Dabblin’ With the Cockspur: Baseball Observations from a Stat Geek
posted by Roger Olivieri, 4/14/2009 08:51:00 PM
Yeah, so, I took a little hiatus from writing my stupid BLOG, what's it to ya'?
Which reminds me, does anyone know what “BLOG” stands for? Is it an abbreviation, an acronym, just some new word that Webster’s deemed worthy? Either way, please clue me in.
Like I was saying, I took a little hiatus from the ol’ BLOG because March and April in this business are absolute insanity. It gets to the point where you don’t even know what sport you are going to cover, you just know to be somewhere at a certain time.
Now that Spring Football is over, my fingers are fleet and my mind is racing so let’s delve into some Yardcock numbers and see what we can come up with, shall we?
As I’m typing this, Justin Dalles gets plunked in the head and stays in the game. He’s officially one tough dude. Seriously, that's like John Wayne stuff. I'd be screaming for my mommy right about now.
Speed
A quick glance and a few strokes of the calculator have Whit Merrifield’s three triples after 35 games on pace for five this season. That would tie him with 12 others for second place for most triples in one season. Mike Curry is the only Gamecock to do it twice. Only one man has had more than five in a season and he plays third base for the Minnesota Twins – Brian Buscher (6).
With four career triples only half way through his sophomore season, Merrifield could threaten the career record of 13 held by Michael Campbell.
Merrifield has also scored 94 career runs with arguably two and a half seasons left in Garnet and Black. At that pace he should finish somewhere around 236 for his career. The career record is 223 by Derick Urquhart.
Power
Gamecock first baseman Nick Ebert is on pace for only the tenth 20 homer season in Gamecock history. He’d be only the eighth player to do it as Justin Smoak and Steve Pearce each did it twice.
While I type this, Ebert just hit his 13th of the season so you can increase all those numbers I just spent a bunch of time calculating by a tad.
Ebert’s .748 slugging percentage would qualify as fifth all-time if the season were to end today. He’d be in a top five with a guys named Marquardt, Peters, Smoak and Small – pretty decent company if you ask me.
Speaking of power numbers, here’s a stat worth mentioning: It’s no secret that Ray Tanner likes the long ball, but the results are insane. Of the Top 15 single season home run hitters, 14 have come under Professor Longball (Tanner). Joe Datin (23) is the lone non-Tanner coached player on the list in 1985.
Hit-Men
Eight of the nine starting Gamecocks are hitting above .300. The only one who isn’t – Bobby Haney - just hit a looooong grand slam and his third home run this week.
The Gamecocks entire team is hitting .298 this season. Aside from an anomaly in 1997, when Tanner’s first Gamecock team hit .341, his teams 12 year average is .299.
For all those who love to say, “If we still had Smoak, Darnell and Havens…” Tanner’s twelve previous teams averaged 97.75 HR per season. This season, the weaklings are on pace for 99.
The 40-Win Plateau
Ray Tanner has won 40+ games in nine straight seasons. He’ll need 17 more this season to make it a decade of 40 or more. With only 23 games left (assuming the Cocks make it to Hoover), they’ll need to go 17-6. With at least three games against Georgia and three against Vanderbilt, the Cocks need to win every opportunity they get.
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Yeah, so, I took a little hiatus from writing my stupid BLOG, what's it to ya'?Which reminds me, does anyone know what “BLOG” stands for? Is it an abbreviation, an acronym, just some new word that Webster’s deemed worthy? Either way, please clue me in.
Like I was saying, I took a little hiatus from the ol’ BLOG because March and April in this business are absolute insanity. It gets to the point where you don’t even know what sport you are going to cover, you just know to be somewhere at a certain time.
Now that Spring Football is over, my fingers are fleet and my mind is racing so let’s delve into some Yardcock numbers and see what we can come up with, shall we?
As I’m typing this, Justin Dalles gets plunked in the head and stays in the game. He’s officially one tough dude. Seriously, that's like John Wayne stuff. I'd be screaming for my mommy right about now.
Speed
A quick glance and a few strokes of the calculator have Whit Merrifield’s three triples after 35 games on pace for five this season. That would tie him with 12 others for second place for most triples in one season. Mike Curry is the only Gamecock to do it twice. Only one man has had more than five in a season and he plays third base for the Minnesota Twins – Brian Buscher (6).
With four career triples only half way through his sophomore season, Merrifield could threaten the career record of 13 held by Michael Campbell.
Merrifield has also scored 94 career runs with arguably two and a half seasons left in Garnet and Black. At that pace he should finish somewhere around 236 for his career. The career record is 223 by Derick Urquhart.
Power
Gamecock first baseman Nick Ebert is on pace for only the tenth 20 homer season in Gamecock history. He’d be only the eighth player to do it as Justin Smoak and Steve Pearce each did it twice.
While I type this, Ebert just hit his 13th of the season so you can increase all those numbers I just spent a bunch of time calculating by a tad.
Ebert’s .748 slugging percentage would qualify as fifth all-time if the season were to end today. He’d be in a top five with a guys named Marquardt, Peters, Smoak and Small – pretty decent company if you ask me.
Speaking of power numbers, here’s a stat worth mentioning: It’s no secret that Ray Tanner likes the long ball, but the results are insane. Of the Top 15 single season home run hitters, 14 have come under Professor Longball (Tanner). Joe Datin (23) is the lone non-Tanner coached player on the list in 1985.
Hit-Men
Eight of the nine starting Gamecocks are hitting above .300. The only one who isn’t – Bobby Haney - just hit a looooong grand slam and his third home run this week.
The Gamecocks entire team is hitting .298 this season. Aside from an anomaly in 1997, when Tanner’s first Gamecock team hit .341, his teams 12 year average is .299.
For all those who love to say, “If we still had Smoak, Darnell and Havens…” Tanner’s twelve previous teams averaged 97.75 HR per season. This season, the weaklings are on pace for 99.
The 40-Win Plateau
Ray Tanner has won 40+ games in nine straight seasons. He’ll need 17 more this season to make it a decade of 40 or more. With only 23 games left (assuming the Cocks make it to Hoover), they’ll need to go 17-6. With at least three games against Georgia and three against Vanderbilt, the Cocks need to win every opportunity they get.
Until next time, peace...
Oh, by the way, the picture above of that really good looking guy is me in the Bahamas (eh hem, about 22 years ago). I found it and thought it was funny because I think I weighed 155 pounds back then. I was wondering if I could enter it in that Gamecock Central weight loss contest rather than my actual self.
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Roger Olivieri. Roger began working with GamecockCentral in December of 2007. He currently serves as the site's chief videographer. He may be reached by email at roger(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.