Nineteen at-bats. That's all we've seen from Brandon Wood in 2010. Nineteen at-bats. Yet, there seems to be panic among some Angel fans that Wood needs to be sat in favor of Maicer Izturis. Nineteen at-bats isn't a small sample size, it's a microscopic sample size, and shouldn't be used to predict future production. However, nineteen at-bats can be looked at in order to see "what happened" and why after those nineteen at-bats has Wood generated growing skepticism in his hitting ability. Let's take a closer look at those nineteen at-bats.
First Pitch
In his first nineteen at-bats of 2010, Wood has swung the bat 4 times. And of those first nineteen at-bats, the pitcher has thrown Wood a first-pitch fastball (two-seam, four-seam, and cut) 12 out of 19 times. In those 12 at-bats, Wood took the pitch for a strike 7 times, fouled off 2, took 2 for balls, and grounded out once (Wood hasn't swung at and missed the first pitch this season).
|
|
Ball |
Strike Swinging |
Strike Looking |
In Play |
|
1st pitch |
4 |
2 |
11 |
2 |
|
|
Fastball |
Curve |
Slider |
Change |
|
1st pitch |
12 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
After the first pitch, Wood is behind in the count in all but 4 at-bats.
(Note: strike swinging includes foul balls)
Second Pitch
Now that Wood has taken the first pitch, his typical at-bat has him swinging at the second pitch, and that pitch could be anything. Pitchers have thrown an even amount of fastballs, sliders and change ups to Wood, but the result is the same, Wood will swing at it if it's close.
|
|
Ball |
Swinging |
Looking |
In Play |
|
2nd pitch |
4 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
Fastball |
Curve |
Slider |
Change |
|
2nd pitch |
6 |
1 |
5 |
5 |
Wood is behind 0-2 in 8 of his at-bats.
Third Pitch
If Wood's at-bat lasts until the third pitch he's swinging at that pitch (only 6 of Wood's at-bats have lasted longer than 3 pitches). Wood has not taken a third pitch for a ball in any of his at-bats this season and the only time he's taken a strike is when he was ahead 2-0 and when he didn't swing at a curveball. Otherwise he's hacking.
|
|
Ball |
Swinging |
Looking |
In Play |
|
3rd pitch |
0 |
7 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
Fastball |
Curve |
Slider |
Change |
|
3rd pitch |
8 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
Of those 7 swinging strikes, just 2 were fouled off. What's troublesome is typically a pitcher will "waste" a pitch when he has a batter down 0-2 and Wood is swinging at a pitch that is usually out of the strike zone.
Conclusion
So far this season, the typical Wood at-bat goes like this; Take a first-pitch fastball for strike one, swing at the next pitch regardless of the type, and then he'll swing through a fastball or be fooled by an off-speed pitch for strike three. Obviously Wood is "pressing" and appears over anxious in his nineteen at-bats. Playing an air chair psychologist, it seems Wood is laying off the first pitch in order to not appear over anxious, but once that first pitch is out of the way, he's hacking...at anything. As shown in the below graph, he's swinging and missing at pitches either out of the zone or over-matched on fastballs.
The good news is he's only swung and missed 10 times this season (out of 65 pitches). The bad news, not putting good swings on pitches in the zone.
| Pitch | Called | Swing | Ball | Contact | Total |
| Fastball | 9 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 34 |
| Curve | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Slider | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 15 |
| Change | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
It might be time for Wood to swing at a few of those first-pitch fastballs, at least until pitchers stop throwing them.
(Thanks to Joe Lefkowitz's PitchF/X Tool for the pitch fx data)
1 recs | 34 comments
IMHO, Wood is just pressing.
I see him flying open with his whole front side. IF he takes the spring approach, in which most of his hits were right center and right field, he will be just fine. Wood is my favorite player and I will be the first one to say he is playing like crap, but he has had success everywhere and he will turn it around. He has to much natural ability to just suck, lol.
But great stats, love all the work you do.
angelskid2210 - April 13, 2010
Great Stuff here
I wish Mickey Hatcher read Halos Heaven.
ryanfea - April 13, 2010
I wish Mickey Hatcher read.
righteous halo - April 13, 2010
Rec'd
Teixeira Who? - April 13, 2010
lol.
jessthelion - April 13, 2010
AWESOME IN ITS AWESOMENESS!!!
