Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 04, 2008
The Pierre Surge

The Dodgers defeated the Rockies12-7 Saturday night to win their eighth game in a row and nine of their last ten. The offense, which showed signs of greatness earlier, came alive completely over the last ten games:

Dodgers Offense 2008
Dodgers HittersThrough 4/224/23 On
Batting Average.264.322
On-base Average.338.413
Slugging Percentage.407.424
Runs per game4.28.2

They've almost doubled their runs per game compared to the earlier time period. Notice that the increase in runs comes from doing a much better job of getting on base with plenty of singles. The team OBA over the last ten games is higher than the team's slugging percentage over the first 20 games, but slugging percentage hasn't gone up all that much.

Here are the Dodgers hitters before and after. The person who jumped the most is Juan Pierre.


Juan Pierre

25 April 2008: Dodgers #9 Juan Pierre during the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7 win over the Colorado Rockies in 13 innings at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, CA.
Photo: Icon SMI



Over the first 20 games he picked up eleven hits and one walk. Over the last ten (he's played seven) he's knocked out nine hits and drew five walks. With Andruw Jones the only Dodger not to take part in the offensive explosion, Pierre may be re-earning his place in centerfield.

Note that Martin, Kemp, and Kent all improved in this time period as well, with Furcal, Ethier and DeWitt maintaining their good performances. That means even if Pierre returns to his norms, this team should keep scoring runs.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:50 AM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Not to be picky, but I think that should be "when Pierre returns to his norms." Not if, but when.

Nothing specifically against Pierre; it would be absolutely unprecedented for a 31-year-old player to dramatically improve his selectivity and batting prowess. Even the Greg Anderson Fitness Program doesn't give results like this.

Not to mention that Pierre is still a lot worse defensively than Jones.

Posted by: jvwalt at May 4, 2008 11:03 AM

Pierre's clearly playing a lot better than Jones--but Torre ought to be slapped every time he benches Kemp or Ethier to put both Pierre and Jones in the lineup. The kids have earned their positions--let them play, Joe!

Jones is clearly spiraling--either he needs to get his swing working soon or he needs to be benched or sent down for a rehabilitation assignment. Right now, he's not even a below average major league hitter--he's a more or less average major league pitcher as a hitter.

And yes, Pierre will revert to normal form at some point--but the scary thing is that Jones is actually *worse* than normal Pierre at this point.

Posted by: M. Scott Eiland at May 4, 2008 02:01 PM
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