So it's lunch-time, and that means I get curious about the Astros. Today I was wondering where the Astros ranked in OPS by position vs the League. Let's get to it (must qualify at the position):
1B: Lance Berkman, .932, 3rd out of 13 eligible first basemen
Average is down (.273), but his walk rate is pretty incredible. Even with the fewest plate appearances among eligible first basemen, Lance has drawn 69 walks - good enough for 4th most for 1Bs. Only Pujols and Fielder's OPS' are higher.
2B: Kaz Matsui, .651, 11th out of 11 2B with a minimum of 300 plate appearances
Just for comparison's sake, Craig Counsell's OPS is .790.
3B: Geoff Blum, .715, 10th/16 3B with a min of 275PAs
Only Jerry Hairston, Jr and Kevin Kouzmanoff have walked fewer times than Blum in this group.
SS: Miguel Tejada, .811, 4/13
Tejada doesn't walk a whole heck of a lot. In fact, the 29-point difference between his AVG (.322) and OBP (.351) is the second smallest of this lot (Cristian Guzman has a 17-point difference - .314/.331.
LF: Carlos Lee, .869, 5/14
It was surprising for me to see that Lee has only struck out 33 times this season, compared to 31 walks. Only Juan Pierre has struck out fewer times (22), but Pierre's 287 ABs are 116 fewer than Lee's 403.
CF: Michael Bourn, .765, 9/14
Slugging is hardly a fair category for Bourn, but it is what it is. It's worth noting that Bourn's 39 SBs lead all CF by 15, and he has the 4th-most walks in this group.
RF: Hunter Pence, .825, 5/14
Pence trails only Justin Upton for the RF lead in hits (118 to 116). His 41 walks put him squarely in the middle of the pack.
C: Pudge, .667, 8/9
I knew you were waiting for this, but did you expect Jason Kendall to be at the bottom of this list? Kendall is hitting .229 compared to Pudge's .248. But Pudge isn't quite at the bottom of the OBP pile with his .278. That honor goes to Bengie Molina, whose OBP is .272 (and his AVG is .263! Molina has walked exactly six times in 358 ABs.
What do you think?
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
