Fantasy Baseball: NL 2nd Half Batting Eye Leaders

by Ray Guilfoyle on Aug 27, 2009 10:00 AM EDT in Baseball

Here's a slightly different stat to look at when reviewing hitters prior to your 2010 drafts: batting eye. I used a similar calculation that I used to rank pitchers by Command ratio. Here I used K-BB for hitters.

Let's take a look:

Player	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	KO	BA	OBP	SLG	K-BB
Helton, Todd 1B COL	134	17	44	2	12	25	10	0.328	0.431	0.455	-15
Cantu, Jorge 3B FLA	129	14	34	3	18	19	9	0.264	0.356	0.380	-10
Gonzalez, Adrian 1B SD	133	23	42	10	23	29	20	0.316	0.433	0.624	-9
Johnson, Nick 1B FLA	88	14	24	1	12	27	21	0.273	0.445	0.364	-6
Pujols, Albert 1B STL	140	26	38	8	22	23	19	0.271	0.389	0.514	-4
Berkman, Lance 1B HOU	48	11	15	0	5	16	12	0.313	0.484	0.479	-4
Ruiz, Carlos C PHI	95	15	21	5	14	12	8	0.221	0.318	0.442	-4
Molina, Yadier C STL	114	13	36	0	13	13	10	0.316	0.395	0.368	-3
Victorino, Shane CF PHI	135	26	43	3	13	16	15	0.319	0.407	0.511	-1
Lee, Carlos N. LF HOU	145	20	46	8	31	12	11	0.317	0.370	0.566	-1
McCutchen, Andrew OF PIT	132	27	38	6	15	21	22	0.288	0.378	0.508	1
Zimmerman, Ryan 3B WAS	139	35	45	12	34	21	22	0.324	0.410	0.655	1
Wright, David 3B NYM	104	19	34	3	12	18	19	0.327	0.427	0.490	1
Castillo, Luis 2B NYM	122	27	48	1	16	17	18	0.393	0.468	0.451	1
Loney, James 1B LA	129	11	34	0	19	16	17	0.264	0.345	0.318	1
Church, Ryan RF ATL	88	18	25	2	16	14	15	0.284	0.382	0.466	1
Jones, Chipper 3B ATL	121	21	31	6	15	25	27	0.256	0.376	0.438	2
LaRoche, Andy 3B PIT	115	9	24	2	10	14	16	0.209	0.300	0.322	2
Escobar, Yunel SS ATL	125	22	40	5	18	14	16	0.320	0.397	0.480	2
Roberts, Ryan 3B ARI	96	12	33	5	12	13	15	0.344	0.422	0.573	2

In this chart, if a batter's K-BB is negative, it means he is walking more than he is striking out, which is very valuable when trying to determine if a player should/could get more playing time this year and next.

A couple that stuck out for me were Jorge Cantu, Andrew McCutchen and Andy Laroche. Cantu's performance at the plate this year has been a little disappointing, especially in the power categories. But one thing the Marlins are focusing on is hitters who don't strike out alot, so Cantu should be starting again next season as long as he isn't dealt.

McCutchen has impressed at the plate and on the basepaths since getting the call back in June. He's a keeper for next year, and I could see a 15-30 season from him very easily in 2010, and that's a conservative estimate.

Laroche has also been a disappointment this year. He will be hard pressed to keep his 3B job, but he could get moved over to 2B in 2010, with Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez ready or almost ready for major league duty next year. Laroche played a little 2B in AAA while playing for the Dodgers. I could see a 15-60 season for him should he slide over to 2B IN 2010.

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