Royals provide more proof that spring stats mean nothing
By Wally Fish
If you are looking for evidence that spring stats are pretty much worthless, well it’s really not hard to find. However this little nugget found in one of Bob Dutton’s posts today on Kansas City.com really drives that point home.
"The Royals entered the day leading all 30 teams with a .313 average and all American League teams with 163 runs. That was before generating 10 more runs and 19 more hits."
To make matters worse, several of the guys leading this offensive assault on Cactus league opponents won’t be anywhere near Kansas City when April 5th rolls around.
Mitch Maier: 0.440/.491/.760 in 50 AB
Brian Anderson: 0.350/.395/.575 in 40 AB
At this point I have to believe that Mitch Maier has earned a spot on the 25-man roster but if he does, it will mean that Brian Anderson is Omaha bound. One way or another one of the two of them won’t be on the ML roster.
Mike Aviles: 0.500/.556/.684
Mike Aviles should be on the opening day roster and starting over Chris Getz at 2B or Yuniesky Betancourt at SS but he seems destined for a DL stint and rehab assignment to continue building up his arm strength. Nevermind that Mike Aviles one hopping throws from short is still a better option at SS than Yunie. For what it is worth, Betancourt is hitting 0.225/.279/.375 in 40 AB this spring.
Scott Thorman: 0.357/.391/.452 in 42 AB
Wilson Betemit: 0.317/.396/.610 in 41 AB
Both Scott and Wilson had basically no chance to make the team when they signed so their solid spring performances have done very little. Except of course help the Royals enter the day leading all 30 teams … well you get the point.
Kila Ka’aihue: 0. 386/.481/.750 in 44 AB
Here we come to the great injustice. We all know Kila Ka’aihue should be on the roster, he deserves a real chance to prove himself at the major league level. I’d venture to say all 29 of the other MLB teams would have given Kila a reasonable look in the majors by this point in time. He helps the Royals in two of their biggest areas of need by providing plate discipline and power to a lineup significantly lacking in both. Who knows, maybe that’s the problem.
I’m already peeved at the organization’s usage of Kila Ka’aihue, but if big Hawaiian is sent back to Omaha so we can be subjected to Josh Fields who is currently hitting 0.157/.204/.294 in 51 spring at bats I might be whipped into an emotional writing frenzy. I’ve never gone to that place in over a year of writing, despite having ample opportunity last season to do so. I don’t put profanity in my articles, but I can promise I’ll be dropping a few if Fields makes the team and Kila doesn’t.
Even though they are leading all clubs this spring in average and all AL teams in runs scored, their record stands at 12-10. With all the offense they are only two games above 0.500 and I didn’t even touch on the fact that Butler, Bloomquist, and Callaspo have hit over 0.400 to get the team to that record.
It’s going to be a long year.