Sometimes You Just Have To Look And Stare

The New York Yankees are hitting .275/.384/.469 as a team through Tuesday’s games, leading the American League in on-base percentage, slugging and runs scored. But Nick Johnson hasn’t been a huge asset thus far, despite his .407 on-base percentage.

The veteran is hitting .146 and has just three extra-base hits all season. He’s hitless in his last 12 at-bats and has 15 punch outs to go with his 16 walks. Might the Yankees consider another option?

I went and looked this up because Greg from Pending Pinstripes made a comment on his Twitter feed.

I honestly read that and then read it again and then spent a few minutes just looking at it with my head tilted and…stared.

Quickly:

  1. A .406 OBP is always a pretty big if not huge asset from a full time player.
  2. 15 strikeouts to 16 walks means he has more walks than strikeouts and yet it’s noted as a bad thing. He has more walks than games played! Talk about grasping at straws.
  3. Using the language “all season” when we’re 13 games in is incredibly stupid.
  4. Might the Yankees consider another option? Not after they’ve played 13 games, no. Maybe they should also cut Mark Teixeira who is currently sporting a .125/.300/.229 line

This isn’t any kind of rumor, and while I try to stay away from giving dumb things attention this was just so incredibly stupid I couldn’t let it be. Completely made up, irresponsible and dumb things like this are exactly why I and many others take everything ESPN reports with a giant grain of salt.

3 Comments

  1. Wow. Johnson’s job is clearly to get on base ahead of the power hitters from 3-6. If he keeps up a .407 OBP, I honestly don’t care if his average is .150 on August 1st. If our #2 hitter is on base after 41% of his plate appearances, the Yankees are going to score A LOT of runs this year.

  2. I realize that OBP is the most important offensive statistic. I get it. And I know that Nick Johnson was second in the NL in OBP (.426) last season and is a very useful player. But damn. He’s really putting it to the test. This is the most lackluster .400 OBP you’ll ever see. It almost looks like he’s afraid to swing the bat sometimes.