Saturday, January 17, 2004
BUCKY JACOBSEN QUICK HIT
Last year Bucky Jacobsen had a .251 major league EQA playing in the Southern League. For reference, a .260 EQA represents a major league average offensive contribution, and the average EQA for major league first basemen last year was .282.In 2003 John Olerud had an EQA of .279, so the Mariners actually had slightly below average output at first base. Since Olerud is almost completely unable to hit left handed pitching any longer, most of Olerud's offensive value was generated against right handed pitching. A good right-handed platoon partner would fill a big hole in the Mariner offense.
Jacobsen, however, is one of those rare right-handed batters that hits right handers better than left-handers. Below are his splits for his last two seasons:
Versus LHPUnfortunately, it does not appear that Jacobsen would be a good platoon partner for Olerud. I imagine that will hurt his chances of making the roster.
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Year Team AB AVG SLG BB/AB K/AB BB/K
----- ----- --- ----- ----- ----- ---- ----
2003 Tenn 87 0.276 0.586 0.13 0.23 0.55
2002 Nw Hvn 32 0.250 0.344 0.13 0.25 0.50
2002 Hntsvl 85 0.235 0.471 0.11 0.25 0.43
Total 204 0.255 0.500 0.12 0.24 0.49
Versus RHP
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Year Team AB AVG SLG BB/AB K/AB BB/K
----- ----- --- ----- ----- ----- ---- ----
2003 Tenn 332 0.304 0.560 0.11 0.19 0.57
2002 Nw Hvn 70 0.314 0.600 0.07 0.24 0.29
2002 Hntsvl 113 0.265 0.496 0.12 0.18 0.65
Total 515 0.297 0.551 0.10 0.19 0.54
Nevertheless, Jacobsen is still a good, low risk signing of the type that the Mariners should do more often. There are many players in their late 20's throughout the upper minor leagues who can play better and are cheaper than many players who are on major league rosters. Few of these players will be stars, but many of them are better than the players on the margins of many major league teams rosters, including the Mariners.
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