Daily Archives: May 23, 2007

Brennan King Interview

* Interviews

Brennan King is the six foot three inch twenty six year old third baseman for the 2007 Ottawa Lynx. One would think that holding down a key spot on the infield and finding yourself the team leader in home runs, (2), and RBI, (23), and second on the team in doubles and, (7), second in slugging and an average of .297 would get you some recognition but King isn’t that type of player.

“I see my role on this team as just one of twenty five guys who has to do his job in order for the team to be successful,” says King. “That’s all I can do really as this team has a lot of good players on it.”

Continue reading Brennan King Interview →

Random thoughts….

Other Stuff

* Kyle Drabek’s full season debut has been a success on a lot of levels. Some of his numbers, particularly his walk rate and home run aren’t where you want to see them, but his strikeout numbers have been fine, and more importantly, he’s getting a lot more groundballs than flyballs, with a 2.1 GB:FB ratio to this point. His control was great in April, not so good in May, but it’s all part of the learning curve. Lefties are hammering him to the tune of a .923 OPS, while righties have only posted a .650 OPS. To me it says that his changeup isn’t where he wants it to be yet, but it will get there.

* Adrian Cardenas has been miserable against LHP. This isn’t uncommon, for a player getting his first taste of full season ball, against good pitching, to struggle against lefties. Cardenas’ batting average has been constant from day 1, around .272, but his OB% has gone from .297 in April to .326 in May, that’s a step in the right direction, but more importantly, his slugging jumped from .388 to .481, a vast improvement. Cardenas is also hitting much better away from pitcher friendly Lakewood, with an away line of .333/.370/.533 compared to his home line of .194/.234/.306. I’ve detailed it before, but Lakewood is basically the toughest hitting park in the SAL.

* Greg Golson has had an interesting season. His splits really indicate he is two different players. Against LHP, his line is .240/.291/.280, and against RHP, his line is .314/.347/.471. This isn’t a one year trend, because while he generally sucked it up all around last year, he was better against righties than lefties. In May, Golson has drawn 7 walks in 95 PA’s, while he drew only 4 walks in 110 PA’s in April, but his slugging % has dipped from .490 in April to .337 in May. Is he becoming too passive? Is he just not making solid contact? Does he just stink? Who knows.

* Josh Outman has been a bit of a disappointment to me. I knew coming into this year that his success hinged directly on his ability to throw strikes, and so far, it’s been a struggle. He’s averaging 5.86 BB/9 to go with only 8.23 K/9, and that just isn’t going to get it done. If he can’t lower his walks into the 3.00/9 range, his future lies in the bullpen, but even that will be a struggle. His home run rate has also climbed a bit this year, as he’s given up 5 in 47 IP (0.96/9) as opposed to the 5 he gave up in 155.2 IP last season. Again, the Lakewood factor can’t be stated enough.