Detroit Tigers' Adam Everett and Ramon Santiago as One Player?

Meet Ramon Everett.  Or Adam Santiago.  Or…Radmon Santieverett.  Hmm.  He’s the guy holding down the shortstop position for the Tigers in 2009.  Not a lot was expected offensively from this two-headed “monster,” but they were expected to be good with the glove and not hurt the club.  Mission accomplished.

A lot of Tigers fans got pretty excited early in the season, myself included, when both of these guys were hitting above .300 and Ramon Santiago was showing us his “sneaky” power.  Since then the duo has come back down to earth.  This was no surprise to me since I knew Adam Everett was not a .300 hitter and also knew that Santiago would not hit 15 home runs.

In that Rob Neyer post I made here last night, Rob mentioned that the Tigers are not getting much offensively from several positions (including SS).  Rob noted that was fine because as long as you’re getting solid defense there you’re okay.  The Tigers are certainly getting the defense from Everett and Santiago.  But what about those bats?  I have to imagine that a few Tigers fans would take exception.

How do Santiago and Everett’s totals compare to other shortstops?  I’m glad you asked, here are their combined totals:

• Batting Average: .267
• On-Base Percentage: .313
• HR: 6
• RBI: 45
• 2B: 12
• SB: 3

There are currently 16 SS in baseball that qualify for league leader boards.  This means they have played enough games at SS and also have had enough plate appearances.  Here’s where the Tigers pair would rank if they were one player:

• Batting Average: Their .267 batting average ranks eighth, right in the middle.  Right behind Ryan Theriot and ahead of Alexei Ramirez.
• OBP: That mark of .313 looks a bit low and would rank them 12th out of 17.  They are still better than Alexei Ramirez and are just behind Rafael Furcal of the Dodgers.
• HR: Those six long balls came mostly at the start of the season, but six is still six and puts them in a tie for seventh place with the likes of Miguel Tejada and JJ Hardy.
• RBI:  Again, the bulk of the RBI came in April and May, but they still count.  Their 45 RBI is their strongest statistic and ranks them first among SS.
• 2B: Their 12 doubles puts them in tie for 10th among SS with Derek Jeter and a few other fellas.
• SB:  Everett has all three stolen bases for our duo.  This is where they slump a bit, ranking 20th among all SS in steals.  Believe it or not, stupid Edgar Renteria has four swipes in 2009.

I know looking at the Tigers SS duo this way isn’t totally fair.  I didn’t count any other duos here.  Everett and Santiago are generally well rested, whereas other SS very seldom will get a day off.

Either way, I think this shows us that the club’s SS situation isn’t really that bad.  However, let’s not get all crazy and say that Radmon Santieverett is a star in this league.  He probably boasts a bat that is about avereage and a mit that is a tick or two above average.  Nothing wrong with that for under $2M, right?