Brett Gardner, unsung hero

[jacksonianmarch]

Brett Gardner has been a godsend for this team. After the season, we let Matsui walk and bickered with Damon over a few million. We dealt away a top prospect for Granderson who hasnt found his way thus far. We brought in Nick Johnson who immediately got hurt. We really were seeing some serious offensive voids. In stepped Brett Gardner. Not only does he offer us elite defense in LF, he is capable of playing a hell of a CF as well. Then, comes his offensive contributions. Here is his line...

 

.316/.398/.421. He has 4 homers as well as 24 steals at the halfway point. He's also on pace to be near 100 runs even as a guy who hits 8th or 9th most of the time. His patience has improved, his contact improved last yr and his ability to slap the ball has improved. Overall, he, Swish, and Cano have been the engines in the offensive machine, waiting for Tex and ARod to heat up. Regardless, this kid has surpassed all expectations and has been a joy to watch. Maybe this will quell the Crawford rumors for next yr (unless they find a taker for Grandy).

[Spudboy]

Sort of like Sizemore and Ellsbury. On a small sample size.

[Dipre]

Sort of like Sizemore and Ellsbury. On a small sample size.

 

Grady Sizemore is about as different to Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner as a speedy guy can be to another. Ells and Gardner are both speed burners who slap the ball around and have minimal to moderate power, while Sizemore has a power hitter approach (patience+ uppercut swing) makes minimal contact, generates a lot of power and K's a ton.

 

While Gardner has demonstrated the ability to get on base at a decent clip (.352 in 625 AB's, which is not, by definition, an insignificant sample, but i digress) i would like to see what would Jacko's opinion be if Gardner played for the Red Sox, had a .360 BABIP in 2010, and vastly inferior numbers away from his home park.

 

Now, don't get me wrong, Gardner is doing exactly what he did in the Minors (Very high OBP, high-success base stealer) , but both his OBP and SLG are inflated by his home park (not by that much, mind you), but is this really what could be expected of him as "standard performance"?

[Spudboy]

Gardner sucks.

[Dipre]

I just thought he was a good player performing a bit above his head, but now that someone with 40+ years of baseball-viewing knowledge has pointed out the error of my ways to me, then i have no choice but to alter my stance.

 

Gardner sucks.

[Lester82]

Jacko thinks all Yankees are god-sent

[Yaz Sideburn]

he's a solid young player. if he can keep it up over a longer sample size i think he'll get a lot of attention

[jacksonianmarch]

The great thing about Gardner nowadays is that he has learned to use his speed to his advantage. WHen he came up, he had a homerun swing on a guy who just didnt have the power to own one. Now, his swing is mostly a chop down unless the ball is down and in, like yesterday. Long worked hard on his swing to get him to do that. If he hits the ball on the ground or low liners at best, then he wont slump. There is an old saying that speed doesnt slump. Mostly because when he is on, he'll be serving line drives to the outfield. When he isnt, he'll be hitting dribblers to the infield, both with almost the same single capability.

 

Now, he isnt a .820OPS player. That came on the heels of a ridiculous June where he OPS'd over 1.000. But I definitely think he can maintain a .300 AVG with an OBP in the high .300 range based on his solid eye and his slashing swing. That will be worth a LOT to this team. It kinda makes the Crawford argument moot, even though Crawford brings a bit more power to the equation.

[Meh]

If anyone noticed he did the same thing at every level in the minor leagues. It took him a while at each new level where he just struggled then exploded. I remember all the ellsbury is better than Gardner talk from Sox fans, I think I popped a vein in my neck reading some of that trash. Hopefully more Red Sox fans are converted in thinking these days.

[ORS]

Exploded? When he "mastered" the higher levels he was a .820-ish offensive producer. That's good, but the only thing exploding is the hyperbole of your description.

 

Most of that sentiment that popped your neck veins came when Gardner was toiling to a .675 OPS in AAA to close the year while Ellsbury was banging out a .900 in the bigs and igniting the offense that won the WS. How dare they think he was better?

[jacksonianmarch]

So you use OPS when it clearly isnt indicated but poo-poo it when it suits you? We all know that Gardner is a minus power guy, making OPS pretty useless in evaluating him. How bout we use your favorite, VORP.

 

Gardner comes in 4th on the Yankees and 2nd on the offensive side with a 21.6 VORP. That would sit 7th on the sox, right behind David Ortiz and ahead of JD Drew and Victor Martinez

[Yaz Sideburn]

gardner isn't hitting the ball on the ground any more than he did in his previous two years with the yankees. in 2008 he hit the ball on the ground 47.9% of the time, in 2009 he hit the ball on the ground 49% of the time and this year he's hitting the ball on the ground 50% of the time. he was never a .300 hitter in the minors so only time will tell whether something clicked for him at age 25 or whether he's hitting above his head right now

[jacksonianmarch]

Look at Gardner's history before making that comment. He'd hit around .300 at his level, get promoted mid season, then slump at the new level. The following yr, he'd hit over .300, get promoted, then slump at the new level. This is the first yr he has started for the whole yr.

 

2006- A+ Tampa- .323/.433/.418

2006- AA Trenton- .272/.352/.318

2007- AA Trenton- .300/.392/.419

2007- AAA Scranton- .260/.343/.331

2008- AAA Scranton- .296/.414/.422

2008- MLB New York- .228/.283/.299

 

See the trend here? He takes awhile to get comfortable, but when he does, he's a .300 hitter who gets on base in the upper .300 range. Last yr was a platoon situation and just as he was heating up, he broke his thumb. This is the first season that he has been handed a starting job and he ran with it, like he did throughout hit MILB career

[Yaz Sideburn]

trend or flukey stat in a small sample size? only time will tell whether he's a .300 hitter or he's hitting over his head right now. there's a big difference between a .300 hitter with a .380 obp and no power and a .280 hitter with a .350 obp and no power

[diony]

His K% is lower and his BB% is higher than his minor league career numbers.

[VA Sox Fan]

Baseball players aren't heroes <_>