Mark Teixeira needs to talk to Jobu or sacrifice a whole chicken or run a chicken bone cross up and down his bat. Anything to get his power back.
Tex went 0-5 last night (with zero walks) and since his three home run game in Boston, he’s had just 6 extra base hits (three doubles, three homers) and thus, his slugging percentage in that time frame is .351. His IsoP since that epic day in Fenway is .128.
Encouraging is the fact that Teixeira’s had 14 runs batted in during that 23 game span, but the power is still severely lacking. What can we use to explain this Gardner-esque power “output?” Let’s delve into the batted ball data and see what’s there.
Most eye catching is the .225 BABIP. Tex is having little luck/not hitting the ball as hard as he normally does. I say bad luck because we’ve seen a lot of balls hit hard land in the gloves of fielders (it happened last night) when Tex strikes them. I say he’s not hitting the ball as hard because, well, he’s not. His LD% is at a career low 18.4%. His IFFB% is also at 11.4, which would be the second highest of his career. His HR/FB is down to 11.4% as well, the lowest of his career by far. So, to sum up: he’s not hitting as many line drives as he usually does, his ground balls are not getting through, he’s popping balls up to the wrong guys, and he’s not driving the ball when it gets in the air.
Since I’m not a hitting coach, I’m really not sure what Tex could do. It looks as if he’s expanding his zone a lot, but the numbers don’t totally support that. His O-Swing% is at 21.9, which isn’t that far off of his career mark of 20.7. I think the real problem is his O-Contact%. It’s all the way up to 69.4%, a career high. While it’s worth noting that his O-Contact% has been rising each year from 2007 on, we could infer that the contact he’s making on these out-of-zone pitches is rather weak and that could be leading to a lack of powerful hits.
Like all of you, I’ve got complete confidence in Tex’s ability to recover. If it comes soon, while Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano are hot, the Yankee lineup could reach that unstoppable level we’re all almost used to.
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7 Responses to Tex Still Struggling to Find Power Groove
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TIQ IQ
What’s the deal with all these so called experts saying that the Rays have the best rotation? What is that based on exactly? Because according to the stats I’m looking at, the Rays’ starting five are only ahead of the Yankees’ rotation in ERA. The Yankees have one more win, one less loss, more strikeouts, less walks, less hits, less homeruns allowed in every nine innings pitched. What are the experts seeing that I am failing to take note of?
NYY [W: 29] [L: 12] [ERA: 3.60] [BB/9: 2.99] [K/9: 7.20] [WHIP: 1.22] [H/9: 7.99] [HR/9: 0.96]
TBR [W: 28] [L: 13] [ERA: 3.12] [BB/9: 3.04] [K/9: 6.85] [WHIP: 1.23] [H/9: 8.03] [HR/9: 1.10]
I’m predicting that Teix cuts his hair soon. Knowing how ballplayers are….the hair is next.
At least we’re positive that Teixeira isnt hurt. He’ll turn it around hopefully before the cooling of Swisher & Cano (who’s white hot now & obliterating career norms). Teix shouldnt despair & doesnt seem he’s had from commentary since the team is smashing inferior opponents. Teix is too good not to salvage the season to a tune of .275/.350/.470 (teix will hit 30 hrs).
Teix shouldnt despair & doesnt seem he’s had from commentary since the team is smashing inferior opponents.
Huh??
It’s difficult to read through this post when it uses made-up stats instead of real ones like OBP, OPS, average and RISP.
These other “stats” are like the equivalent of teachers who like to use the word “rubric” — it sounds like it means something, but it doesn’t.
To know the dude is struggling, all you have to do is look at his average, on-base percentage and slugging numbers over this most recent span. That’s it. You don’t need meaningless babble lifted from the latest slobbering Bill James wannabe.
The question isn’t if he’s struggling, it’s why, and this data (they aren’t stats, just simple observational data) helps look at that.
The numbers I provided are the reasons WHY his triple slash stats are bad.