Yes, that's right. Mike Jacobs has been coming under a lot of fire lately, despite his 18 home runs. The latest to lead the charge? Marlins Today, in this scathing, but first-rate analysis of Mike Jacob's inadequacies.
Let me give you a nice chunk:
"Let me start off by saying his 18 homeruns are awesome. If he was in the American League, he would be one off the lead. Then again, if he was in the American League, he could be a designated hitter, but we’ll get into that later. Compared with those first baseman that have enough at bats to qualify, Jacobs ranks in the bottom of nearly every major category. He’s 13 out of 14 in batting average at .233. Only Ryan Howard’s .218 is worse. Mike’s on base percentage is dead last at .262. Next closest is Ryan Howard at .311. That’s embarrassing. One thing Jacobs does exceptionally well is hit the ball for extra bases. His .506 slugging percentage has him tied for 4th with Derrek Lee. So we have a slugger that can barely hit his weight, and will not take a walk for his life. His 11 walks have him at 36th in the entire major leagues for first basemen. Daryle Ward (42 at bats), Wes Helms (144 at bats), and John Bowker (201 at bats) are the only ones to be worse. His .768 OPS (on base + slugging) ranks him 12th out of 14th with only Carlos Delgado and Adam LaRoche being worse. So even with his tremendous slugging, he’s still one of the worst first basemen in the National League."
They go on to say this about his fielding:
"You can watch with your eyes all you want and you may not see a worse fielder."
Ouch! I'm not really sure where I fall in this argument. I don't want to discount Jacobs' contributions, but he does seem to be home run or bust these days. When the Marlins are down 3 in the 9th and he's leading off, forget it.
I would like to see him show more patience, earning deeper counts and - (cringes) - actually try and shorten the swing! Either way, the 6th spot in the lineup suits his prototype.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Mike Jacobs: 18 HRs and Criticized???
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2 comments:
I definitely fall on the he's killing the fish side of the argument. He's a painful defensive liability. His batting average and OBP are a joke, and then pull up his splits. He bats even worse with runners in scoring position at 208.
For the all the games that his power has been what won the game, let's say 5-7, how many more has he hurt the team badly with his D and rally killing bat in the middle of the order? I just think the power alone doesn't earn him a free pass into the lineup.
Adam..did the game we went to not persuade you that Mike Jacobs is a atrocious defensively? But i do agree with the homerun argument. As always, outstanding writing.
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