Rec’d.
scareduck - April 13, 2010
The reason I want Izturis
is the fact I know we have someone who can be consistent. Maicer is not going to surprise me with any of his stats. near .300 BA, pretty good leadoff hitter. Now I want to believe Wood will be great someday and I want to give him his at bats, but I want this team succeed. I hope he picks it up and kicks some butt soon.
princeton11loveshalos - April 13, 2010
It’s all fine and dandy, and I want to see Wood live up to his potential, but it’s not just about Wood. Izturis is one of our best clutch hitters, is a great infielder and has been an integral part of so many of those double plays our infield is known for. He has earned that spot, at the very least the right to be platooned between there and second. He has been thrown to the back of the bus for a minor leaguer who has NOT earned that spot yet, regardless of his potential, which is still questionable at this point. Wood’s not an upgrade over Izzy defensively and his only upside offensively is that he could hit the long ball in the minors.
firebird81 - April 13, 2010
Leaving Izzy at third, brings down his greatest asset.
Versatility. On top of that, last year was the first year that he went through an entire season without hitting the DL. Now you might counter with “Well, Kendrick didn’t hit the DL for the first time last year, why does he get to start?” Because Izzy can’t touch Howie’s production when he’s rolling. Izzy is of greatest VALUE to this TEAM when he moves around the infield. Or maybe you would have told Tim Salmon he didnt deserve his spot after his performence in ‘92, Or told Troy Glaus he wasn’t good enough after his first extended cup of coffee in 1998.
Those two players became Angel icons, despite being barely passable as Major Leaguers in the first year. Wood just spent three years in AAA, being consistently good each year. He’s earned his spot at 3B over a person who’s natural position is 2B and SS.
halofan4life - April 13, 2010
Bad comparisons.
Troy Glaus was 21 yrs old during his first cup of coffee, and still managed to hit above the Mendoza line. Tim Salmon was 23, and his first sip was 79 ABs. He hit a .919 OPS on his next approach.
This is Brandon Wood’s fourth cup of coffee, and he’s had a lot of time in AAA to refine his approach. We can make excuses about intermittent playing time, but that’s the case with most rookies. Wood is getting too old, and has shown too little, to be considered a young rookie anymore.
Wood is looking like a AAAA player, and he needs to prove himself soon.
Turks Teeth - April 13, 2010
Agreed.
Much as I like the heck outta Wood, it’s now time to put up or shut up. Yer outta options, kid.
scareduck - April 13, 2010
I want Wood to succeed
Think we would have won it all in 2002 with Izturis or Figgins playing 3rd?
Free Wood’s Swing!
Quinlan's Goofy Swing - April 13, 2010
So far wood hasn’t shown me anything to suggest we would have won it with HIM playing 3rd.
firebird81 - April 13, 2010
Yeah, why not?
We had Scott Spiezio playing first.
If you’re making an argument based on conventional positional expectations, the 2002 Angels are a rather funny team to make it with.
Turks Teeth - April 13, 2010
wow, how easily people forget.
How about this: Think we’d be 2-6 with Figgy playing third?
Wally's World - April 13, 2010
Yes
~MMP~ - April 13, 2010
+1
Downing Rules - April 13, 2010
If Izzy continues to ride the pine we're in for a long season.
Fred Fredrix - April 13, 2010
Pressing means he's a head case...
The kid is clearly talented, but if he can’t mentally get around how to dictate a major league at bat he’s never going to be successful.
Mental discipline is a big part of baseball. There are plenty of guys who have the tools to drive 90 mph fastballs into the bleachers but if they can’t do it in a major league game situation when the pressure is on then their tools are meaningless.
Nashdiesel - April 13, 2010
Let's be fair: Brandon Wood has had 243 MLB ABs...
…coming into today’s game. 81 Ks vs 7 BBs in those ABs.
These analyses of Wood’s performance (or lack thereof) at this point, along with the “poor kid” and “give the kid a break” comments that pepper every game thread basically do everything to avoid the obvious: This is 25 yr old MAN who is looking an awful lot like the 22 and 23 yr old man we saw before up here — the quality of the plate appearances show little development, and a consistently poor approach.
Consider this: coming into the season of his 25th year, Dallas McPherson also had 245 ABs, almost identical to what Brandon has now. We knew at that point that Dallas was raw, had limitations, and had serious holes in his swing. But even he was coming off a .744 OPS season where he hit 8 HRs and 26 RBIs in 205 scattered ABs. There was still promise there, amidst the concern.
People are giving Brandon Wood a bigger handicap than Dallas McPherson got at the same point in his career, where Dallas had shown more promise at the same juncture.
