Position Battles: A Look At Playing Time During High Leverage Innings
Andy Sonnanstine, Ben Zobrist, Dale Thayer, Gabe Kapler, Joaquin Benoit, Matt Joyce, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez 10 Comments »Spring hitting statistics are fun to track, but often mean little or nothing, even when a player is battling for a position. So then how can we get an idea of which players may have an edge for a starting job or a roster spot?
To get a better idea of who is winning the battle for a job, we can look at which players are playing the key positions during high-leverage innings. During the regular season that would be innings 7, 8 and 9. But during spring training, innings 1-5 are the key innings as that is when a player will face other big leaguers.
This spring, the Rays face only a couple of questions with respect to the opening day roster. So let’s take a look at who is seeing the most playing time at those positions during the high-leverage innings…
- Ben Zobrist is expected to see playing time at both second base and right field. But during the spring, Zobrist has played 29 innings at second base and only 4 in right field. Either Joe Maddon thinks he needs more time at second base to get ready for the regular season, or Maddon is preparing to use Zobrist as the most-days second baseman.
- Many think Sean Rodriguez is going to be the other half of the second base platoon based on his spring power surge. But as we can see, Reid Brignac has played almost twice as many innings at second base as Rodriguez.
- If there really is a battle to be the second second baseman, we would expect to see a more even split of playing time between Reid Brignac and Sean Rodriguez. And we would also expect to see those two players receive much more time at the position than Ben Zobrist.
- SUMMARY: These numbers suggest that Joe Maddon is leaning towards using Reid Brignac as Ben Zobrist’s platoon partner and Sean Rodriguez will be used as the “super-utility” player, seeing only occasional playing time at second base.
- Matt Joyce’s recent injury has clouded this picture. Still, we can see that Joe Maddon is giving Joyce every opportunity to prove he is ready to be a big league right fielder.
- At this point in Gabe Kapler’s career, we know what he is. There is no mystery and he is just getting ready for the regular season.
- The surprising number here is the number of innings that Ben Zobrist has played in right field: 4 (1 start). Does Zobrist not need any playing time in right field to prepare for the regular season, or will his playing time there be minimal to start the regular season?
- SUMMARY: This is all about Matt Joyce. He will continue to receive plenty of playing time once he can get back on the field.
- Here, we just looked at relief pitchers that have seen playing time in the first 5 innings. We did not include Andy Sonnanstine even though in theory he is one of the leading candidates for the final bullpen spot.
- Joaquin Benoit is likely the leading candidate for the final bullpen spot and the mound time during high-leverage innings supports that notion. Still, his spot on the opening day roster will depend on his ability to work back-to-back games.
- SUMMARY: If Joaquin Benoit can go back-to-back games, the final spot will be his. If not, it could be Andy Sonnanstine. But we still wonder if Sonny is more likely headed back to Durham to be the Rays 6th starter. If both Benoit and Sonnanstine are off the roster, the final spot could be an open battle between the likes of Jeff Bennett, Dale Thayer and Joe Bateman (see comments).
The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.
