Comments on: More on Marcus Thames (yes, he’s good)

By: Fireworks

Fireworks — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:37:13 +0000

I compared Thames to Deer--guys who like Phelps, like Chris Davis, like Branyan (before this season), tantalize with the possibility of being a bonafide slugger but for whatever reason (lack of playing time, injury, lack of growth as a player, poor platoon split) don't quite deliver. The kinds of guys, who, if they manage to get 650 PA for the first or second time in their career, whatever, you find yourself completely unsurprised that they get some grey ink.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:13:16 +0000

Cases like this one with Thames are where I tend to think that the stats don't tell the whole story. Anybody paying attention sees that Thames has excellent power production. There's got to be a reason why he doesn't play every day and it's not just injuries. Say what you want about Rob Deer or Dave Kingman, but these guys did what they did over full seasons and were not guys who occasionally came off the bench and popped one. (I think that's what Johnny was trying to say above.) Of course, I probably would have said the same thing about Ken Phelps--i.e. that there was a good reason why he wasn't playing, but it actually appears that it was just stupidity by his teams.

By: JohnnyTwisto

JohnnyTwisto — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:03:47 +0000

Thames has essentially been a platoon player. Let's not get carried away with the comparisons.

By: Fireworks

Fireworks — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:22:06 +0000

I was talking about this guy a week and a half ago. Thames, when healthy, is the kind of masher you want in your lineup if your team "needs" some more pop. 30+ homers every 162 is a good start, you have to wonder if he would have/will develop a better discipline if he could stay off the DL, so he could walk a lot more, score more runs, and drag his OPS(+) up to a level commensurate with the other guys on that list. But yeah, he's not in the class of a guy like Howard. I wanna say he's a rich man's Rob Deer, but he doesn't walk nearly enough. I think I'd rather have Deer.

By: tomepp

tomepp — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:08:20 +0000

As Andy was quick to point out (in a discussion of Mark McGwire), Dave Kingman was good at mashing the ball, too (1 HR per 15.11 AB over his career); that doesn't make you a great player. Thames' OBP (and his numbers overall) look a lot more like Kingman's than Ryan Howard's.

By: leatherman

leatherman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:18:17 +0000

Mark Reynolds, currently with 83 HRs, will be pretty high on this list when he hits #100. He has averaged one HR per 16.18 ABs, and one HR per 18.43 PAs.

And he's only getting better, too. His yearly rates:
2007 - one HR per 21.53 ABs, one HR per 24.35 PAs
2008 - one HR per 19.25 ABs, one HR per 21.89 PAs
2009 - one HR per 11.53 ABs, one HR per 13.24 PAs

If he continues his 2009 rate, he will have 100 HRs (17 more) in his next 196 ABs and 225 PAs. That would move his career rates to one HR per 15.39 ABs, and one HR per 17.55 PAs.