Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Valentin's lefty only experiment
As most of you know, Jose Valentin has decided to hit exclusively from the left side this year. After hitting a very weak .157/.224/.267 from 2001-2003, Jose really wasn't helping against left-handed pitchers. Given that the White Sox's AL Central opponents include multiple lefty starters, Jose might have found himself riding the pine quite a bit this year without improvement.
After a horrible start in KC where he struck out in his first six plate appearances against lefties, he's really turned it around. If you're counting, and who isn't, he's been 6 for 14 since, with only a single strikeout. That pencils out (or, Excels out) to a .428 average.
Now, I wouldn't expect Valentin to hit .300/.364/.450 against lefties all year, but a .250/.310/.400 line would be a dramatic improvement and would push his value up for the White Sox. That might be worth an extra "W" over the course of the year. And every "W" is going to count.
Comments-[ comments.]
As most of you know, Jose Valentin has decided to hit exclusively from the left side this year. After hitting a very weak .157/.224/.267 from 2001-2003, Jose really wasn't helping against left-handed pitchers. Given that the White Sox's AL Central opponents include multiple lefty starters, Jose might have found himself riding the pine quite a bit this year without improvement.
After a horrible start in KC where he struck out in his first six plate appearances against lefties, he's really turned it around. If you're counting, and who isn't, he's been 6 for 14 since, with only a single strikeout. That pencils out (or, Excels out) to a .428 average.
Now, I wouldn't expect Valentin to hit .300/.364/.450 against lefties all year, but a .250/.310/.400 line would be a dramatic improvement and would push his value up for the White Sox. That might be worth an extra "W" over the course of the year. And every "W" is going to count.
Comments:
Post a Comment
