I believe that children are our future and 22-year-old Jonathan Schoop is a shining example of my confidence in the Orioles youth. Schoop has grabbed headlines this Spring for his stellar Grapefruit League performance, leaving many wondering why Buck Showalter wouldn’t hand him the keys to the Opening Day spot at second base.
As of Monday morning, the Orioles prospect is slashing .400/.424/.633. Let’s check up on his competition, shall we?
Ryan Flaherty: .290/.361/.484 — meh.
Jemile Weeks: .148/.314/.185 — boo.
So the job is Schoop’s right? It has to be. How can you possibly argue with a guy that hits .400?!?! You’d have to be crazy.
Well, here’s my argument. Below is table of each of Schoop’s plate appearances this spring. I’ve bolded each hit and written down every pitcher he’s faced. The gentlemen in red have thrown at least one pitch in the Major Leagues, those lads in blue have not.
Yeah, that’s a lot of data. You probably skimmed through it so I’ll recapitulate it below.
While seven of Schoop’s 12 hits have come against pitchers with Major League experience, it isn’t exactly an inspiring group of arms.
- Cesar Jimenez threw just 17 innings with the Phillies last season, walking 5.3 per nine.
- Alex Wilson pitched a 4.88 ERA over 27.2 innings with the Red Sox last season, allowing almost two base runners per inning.
- Edinson Volquez is a nine-year veteran with a 4.75 ERA and 8.8 H/9.
- Duke Welker has 1.1 innings of pro ball under belt.
- Mike Pelfrey pitched to a 5.19 ERA over 152.2 innings with the Twins last season.
- Brandon Cumpton, however, was effective over his five starts (six games) with the Pirates last season (30.2 IP, 2.05 ERA, 1.011 WHIP).
Read more about Schoop at BaltimoreSportsReport.com…
photo: Craig Landefeld
3 Responses
how about the same chart for Flaherty?
Yeah, the problem with this analysis is that he’s faced who he’s been put up against. It’s not as if he’s failed to hit when put against legitimate big league talent.The opposite is actually true, Mike Pelfrey and Edinson Volquez are both MLB level talent and Schoop has hit off of them. For whatever reason, Buck has been scheduling Schoop to play either late in games or with the scrub/prospect squad. To the extent he’s been given a chance, Schoop has produced and should get a shot at the MLB level at some point this season.
The only real reason to have Flaherty start the season as the starting 2b is to build some trade value and then move him. He was a rule 5 that we had to deal with all season during the playoff run when someone more effective could have been playing or on our bench. He was hot at the end of last year, he hit a homerun in the playoffs. Take away those two things and he’s been a far below average player with decent power potential if he ever puts it together long term. There is a reason that the perpetually injured Brian Roberts was playing when he finally came back from injury last year, and it wasn’t because of his salary. It was because Flaherty couldn’t even measure up to the older lesser Roberts. Don’t get me wrong, I have a number 1 jersey signed and hanging on my office wall, but he’s not what he was 4 years ago and he was still better than Flaherty.
I understand the point of your analysis above. Your trying to say that Schoop hasn’t proved anything with that .400 batting average. I disagree. He’s shown potential to hit consistently and with power when given the opportunity. He’s hasn’t played as badly on defense as he was billed last year. Flaherty had an extended opportunity to grab the job last year and didn’t perform. In fact, despite regular play, he was in an extended slump for much of the beginning of the season. Flaherty’s not the guy, he’s Robert Andino 2.0, Schoop has a cannon, let’s see what he can do against “real” major league talent.
As too Flaherty just can not hit worth a lick. But he’s backed by the same fans who thought brad bergusen was a major league pitcher.