Turks Teeth - April 13, 2010
Dallas had another issue though....
he was constantly injured and didn’t do the correct workouts to give him the best chance to stay healthy.
I think Wood’s issues right now are more mental than physical. Dallas never got over his back injuries.
Nashdiesel - April 13, 2010
Woods ABs have been broken up and far between.
I agree that the K to BB rate sucks, and I don’t think it will stay as bad as it is now for his whole career. Dallas was a promising player but like Nashdiesel said, “constantly injured.” On top of that Wood has made some nice plays with the glove to take hits away. Its been just too small a sample size of everyday play.
I have felt that Wood needs to swing at the first pitch more, along with a few other Angels. As one of the most patient teams last year I have seen that the pitchers we have been facing are just attacking the strikezone on the first pitch with everybody. I feel that if a few more guys can start to jump on the first pitch we will have a better chance at getting guys on base and scoring more runs.
pendletonmike - April 13, 2010
If the Angels were 6-2 instead of 2-6
this whole thing would be a non-issue. Its completely ridiculous to have all of these expectations from a guy who is just starting his first full season as a major leaguer and has only played in 6 games so far this season. Woods going to produce, just give him some time to learn. I doubt you would be fired after 6 days of work so stop calling for him to be benched.
Riveraistheman! - April 13, 2010
What are you reading?
Where does it say anything about wanting Wood to be benched? And I disagree, this post has nothing to do with the Angels record.
WiHaloFan - April 13, 2010
Assume we were 6-2
Now assume you look up at the home town scoreboard and see Woodstock, groomed to be the Messiah, batting .091 while everyone else is batting 250+. That would be an issue.
In fact, that whole point isn’t relevant because I personally can’t point to one example where Wood alone cost us the game. Any game in which Wood sucked (which is all of them) the bullpen also sucked or the heart of the order sucked or the table setters sucked or the starting pitching sucked. Wood’s batting average is the concern with or without the Angel’s pathetic record.
That being said, I still don’t want him benched.
Teixeira Who? - April 13, 2010
mainly responding to the huge criticism brandon is receiving from some posters.
your analysis is excellent and supports the fact that wood is being overly aggressive at the plate. Enormous expectations have been built up for him, and unfortunately 19 at bats out of 480+ at bats projected for Wood is enough for some to give up on him.
Riveraistheman! - April 13, 2010
/\ reply fail
Riveraistheman! - April 13, 2010
I agree but....
I would say that Wood should be more aggressive on the first pitch. As the 8 or 9 spot guy I feel like he should go right after pitchers. However I also feel that the pitchers have a little bit of an advantage against him because he has never hit against a lot of the pitchers he has faced. So get more aggressive and get those butterflies out early. Its easier to settle in to an AB after taking a good solid hack. If the pitcher is trying to get ahead of you then swing. He has taken some really good pitches that I feel he could handle.
pendletonmike - April 13, 2010
I love Izzy ... but, he's not durable...
injury prone. And as someone above mentioned, his versatility is his best asset.
Downing Rules - April 13, 2010
His versatility is useless when he spends most games benched. He could and should be put into the line-up between 2nd, short and 3rd, getting much more playing time than he now gets. He’s too clutch to be sitting on the bench. As far as Wood goes, I think we all want him to succeed, I don’t know that daily failure is going to do much to help a guy who clearly is struggling with his head game. To be fair, I’ve never been on the Wood bandwagon. Minor League performance does not necessarily translate into major league performance. I just really don’t understand sitting proven players every damned day.
firebird81 - April 13, 2010
He's had 3 starts, so he's not sitting everyday,
And I wouldn’t be worried about him spending most of the time on the bench throughout the season. Scioscia loves Maicer and is going to have him in the lineup plenty, giving Aybar, Kendrick, and Wood days off.
~MMP~ - April 13, 2010
If I'm reading this right
He’s faced 52 pitches that haven’t been balls. He’s made contact (foul or fair) with 27 of them. 50%. How does this compare with the rest of the team?
To me, if he’s making contact (foul or fair) he’s being aggressive which is good. If he’s just flailing away or watching then we are in trouble.
Match Day 5 - April 13, 2010
Give the guy some time!
I was so pissed off at people who were booing him at the game on Sunday after his at bat.
It’s time to encourage the guy, come on.
jhens76 - April 13, 2010
Me too
I was sitting in 309. That was bullshit the way they booed him. We’re not Yankee fans, we don’t boo our players after one week of poor performance. A little less New York anger and a little more Southern California love.
Teixeira Who? - April 13, 2010
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