Center of Attention

Those who know me know I love the Phillies. And one of their best and most key players this year has been Aaron Rowand. The entire team seems to have visited the disabled list this year, except for Rowand and shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Rowand, however, is in a contract year, and it’s likely he might go elsewhere for a big money deal, and it’s likely the Phils will let him walk. This would be a huge mistake. Rowand provides strong offensive and defensive support to the team, and would be impossible to replace. Let’s review, by comparing Rowand to other center fielders in baseball, as well as other Phillies outfielders. Let’s look at Pat Burrell, the Phils’ left fielder, Torii Hunter, Carl Crawford and Ken Griffey, Jr. Hunter is widely thought to be the best defensive center fielder in baseball. Crawford is the hitting, stealing, ball snagging machine who’s played for the lousy Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Griffey, of course, is thought to be the best center fielder of our time. Let’s compare, shall we? And we’ll be doing it using standard numbers and some crazy stats I came up with on the spot:

Fielding Percentage (Fielding Cleanly)
Aaron Rowand: .995
Pat Burrell: .948
Torii Hunter: .995
Carl Crawford: .986
Ken Griffey, Jr.: .974

Okay. So we can see that compared to buddy Pat Burrell, Rowand is a champ at not fucking up catching baseballs. He’s also less error-prone than two other all-stars, and matches up evenly with Torii Hunter – who’s widely regarded as the flat-out best defensive center fielder in baseball.

Assists (Throwing Out Baserunners, etc.)
Aaron Rowand: 11
Pat Burrell: 8
Torii Hunter: 5
Carl Crawford: 3
Ken Griffey, Jr.: 8

Okay, so wow. Aaron Rowand is a champ in center, gunning down baserunners much more than Crawford or Torii. So, so far, Rowand is the best in our group at fielding cleanly (tied, anyway, with the “best” guy in baseball) and has the most outfield assists.

Let’s go to what everybody really cares about. Hitting.

Home Sweet Home (Batting AVG at Home)
Aaron Rowand: .328
Pat Burrell: .308
Torii Hunter: .304
Carl Crawford: .287
Ken Griffey, Jr.: .279

Rowand wins again. I, for one, believe that how you hit in your home park is incredibly important – you play half your season there. Those are the games you’re given that home-field advantage, and you should be able to take that advantage. On the road, you play in parks you only see a few times a year. Hitting at home, you should be able to learn how to use the park’s dimensions to your advantage. In our group, Rowand is King.

Bucking the Trend (Facing Like-Armed Pitchers)
Aaron Rowand: .308
Pat Burrell: .262
Torii Hunter: .281
Carl Crawford: .318
Ken Griffey, Jr.: .236

Pitchers tend to statistically hold a strong advantage over batters that bat from the same side the pitchers throw from. That is, a right-handed pitcher has a better chance of getting a right-handed batter out. So, our group should hit worse (below their average) against these guys. Griffey struggles mightily, while Burrell and Hunter remain average. Carl Crawford does very well, but, he may be an anomaly, as he hits 4 points higher against like-armed pitchers than opposite ones, who he should have an advantage against. If we consider Crawford to be a stat freak and only consider batters who hit worse against similar-armed pitchers like most hitters do traditionally, then we’ll give Rowand the nod.

Fighting the King of the Hill (Season AVG against the division leader)
Aaron Rowand: .297 (vs. New York Mets)
Pat Burrell: .228 (vs. New York Mets)
Torii Hunter: .194 (vs. Cleveland Indians)
Carl Crawford: .204 (vs. Boston Red Sox)
Ken Griffey, Jr.: .296 (vs. Chicago Cubs), .242 (vs. Milwaukee Brewers)

Rowand wins AGAIN. When it came to playing the division leader , Rowand wins every single matchup decisively, save one, and he wins that by a point. Even Met-killer Pat Burrell only turned out to have a .228 average against his usual punching bag this year. The Phillies’ most important games have been against the Mets, and Rowand has come up huge. Hunter and Crawford, when faced with their respective division leaders, have gotten pasted at the plate. Griffey did very well against Chicago, but then hit weakly when faced with the Brewers. If it helps, Milwaukee has held the division lead most of the year, with the Cubs coming into contention over the last two months.

Slumming (Having a High AVG During a Slump Month)
Aaron Rowand: .264
Pat Burrell: .129
Torii Hunter: .239
Carl Crawford: .257
Ken Griffey, Jr.: .205

Okay, so all players go through hot and cold streaks. But when you’re cold, how much do you kill your team? When Pat Burrell was cold, he hit .129 in June, which is pretty god damned lousy. Rowand, on the other hand, stayed at a luke-warm .264. His closest competitor was Carl Crawford, at .257. If you want to nit-pick, Carl Crawford slugged .381 during that month. Rowand? .491. So, at least when Rowand’s average dipped, he manned up and substituted power for average.

I could go on and on, and compare their stats in pie-eating contests, spitting contests, and cock measuring, and Aaron Rowand would win every single one. So, the Phillies and General Manager Pat Gillick need to up and give Rowand every reason to anchor the team and stay a Phillie. If he leaves, we have only the Phillies management to blame.

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