A Discussion on Mr. K
And so my friend writes me:
I saw this on the SI MLB power rankings:
With 26 strikeouts in his first 20 games, Mark Bellhorn is on pace to finish with 210 whiffs — 33 more than his AL-leading total in 2004. Just an ugly rumor, however, that the stamp on his bat reads “For Display Purposes Only.”
I write back:
That’s too funny. Well, if pokey wasn’t there last year, he probably would’ve had more than 177k’s
He responds:
I can’t stand Bellhorn. He’s either Bobby Bonds or Reggie Jackson’s illigament love child.
My reply:
Ok, as much as you dislike him, and I can’t say I’m a huge Bellhorn fan, he does have some good numbers… Like 9 doubles and hits .270 on the road. Do I think he’s worth more money than Mueller, no way! I wouldn’t be surprised if next year they bring up Pedroia who’s just tearing it up in Portland.
His continual 2-cents:
For now I would rather move Mueller to 2B and bring up Youkilis and have him at 3B. We also got Vasquez to help platoon. I don’t mind striking out but when you watch 5 or 6 pitches without swinging at one….It doesn’t even look like he has any intention to swing. Talking about waiting for your pitch. He’s been waiting for about 2 games.
My commanding nickel:
Maybe, but Youkilis isn’t doing crap at AAA right now — he’s playing first and he’s only hitting .277 with one walk (that’s .315 on-base % — Bellhorn is .325). But I definitely think they want to turn Youk into a first baseman. The Sox can probably retain Mueller at the end of the year, it’s questionable whether they’ll try and keep both Bellhorn and Millar if Pedroia and Youk can handle that side of the bag. They may also consider moving Pedroia to third. As for him looking at called strikes, I’d rather that than have him hit into a double play.
April 28th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
End of the year!!!! Lets make it through April!!!! Youkilis has big league experience and can play the field well. Wade Miller may have 27 Ks his next AAA outing. Minor league stats important yes, but not the ultimate factor to whether or not to bring a guy up. Maybe if we move Bellhorn down to 10th in the lineup he’ll come out of his slump or routine…..which ever.
April 28th, 2005 at 2:21 pm
Let’s think about this for a second… Bellhorn, who surprised many last year with an incredibly high on-base percentage and an equally high total of strike outs on the year is bag of mixed nuts. But, the man hit .264, had a .373 on-base percentage with 37 doubles and 17 home runs, not to mention he knocked in 82 runs, 6 more than Millar and having played in 12 less games than Millar.