Imagine if Alex Rodriguez was the type of player fans wanted to see: a hard-nosed, modest, talented player who always found a way to help the team win. Now imagine he was a utility infielder who had a VORP of –5.4. Who would you want on your team?
Alex Cora: Finding ways to win (2006 Season stats)
There are only 10 games where Alex Cora had an at-bat and the Red Sox managed a win without one of AC’s hits, walks, or RBIs. This happened to A-Rod 9 times.
A-Rod had 4 sac flies, 0 sac hits.
AC had 0 sac flies, 4 sac hits.
Pitches seen per plate appearance -
A-Rod: 3.81
AC: 3.80
Already, the similarities are just uncanny, with A-Rod being only slightly better. But here’s the real kicker:
A-Rod had 22 Grounded Into Double Play balls in 572 at-bats, or 1 per every 26 at-bats. In 235 at-bats AC hit only four GIDP, or one per 58.75 AB.
Now that we are starting to see how Cora is the far superior player, let us get to the defensive stats.
You Can Win With Your Glove
AC had a fielding percentage of .975, the same as Gold Glove winner Derek Jeter, under only 5 of 26 AL Shortstops who played 100 innings or more. His Range Factor was also the AL’s third best among those who qualified at .483.
A-Rod, shall we say, sucked royally. Only 5 AL third basemen with at least 100 innings have a worse fielding percentage than A-Rod’s .938, and an exclusive 6 others can claim a worse RF of .250.
So now, adding in all other statistical categories, we can see as far under his statstics as Alex Roriguez plays, that is precisely how far over his statistics Alex Cora plays.
Game Announcement:
Josh Beckett is currently melting the Gatorade bucket so we might have a delay of game. Stay tuned.
1 comment:
Dover, I'm dying to know:
Did the Gatorade bucket make it?
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