Now that the 2008 season has come to a close for the Chicago White Sox, it's time we take a look back at the season examine just how well each and every player who wore the White Sox logo did in the previous six months.
The player: AJ Pierzynski
Position: Catcher
Vital statistics
Batting average: .281
OBP: .312
SLG: .416
OPS: .728
Home runs: 13
RBI: 60
Runs: 66
BB/K: 19/71
So what explains Pierzynski's jump from a .263 batting average in 2007 to a .281 clip in 2008? Pierzynski's BABIP (batting average on balls in play) was at .281 in 2007, and that jumped to .304 in 2008, which is very close to his career BABIP of .306.
In general, a player's BABIP should be around .120 ahead of his line drive rate. Pierzynski's line drive rate was .179 in 2008, so when you compare that to his .304 BABIP, that seems about right. Essentially, Pierzynski's 2008 performance is about what should be expected out of him at this point in his career.
Pierzynski is not going to hit for a lot of power—his ISO was at .135 in 2008, compared to a .144 clip for his career. He's not going to take a lot of walks (walk rate of 3.4 in 2008, the lowest of his career), but he's also not going to strike out a lot (13.3 strikeout rate, also the lowest of his career).
Pierzynski made contact with 84.87% of the pitches he saw in 2008, jumping over two percentage points from where it was in 2007. As a No. 2 hitter, Pierzynski did his job—the problem was that he wasn't exactly surrounded by the right players.
If Pierzynski was hitting second in a lineup that wasn't as incredibly slow as the White Sox', it wouldn't have been all that bad. However, even when Carlos Quentin was healthy, the 2-6 spots in the order didn't possess much speed. This meant that the bases were often clogged, forcing the White Sox to rely on the home run to score—which they heavily did.
There wasn't a whole lot more the White Sox could have asked for offensively from Pierzynski. Yes, he had a pretty bad late-season slump that hurt his final statistics, but for most of the year, he was hitting between .290-.300 with an OBP around .320.
And, again, that's about what the White Sox can expect from Pierzynski at this point. He'll get hits, make contact, but not get on base at the rate you'd like to see.
Remember, though, that good offensive catchers are not easy to find. With Pierzynski behind the plate, the catcher position is not an offensive black hole for the White Sox.
Pierzynski also did a relatively good job calling games this year. It's easy to nitpick a few bad pitch selections here and there, but for the most part, Pierzynski did a good job noticing tendencies of his pitcher and the opposing hitters and calling pitches accordingly.
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3 months ago
As much of an a**-hole as I think he is, I have to admit that AJ is a real gamer. His value transends statistics, though he is a good offensive player in his own right. As much as he gets under your skin as an opponent, he is certainly a winner and I have to erspect that. He's one of those guys who you hate as an opponent but love if he's on your team I guess. Good job.
from 3 months ago
My disdain for AJ when he was with the Twins was second to none. Whenever anybody calls him an A-hole, I just nod my head and agree, because I threw that word around a lot when he was with the Twins. He's always in the middle of something, and like you said, that's also because he's a real gamer.
I'll always have a soft spot now for AJ thanks to the last four years, but I'm sure I'd be right in the booing masses if not for his performance with the White Sox.
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