've never been a fan of a player only playing HALF of the game. That's what Football is for.Originally Posted by durl
Bingo. I've never been a fan of a player only playing HALF of the game. That's what Football is for.
This is probably the only time Aaron Harang will be on anything ESPN
A little bit off the subject, but relating to media coverage of non-AL East teams, I thought it was awesome last night when the MLB network started their Quick Pitch show (basically, their version of Baseball Tonight), with the Reds/Marlins game, and focused on the Reds pitching staff throwing 4 shutouts in 6 games.
And this was on a night when the Red Sox played the Yankees. I have no idea what ESPN lead with, but I would bet that it was the Sox/Yanks game. Nice to see the at least the MLB network giving the Reds some due attention.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -- Albert Einstein
When I flipped on Quick Pitch this morning, I missed the first few minutes. I didn't think it would be a big deal - figured the Reds would be buried at the end of the program.
Imagine my surprise when I found out (at the onset of the next hour) the Reds had lead off. That is why I love that channel.
Wrote this in January it still applies
Aaron Harang currently ranks as the worst hitting player in the history of the game if we set the bar at 375 plate appearances, if we drop it to 350 he’s a hair behind Doug Davis. (ops plus -53 to -54)
Nevertheless he’s mired in a reality that screams OUT!!!!
Aaron Harang is the reason the AL has the DH, he’s pitiful… striking out 44% of the time he comes to the dish and he has exactly 2 walks. Any manager who worries about Harang at the plate should be placed under immediate observation. He’s made an out 92.5% of the time he’s approached the plate in major league baseball.
Code:OPS OPS PA RB SO BB EBH Aaron Harang .182 388 33 170 2 3 Dean Chance .183 759 79 420 30 2 Ben Sheets .196 492 51 204 18 3 Bob Buhl .220 952 116 389 38 2 Ron Kline .222 548 62 221 15 3 Al Benton .223 579 58 200 7 7 Ryan Dempster .224 434 42 154 8 8 Hank Aguirre .225 427 47 236 14 8 Jose DeLeon .226 490 56 171 16 2 Jim Deshaies .230 440 56 186 23 0
I find it unimmaginable to think that anyone was a worse hitter than Hank Aguirre. His numbers may have been better than Harangs but Hank hit in an era when all pitchers batted. He was lucky to guess what end of the bat to hold. Fans gave him standing ovations for a foul tip, umpires had to explain the batter's box to him!
Of course, he was a Detroit Tiger so that explains a lot.:
Rem
You know all those AL teams - they never use pinch hitters, double switches or strategy.
My one year old looks more at home swinging a bat than most pitchers - real exciting entertainment.
That's a terrible idea, and I hope it never happens.
Im amazed at how bad some pitchers are at hitting. Most of the time, they were typically the best talent on their high school or college teams but when they come to the majors, they look like a bag boy swinging at MLB pitching. I just cant wrap my head around it.
Yes, it's like "I'm a pitcher now and have erased all memory of hitting a baseball."
Bill James theory is that as you progress in leagues that the pitchers talent for hitting always wanes, this takes hold as each player heightens their specialties and each league gets progressively harder challenging the player more and more thus leaving the pitcher to spend the majority of his career honing the skill that keeps him in the big leagues. So in essence hours of cage time for a hitter is translated into hours of pitching time and training for the pitcher, and there are just so many hours in a day on a baseball field.
Hitting a baseball thrown by major league caliber pitchers is such a specialized, demanding and difficult skill. Even an athlete as mentally and physically strong as Michael Jorden found out the hard way just how tough it is.
The difference between the best high school pitcher Harang ever faced and the worst major league pitcher who had his way with him is enormous.
We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut
We have GOT to keep calling out our players on threads.
Harang obviously reads RedsZone.
We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut
OK, now we need a thread on pitchers baserunning.
We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut
That hit by Harang was huge tonight. Kudos to him on his birthday.
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