Looking at Shea

[DWKB]

I was curious is anyone has been looking close at Shea since he's been with the team.

Right now in 57 PA he's posting a mediocre .259/.298/.481 for us.

Also I'm not sure how we should gauge him, is he no longer a 3B for us but more like a platoon 1B?

Right now Shea has the same OBP as Grace (both making outs over 7 out of 10 times up) and if we were going to field a platoon at 1B I would think it would be easy to chose which player to have against LHP:

PA     AVG     OBP     SLG
77    .338    .350    .519
43    .302    .396    .581

I would venture some would say Shea is due for an improvement but if you look at his 2003 season to date #'s vs his 2002 it's eerily similar so far:

 AVG     OBP     SLG
.293    .330    .459
.293    .327    .452

So far in his career he's depressed his performance in the 2nd 1/2 every year he's been in the majors. It would be flat out ugly if this trend continues.

 

[RLakin]

Originally posted by DWKB
Also I'm not sure how we should gauge him, is he no longer a 3B for us but more like a platoon 1B?

Apparently. It probably has more to do w/ Craig Counsell coming back than anything else. I guess the "everyday" Overbay experiment is over, which is pretty sad because the guy hasn't even had a full season to work with. I'm no Overbay fan, but it's sad to see another young 1st baseman get sporadic playing time for the purposes of keeping future broadcasters in the organization as well as to feed the ego of a manger who's quest is a record amount of original lineup cards.

 

[schillingfan]

Actually Shea is a good fit with this team in that he has a fair platoon split between righties and lefties. He hits lefties better than righties: .338/.351/.527.878 as opposed to .272/.316/.420/.736

The D-Backs historically have not hit lefties well as the best hitters (Gonzo, Fins) don't hit lefties well and Counsell, Womack, Overbay are lefties as well. So having a right handed hitter who hits lefties is really helpful to the D-Backs. He's an improvement over Matty because he doesn't totally suck against righties.

 

[Matrix31]

Once again though, a young first basemen isnt getting a chance under BRenly. Overbay has sat out the last couple of games because we were facing left handers, but he has hit lefties a .311 clip. Overbay hasnt done as well as i expected, but he is having a decent rookie season. He is striking out much mroe then i would have expected since he isnt a power guy, i just wish they would put him in the lineup consistently.

 

[mark1]

Actually, Overbay hits lefties better than righties this year, .311 to .271. Thats why I didn't understand why Brenly sat Overbay in the first two games of the Dodger series, and played .206 hitter Q. Our best lineup, stat wise, would have been Hammock in right, Hillenbrand at third, and Overbay at first. Of course Q got the big hit in game 1. If I was Brenly, I would have a hard time starting a couple of 200 hitters like Q and Grace.

 

[mark1]

Sorry Matrix,

we must have posted at the same time. Great minds think a like

 

[BC867]

When Shea first joined us, it took him a few games to become consistent, which he was until he got hurt.

Now he's going through it again. If he stays healthy, I believe we'll see the benefit of him batting behind Gonzo throughout the rest of the season.

Even in games in which Hillenbrand doesn't hit, his presence helps Gonzo.
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There's no question that Shea is full-time. Shifting over to 1B so a righty can play 3B against lefties (and platoon with Overbay) is logical.

As I've said before, I believe that Lyle can have a good career as a Mark Grace type 1B -- if there are power hitters around him.

But I gotta tell you, I am very disappointed in his low RBI total, especially when he was getting most of the starts.

Hillenbrand doesn't hit alot of homeruns, but he drives in runs. I would expect the same from Overbay, as a corner infielder.

 

[schillingfan]

And Shea gets 3 hits tonight off of Nomo just to make everyone look bad in criticizing his hitting.

 

[moviegeekjn]

Anyone look up stats on the average time it takes an AL batter to adjust to NL pitching?

 

[Lefty]

I think Shea will be okay. I think playing at BOB will help his offense. He is a line drive hitter and I think he will hit more home runs at BOB than he did at Fenway.

 

[green machine]

Lyle doesn't have the RBI numbers because there is hardly ever anyone on in front of him. I'd be interested in seeing his average with runners ins scoring position. Shea is a great player to have because of his ability to play 3rd and 1st, depending on the situation.

adam

 

[DWKB]

Originally posted by green machine
Lyle doesn't have the RBI numbers because there is hardly ever anyone on in front of him. I'd be interested in seeing his average with runners ins scoring position. Shea is a great player to have because of his ability to play 3rd and 1st, depending on the situation.

adam

I thought I'd take a look at this to get a slight comparison. It's far from perfect, but a personal LOB is about as anti-RBI as one can get. So the sum of the RBIs and the LOB should give us an idea. (this is from April 1st)

Player          RBI     LOB     OPP     %age
Overbay          23      76      99     .232
Hillenbrand      42     108     150     .280

I wouldn't claim to say this should be take with much more than a grain of salt. It doesn't consider HRs with the bases empty.

 

[Freddie]

He's not leaving anyone on base tonight.

 

[Lefty]

I told you Shea would hit better at BOB than at Fenway. He has a perfect swing for BOB.

 

[Stan C]

Is he as streaky as Finley? What a night to watch a ball game.

 

[Dback Jon]

Shea!!

If he can keep that swing going, watch out NL!!