Breaking Down Denard Span

Denard Span’s first game as a Twin was on April 6th against the Kansas City Royals. Going 0-2 with a walk was an innocent enough major league debut, but what Minnesota fans didn’t know about Span would pleasantly surprise them in the future: this kid could do everything.

Denard Span

Span didn’t flaunt his extraordinary ability of consistent hitting for nearly a month. He was very erratic at the plate, showing little to no power at all. In fact, his first extra-base hit came the day of his second call-up, June 30th.

The first thing Span displayed was his defensive prowess. He filled a gaping hole left by Michael Cuddyer in right field and in most respects did a better job than who he was replacing. Span showcased his incredible speed by sporting a RZR of .927, which would rank sixth in the American League were he qualified.

Another thing that helps put Span’s ability into perspective is the fact that 20.3% of the putouts Span registered were out of his defensive zone. That is better than Coco Crisp, Nick Markakis, and Carlos Quentin. In fact, Manny Ramirez was at 14% and Jacoby Ellsbury just above 19. Although unfair to compare the two, only 18.6% of the putouts Michael Cuddyer was a part of were out of his zone. Obviously, Span is a great defensive asset.

Moving to a more traditional statistic, Span made only four errors during the entire time he was with the Twins. That is an average of 0.05/game. By contrast, Delmon Young and Carlos Quentin averaged 0.05 and 0.03/game, respectively. Torii Hunter and Jacoby Ellsbury both managed to go through 2008 without committing a single error.

In terms of hitting, Span was no less brilliant. He flirted with a .300 average throughout the entire year, but fell just short of that prestigious mark and ended the season batting at a .294 clip. He drew 50 walks through 93 games and stretched out seven triples. He hit .346 with runners in scoring position; good for eighth place in the American League had he qualified. In short, Span was the perfect leadoff hitter.

In terms of power, though, Span fell miserably short. Had he qualified, his ground ball percentage of 53.9 would have placed him as the third worst in the American League.

Courtesy of FirstInning.com, here is the distribution of all balls hit by Span in 2008:

Obviously, a lot to the right side of the infield. Surprisingly, Span didn’t register a single hit by way of a bunt. I guess that should have been expected when looking at how little he or Gomez stole bases. Was it just a fluke, or did the Twins really attempt to steer away from bunting and stealing this year?

Span had an OPS of 819 in 2008, which would have put him in the bottom half of all eligible American League batters. He was sixth in the AL with triples, but those resulted from speed, not power.

Isolated power was a weak point for Span. At .138, he would have been ranked at 108th in the league along with Aaron Rowand. Oddly enough, Span’s ISOP was actually lower in the minor leagues. Here is a look at his isolated power from the past three years:

In 2008, you can see that month-long spell I was talking about earlier. He went a while without showing any power in any form. That big jump and empty space is when he was sent back to Rochester for a month. He quickly returned after Cuddyer’s injury, but his power went downhill from there.

That isn’t saying that I don’t appreciate Span. I think he is one of the best things that happened to the Twins this year, and he should be kept where he belongs: the major leagues. He has proved that he is a major-league hitter and can make pitchers work. He is currently the only real lead-off hitter we have while Gomez spends some time “learning” patience.

What are your thoughts on Span? How would you rate his performance this year, and how did he help the club? Should he be kept in the major leagues, sent back down to Rochester, or even used as trade bait? Leave all comments below!