Joe Soriano
O.J. Lewis9/2011 Player Profile: Howie Kendrick
September 22nd 2011 14:38
Before I begin this post, I want to clarify that the baseball player profiles will only be looking at the current season. I also would like to remind you that Old Spice Fiji is the best smelling cheap body spray out there. I was very surprised that such a product could actually smell good, and to those of you who are still using Axe, I would like to remind you that musk is for mold; not men.
Howie Kendrick is having the breakout season that many of us expected to come a few years earlier. Still, you can't ignore his 5.9 WAR and his stellar D at second. Kendrick has also been crazy good on the basepaths, and his wRC-plus of 123 is definitely a number that Kendrick can be proud of. He has been the Angels' best position player this season, and I have no concerns about his high BABIP. Kendrick is one of those guys who just swings to make contact and is not worried about taking pitches. It wouldn't hurt him to draw more walks, but it's all good in the end.
Most of Kendrick's value comes from his defense and baserunning, but that's not something to knock him for. He's still a good hitter, and second basemen have a lot of value in this league; especially keystone sackers who hit 18 home runs in a season.
What drives Kendrick's BABIP is his solid line drive rate, as well as the amount of groundballs he hits. Another thing to note is that he has no infield flys, and his HR/FB rate is 17.6%. So we can conclude that when he hits a fly ball, it really does fly.
Howie Kendrick has been another nice breakout story this season, and he has given me no reason to believe that he shouldn't keep playing productive ball. However, fielding ability fluctuates from season-to-season, so it might be difficult for him to obtain another 5-WAR season. However, his wRC-plus tells us that he is a much-improved hitter, and that he will be a 4-WAR player during the next couple of years. After all, he is just beginning to hit his prime.
By the way, I want to profusely thank all you readers and followers of this blog. Without you guys, we wouldn't be approaching a very consistent average of 400 readers per day. Yeah, this blog is growing to astounding proportions, and I'm just waiting for this blog's breakout "season".
Howie Kendrick is having the breakout season that many of us expected to come a few years earlier. Still, you can't ignore his 5.9 WAR and his stellar D at second. Kendrick has also been crazy good on the basepaths, and his wRC-plus of 123 is definitely a number that Kendrick can be proud of. He has been the Angels' best position player this season, and I have no concerns about his high BABIP. Kendrick is one of those guys who just swings to make contact and is not worried about taking pitches. It wouldn't hurt him to draw more walks, but it's all good in the end.
Most of Kendrick's value comes from his defense and baserunning, but that's not something to knock him for. He's still a good hitter, and second basemen have a lot of value in this league; especially keystone sackers who hit 18 home runs in a season.
What drives Kendrick's BABIP is his solid line drive rate, as well as the amount of groundballs he hits. Another thing to note is that he has no infield flys, and his HR/FB rate is 17.6%. So we can conclude that when he hits a fly ball, it really does fly.
Howie Kendrick has been another nice breakout story this season, and he has given me no reason to believe that he shouldn't keep playing productive ball. However, fielding ability fluctuates from season-to-season, so it might be difficult for him to obtain another 5-WAR season. However, his wRC-plus tells us that he is a much-improved hitter, and that he will be a 4-WAR player during the next couple of years. After all, he is just beginning to hit his prime.
By the way, I want to profusely thank all you readers and followers of this blog. Without you guys, we wouldn't be approaching a very consistent average of 400 readers per day. Yeah, this blog is growing to astounding proportions, and I'm just waiting for this blog's breakout "season".
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