Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Keeping An Eye On Austin Romine

For a while now I've said that the Yankees should go after Brian McCann this offseason.

Brian's hitting .280/.363/.523 this season with 16 home runs, and he hit .270/.351/.466 with 24 home runs in 2011. I'm giving him a break on his poor 2012 season, as he battled a number of injuries that season, and ended up needing shoulder surgery by the end of it. That surgery ended up costing him the first 45 games of this season, but since that time he's been the best hitter on the first-place Braves.

Not that there aren't any concerns surrounding McCann. Of course, there's the injury history. Is he completely healed form his shoulder woes? He also missed games due to thigh, knee, and trunk problems in 2012 too.

McCann's line-drive percentage is at a career high 24%, as is his home run percentage of 5.9%, compared to career marks of 19% and 4.1%. So his numbers are likely a bit higher than what can be expected over the next few years.

So what is another alternative to signing Brian McCann?

"What about me?"

Although Romine's season triple-slash of .215/.247/.323 immediately makes people take a stronger look at free agents like Brian McCann, you might be surprised to see what Austin's done lately.

In his last 28 plate appearances, Austin is batting .440/.500/.720 with four doubles and a home run. Besides an apparent change to his approach at the plate, Romine's defense is fairly good as well. His caught stealing percentage is at 30%, which is a bit above the MLB average of 26%.

Speaking of that caught stealing percentage, the way he threw out Alejandro De Aza in the first inning last night was incredible impressive. It wasn't an easy pitch to handle when it comes to trying to throw out a base stealer, the throw was hard, and the throw was right on the money.

By the way, Romine's hitting .286/.318/.476 with runners in scoring position this year. Compare that to the team's batting line of .250/.332/.368 and you'll see why those numbers shouldn't be dismissed. Honestly, if you should dismiss his batting line in this case, it's because of the small sample size (24 plate appearances). But I digress!

I'm going to be watching Austin Romine carefully from here on out, while advocating his use in most games. Because if he can turn into the everyday player many thought he could as a prospect, then the team could be in really good shape financially in order to build a strong team for 2014.

1 comment:

  1. He Needs more Time and Giardi Love affair with Stewart has got to end. Romine is clearly better!!

    ReplyDelete

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