Loading ...Sheesh, BP. Maybe this is why Phillips swings at every single pitch in his area code:
“I don’t believe that on-base percentage stuff. That’s overrated to me. If you get hits, you’ll be on base. That’s what it’s about.”
That’s everyone’s hero, Brandon Phillips.
That’s what makes sense to him, that’s how he plays. Should he be more selective: certainly. Is he going to be: probably not at this point in his career. That is why he would be a solid #6 hitter and should never bat #2. I don’t think his mentality is such a bad thing since he is scheduled to be a clean up guy this year (that just lets you know our offense is weak).
He and Easy should switch places in the likely/expected lineup and he could actually use his speed to create runs.
And that is why he bats clean up with a .308 career OBP. Our manager thinks the exact same way.
The joys of being a Reds fan….
Uh…if you take that low and away slider instead of chasing it, you’ll be on base too. Dumbass.
My sentiments exactly, John. There is stubborn then there is stupid. BP is demonstrating the latter.
…and it just means that bp will probably only be a good player and never a great one.
i think it’s dangerous to assume that he could play the game any other way, though. some guys might not be able to be as effective with a different approach (i always thought dunn looked like an example of that – those homeruns were a result of taking hard cuts at pitches he thought he could hit over the fence… stop taking pitches, maybe he adds .30 points to his batting average and loses 30 strikeouts a year and drops 15 or 20 homers. who knows?). perhaps bp wouldn’t hit for as much power if he took more pitches? i don’t think i’ll second guess his approach.
of course, if no effort is made to find out we’ll never know… and that’s one thing about having dusty as manager – i doubt that bp will be pushed to give it a try.
Exactly why the Reds should trade him and get somethig good for him while you can. His stock is high and for god sakes, let the kids play.
That sure sounds like a Dusty Baker quote.
If BP hadn’t been such a free swinger before last year, I’d say that Dusty’s wearing off on him.
Since we all know that walks only serve to clog up the bases, I can’t see BP changing anytime soon.
Great call, rpa. This is exactly why BP will only be a good player, not a great one.
There’s plenty of value in a good player, though. The problem is that BP is hitting fourth. As a six-hole hitter, I would LOVE Phillips on my team.
This is the dumbest effing thing I’ve ever heard. It’s ACTIVELY ignorant.
At this point in his career though, I’d be surprised if he completely changed his approach at the plate….
No reasonable person could expect drastic changes to his approach but he could tweak it a bit to show a bit more patience.
[...] Phillips isn’t getting a lot of love from the Reds Blogoshpere right now. Both Redleg Nation and Red Reporter pick up on this story: “I don’t believe that on-base percentage stuff. [...]
He’s been listening to Duhstay too long
This isn’t a surprising quote from him if you have watched him hit the past few years. It has pretty well summed up his approach at the plate. I don’t have a problem with aggressive hitters, but those down and out, not even close by a mile balls that he swings at makes me sick. He should be a 6 hitter and really nothing more.
I’d like to defend the guy, but he just left himself wide open on this one. Seriously Brandon? OBP is overrated? Hit over .300 for a couple of seasons and then maybe you can say that.
The way he plays defense I don’t care if he swings at pick-off throws to first base.
Brandon won’t be changing his approach at the plate, just the same as Adam Dunn wouldn’t have been changing his approach at the plate at the same age.
Ironically…Dunn contributed more to the team…
“Ironically…Dunn contributed more to the team…”
If you are talking offensively, I would agree. If you are talking defensively, I laugh. While our offense isn’t strong enough for me to co-sign with Shane (although it was a funny remark), his point is well taken. With all the talk of our improved ‘up the middle defense’, it really looks like the only above average defender of those involved is Brandon, which ironically was the only one of those fielders who return from last year.
Oh, and if he does swing at pick off throws, perhaps it would be better to drop him to a lower spot in the order. That’s my biggest issue here. I really think we should have pulled a deal for a power hitter and dropped Brandon to 6 and then everything changes.
Even as a 6th place hitter, a .310 OBP kills your team.
“Actively ignorant” is exactly right. Dusty has the same problem. It’s all about pride and stubborness.
BP is easily the best defensive 2B in the league. Offensively, he is not a liability. Granted, he is not a 4-hole hitter, but even he admits that. He frustrates me at times with his free-swinging, but overall I am damn glad he is a Red. To say we should trade him is ridiculous. And he is young enough that his approach CAN still change, regardless of this quote.
Very well said RiverCity… if we’re strictly talking about his quote, BP comes off poorly here. However, taking a step back, it’s hard to complain too much about a gold glove second basemen who is also above average at the plate for his position. Who else would we really want? The return of Gookie Dawkins? I think a lot of this is really angst at Dusty and management for putting him in four spot, and BP is going to get the extra scrutiny for it.
