CBRACKE
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My peers who have read anything I’ve written are probably ridiculously sick of hearing about it, but the research Baseball Prospectus once did regarding Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick is jaw dropping.
They have a statistic called Translated Batting Average, which is without question a less flawed statistic than it’s older brother, batting average. It expands all seasons to the usual 162-game schedule and the average number of regular player at bats (650). This research was done in 2006, so it’s possible another player has presented himself since, but the data showed that since 1998, there are 54 players (including major leaguers) who posted a translated BA of .300 or better in a season in which they were age 22 or younger (minimum 300 AB). Only seven of those players made the list twice:
- Sean Burroughs
- Miguel Cabrera
- Howie Kendrick
- Joe Mauer
- Albert Pujols
- Tony Torcato
- David Wright
Obviously that list is quite impressive, well, and then it includes Tony Torcato and Sean Burroughs as well. Nevertheless, it clearly stated at that time, we were justified to salivate over the potential Kendrick had to win batting titles.
Then he was given the chance to play regularly.
Before I had much of a chance to gloat over one of the players I had secured long-term on my most valued keeper league roster, the injuries started piling up. People (including myself) overlooked the fact he was limited to just 75 games in 2004 due to injuries and heading into a 2007 season which many people expected to be his breakout season, a broken finger held him to just 86 games. While he hit .322 over the course of that abbreviated season, the frustration of his missing significant chunks of seasons was mounting.
Enter 2008, where Kendrick hasn’t played since April 13 due to a hamstring injury and was forced to call off a minor league rehab assignment last week when the injury simply wouldn’t respond. He’s now seeing a physical therapist in hopes it will help his hammy loosen up.
“Hopefully we’ll get some good news on him on Monday and see where he is,” manager Mike Scioscia told the Los Angeles Times regarding Kendrick, whom the Angels had hoped to activate on the trip. “But it’s tough to give a time frame with the nature of these things. You don’t want to do anything now that’s going to irritate [what] he’s feeling and push it further back.”
It’s equally as tough for the Angels to set a timeline for Kendrick’s return as it is for his fantasy owners to remain patient and optimistic they’ll get significant production out of him the rest of the season. I’m remaining cautiously optimistic, but teetering towards skeptical and one more setback or new injury and I’m likely to pull the emergency stop cord and jump off this bandwagon.
Photo courtesy of CNN.net
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