The magic continues and this time I turn to a hitter that has always been pretty good with the bat but has turned it on in a big way this year. He was never known as someone that would make a run at the batting title but this year he has shown people that he could compete, kind of. There is only one small problem. He is a pitcher and only bats once every five days at best. I probably don't have to tell you that I am talking about Carlos Zambrano.
Now all Cubs fans and all baseball fans for that matter know what Big Z can do on the mound. What has been magical for me this year is his use of the bat. Pitchers are usually a near automatic out but with Zambrano you feel as confident in him getting a hit as you do with Alfonso Soriano when he is "on fire".
Including this year, Carlos Zambrano is a career .239 hitter. That is definitely not bad for a pitcher. There are everyday starters that fall below that level. What is impressive is that Zambrano has a current average of .362. He also has three home runs, 12 RBI's and eight runs scored. The numbers aren't impressive, other than the batting average, but what if we did an apples to apples comparison. With that in mind I thought I would take his stats and compare them with a top hitter from this year.
When I thought of players that got a lot of early press about their hitting this year the person that came to mind was Chipper Jones. He has been out recently but he has been swinging the bat well this year and seemed like a good choice. Since Zambrano doesn't play as often my goal was to try and match-up the number of at-bats so they were as close as possible. I was very lucky on this part because Zambrano has 66 AB's while Jones has 330 AB's, at least when I wrote this they did. Using my analytical mind I figured out that Jones has exactly five times the AB's of Zambrano.
Here is what I started with. These are the stats as they were before the calculations were done.
I removed stats like triples, stolen bases, and caught stealing because they aren't that common for either player. Now as you look at the stats you aren't that impressed. It really isn't close but it shouldn't be with one player having five times the AB's of the other player. Now let's do our calculations and equal things out a little.
Once you match the AB's of Zambrano to Jones it makes a big difference in the comparison. Zambrano is behind in runs, walks and OBP and he has double the strikeouts of Jones. The other stats are very comparable. Now am I telling you that if Zambrano played every day he would be in the same league as Chipper Jones? No, I am not saying that at all. I think we all know that regular hitters deal with slumps, adjustments and other issues that pitchers don't deal with on a regular basis.
Big Z's hitting has been magical this year to go along with his usually solid pitching. I was at the game last Saturday versus the Cards and although he didn't pitch well, he did smack another home run. Zambrano is fun to watch not only for what he does on the mound but for what he brings to each at bat. That is why I included Carlos Zambrano, the hitter, in my list of this year's magical players.
I don't know if Carlos's hitting outburst is completely a good thing. He takes alot of BP, and I wonder if his hitting obsession has an effect on his concentration.
We all know that Z is at his best when he is focused. When he loses his composure, he can give up runs in a hurry. That start against the Cards where he hit a home run, and also gave up like 5 is a classic case.
I don't want to see him pinch hit, and I don't want to feed his ego like he is some sort of slugger. He needs to focus on pitching, PERIOD.
Mike Hampton, Micah Owings, Jason Marquis, all slugging pitchers with pitching problems.
I totally agree with Keith...I love the fact that Big Z can contribute in all dimensions of the game, and both sides of the plate. Yes, it's exciting to watch him hit home runs, smash bats over his knee and charge down the first baseline like Bears fullbacks of days gone by.
But Big Z is here to pitch. This is an incredible team and, in my humble opinion, the fewer the distractions and the fewer potentials for injury the better. I would hate to see Big Z trying to leg out a double and pull a hamstring or something.
Lets keep focused and continue to focus on contributing, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Big Z certainly is an amazing hitter, no doubt about that...but stay focused big fella and we'll be just fine come October.
IF the playoffs began today, I would have to set the rotation as:
Harden
Dempster
Zambrano
Lilly
Any thoughts?
SORRY JIM,
I would still start Z first game Dempter, Lilly, Hardin
Save Hardin(or maybe Dempster) for game 4 because of how important of a game it would be.
By the way Magic number is 31
Jim TP....If Harden can't or shouldn't pitch on short rest, maybe it doesn't matter if he pitches in the three hole. Assuming all 4 guys are pitching up to their form, I would have an order of Z, D and H with L the 4th choice. L could even be skipped in certain circumstances.
We now have 3 aces--a big 3 seemingly capable of holding opponents to a run or two through 6--and maybe 7 + with Z and D. What an advantage we have with H in the 3 hole--should Z and D "only" split. In Milwaukee's case, their big 2 is now more of a big 1 since Sheets is 3 and 5 or 6 in his last 8 or 9 decisions. I suppose the advantage is true no matter who is in the 3 hole, but I would prefer the more durable Z facing CC or another team's ace.
Jim, I am not sure if I would start Big Z third, but I really do like those three going first.
Jerljr, I am a very positive person, but I think it is TOO early to start looking at the magic number thing, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. Like Lou says, One game at a time.
I dont know, there's only a month left and we have a 6 game lead.
But I did ask and nobody said anything.
I remember in '84 I counted it down from 50. Had it wrote down on a chalkboard in my room.
I'll wait till Sept.
Also, I can't remember if I did this yet but,
I got to admit that I predicted that Dempster would fizzle out at the end of the season. I was dead wrong.
He hasn't shown any signs of it. He's as sharp as he was at the start of the season. If not better.
Congrats Dempster. KUDOS!!!!!!!
Jerljr, I hope it didn't sound like I was saying you shouldn't or couldn't do the magic # thing. I guess I should have said that is just one of my superstitions. I always wait to do that until at least the first or second week in September.
I agree with those that have said they would rather Z focus on pitching but at the same time I don't think his drive to be a better hitter is affecting his pitching. All pitchers go through some bad outings no matter what they do. Brandon Webb, Dempster, Dan Haren, Edinson Volquez, etc. They all have had bad stretches. Z will be back and I still like him hitting the way he does.
Tom
I dont think his recent struggles have anything to with his hitting or it would of effected him al season.
Its just simply two bad starts. Maybe a little tired. I remember watching the last start that he pitched and thinking that he was forcing it. Going after the hitter a little too much. He'll be alright.
I don't really think you should mess with the stats the way you did in this article...it surely seems like a stretch. But point made, Z has a good bat. AND he's a switch hitter (like chipper jones, for that matter), which has to make Lou happy in that he likes to play the left/right thing.
Definately Z, Demp, Harden, Lily...but isn't it great that we get to have this discussion?
MarioC,
Yes, it is great. I dont think you could really go wrong with any setup. Start of the season I wouldn't of thought that.
The thing about Z's hitting. I dont think he would hit .364 if he wasn't a pitcher and had as many at bats as Chipper.
His swing is so akward compared to a everyday player. Out on his front foot. He's strong and does have talent. But I think he still see's a lot of fastballs. I think they still relax against him because he is a pitcher. Probably out of habit. If I was a pitcher, I would throw breaking balls like crazy. If he hit it, good for him. But I would make him work for it.