Hitting Stats: Next Stats >> Brandon Phillips
SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG
2002 Cleveland Indians 11 31 5 8 3 1 0 4 13 3 6 0 0 .343 .419 .258
2003 Cleveland Indians 112 370 36 77 18 1 6 33 115 14 77 4 5 .242 .311 .208
2004 Cleveland Indians 6 22 1 4 2 0 0 1 6 2 5 0 2 .250 .273 .182
2005 Cleveland Indians 6 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 .000 .000 .000
2006 Cincinnati Reds 149 536 65 148 28 1 17 75 229 35 88 25 2 .324 .427 .276
2007 Cincinnati Reds 158 650 107 187 26 6 30 94 315 33 109 32 8 .331 .485 .288
2008 Cincinnati Reds 141 559 80 146 24 7 21 78 247 39 93 23 10 .312 .442 .261
Career Totals 583 2177 295 570 101 16 74 285 925 126 382 84 27 .308 .425 .262
If you were able to sort through this mess, you would see that BP’s career .308 obp is completely due to his godawful years in Cleveland and hasn’t touched that mark once since he’s been in Cincy.
In 2007, he hit .288 w/ .331 obp, & was a 30/30 man.
He had his worst year in Cincy last year and still hit .261/.312 obp, while lowering his K total and taking more walks than his last two years. And was still a 20/20 man. Oh yeah, he won the Gold Glove (which he should have won it in 2007 as well).
Brandon’s OBP w/ the Reds is about .325, which is still below average.
Yes, Brandon is a good player, even with a .325 OBP. He’s very talented, has good power for an infielder, and is awesome in the field.
But “actively ignorant” is right. This is the one part of his game that actually does hurt the team a bit, and does he want to work on it? Is he even open to the idea that he could improve in this area? No, he says “screw that.” That really annoys me.
Anyway… Edwin is a better hitter than Brandon is already, and this problem would be at least slightly mitigated if Dusty would just bat Brandon 6th or 7th vs. RHP’s.
Part of the reason we see BP as the #4 hitter is because this is a crappy offensive club. The other reason is that Dusty refuses to see there are better options in that slot. When he obsesses on crap like splitting the LHed hitters I just wish he would be totally ignorant of stats rather than use them in sweeping generalities.
Here’s another thing that I bet Dusty doesn’t know (or doesn’t care about):
Phillips vs. RHP’s (career) – .249/.294/.394
Phillips vs. LHP’s (career) – .294/.343/.502
Brandon does mash lefties, and if Dusty wants to bat him cleanup vs. lefties, I’m fine w/ that.
But vs. RHP’s, he’s bad! Really bad.
Patience and OBP aside… in my opinion, Brandon can hit 4th vs. lefties and should bat 7th or possibly 8th vs. righties.
And by the way, the platoon split is not going away with experience. His career OPS gap is .167 (.688 vs. .845). His OPS gap in 2008 was .268 (.676 vs. .944).
Wow, I didn’t realize his splits were that severe. I think you have a good plan, Dan. Unfortunately I think we are dealing with a mentality that doesn’t want to move guys around in the lineup often. That never did make any sense to me, but being a ‘players manager’ in part means giving your guys a ‘defined role’, sometimes regardless of strengths and weaknesses.
I have no doubt that Dusty would never do what I’m suggesting.
What I wonder is, what’s his reason?
–Does he think guys do better in a consistent “defined role” as you suggested, preach?
–Does he know these stats but discards them b/c they don’t fit with what he already thinks about Brandon?
–Does he not even know stats like this?
I’d really like to see more open-mindedness and creativity within the Reds. Not just with where to bat Brandon in the lineup, but with a lot of things.
My pick is: Does he know these stats but discards them b/c they don’t fit with what he already thinks about Brandon?
I get the feeling that Dusty is very big into preconceptions and does not let go of them easily.
preconceptions, misconceptions…..tomato, to-mato, whatever…
Right, preach. Whichever it is, Dusty holds onto them dearly.
Look, I like BP too but he’s simply not an above-average offensive second basemen. Perhaps in 2007 he was, but I don’t think we have any reason (yet) to believe that wasn’t a career year.
Here’s a link showing that in 2008, of the 16 second baseman who had enough PAs to qualfy for the batting title, BP was 13 out of 16.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting?sort=runsCreatedPer27Outs&split=0&league=mlb&season=2008&seasonType=2&type=sab&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&minpa=0&hand=a&pos=2b&startDate=null&endDate=null