Stat of the Week: Carlos Santana's 19.3% Walk Rate
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Next Monday, the BBWAA will announce the American League Rookie of the Year. The honor will almost assuredly go to either the Tigers’ Austin Jackson or the Rangers’ Neftali Feliz. But while Carlos Santana doesn’t have a prayer of winning the award, there is no question that the most impressive feat of any 2010 rookie was his.
Santana did a lot of great things in the 46 games between his call-up on June 11 and the knee injury he suffered from Ryan Kalish’s overaggressive slide on August 2. Above-average power (.207 ISO), a solid arm (35% caught-stealing rate)—even decent speed (three stolen bases). He was worth 2.0 Wins Above Replacement in less than a third of a season—as a catcher.
But the most impressive facet of Santana’s game is his plate discipline. In his first glimpse of the majors, at age 24, he walked 37 times in just 192 trips to the plate. That’s a 19.3% walk rate, meaning almost every fifth time he grabbed a bat, he left it on his shoulder.
How does his pitch selection compare to other notable nitpickers? NL ROY candidate Jason Heyward made waves for his plate discipline with a walk rate of 14.6%. Daric Barton, an archetypal Moneyball-style player, took free passes 16.0% of the time. The mighty Albert Pujols got the green light in 14.7% of his plate appearances, and “Greek God of Walks” Kevin Youkilis had a walk rate of just 13.3%.
All told, Santana had the highest walk rate of any player with at least 100 at-bats. And he did that as a rookie. At age 24. As a catcher.
Of course, that won’t matter when the BBWAA announces its choice next week—because life isn’t fair, Feliz’ 40 saves and Jackson’s .293 average (inflated by his insanely lucky .396 batting average on balls in play) will be much more influential with the voters. But a few years from now, when Santana is a perennial MVP candidate, all of baseball will marvel at Santana’s phenomenal eye.
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[...] by some miracle, an Indian is named Rookie of the Year, we’d have a better chance with Carlos Santana. Comment – Posted in Stat of the Week Share | « « [...]
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[...] Forget his promising power (.207 ISO, six homers). Forget his decent speed (three steals). Forget the fact that he shored up the middle of Cleveland’s lineup as a catcher. The most fantastic aspect of Santana’s game was his unbelievable plate discipline. [...]
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[...] Forget his promising power (.207 ISO, six homers). Forget his decent speed (three steals). Forget the fact that he shored up the middle of Cleveland’s lineup as a catcher. The most fantastic aspect of Santana’s game was his unbelievable plate discipline. [...]
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[...] contest was closer than you might think. Carlos Santana demonstrated power and plate discipline beyond his 24 years in 54 games last year. Assuming he can fully recover from his horrific knee injury, he’ll [...]
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[...] contest was closer than you might think. Carlos Santana demonstrated power and plate discipline beyond his 24 years in 54 games last year. Assuming he can fully recover from his horrific knee injury, he’ll [...]
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