Beesball Stat Update 2/16

So before I get started with the stat update itself, there's a couple things I want to talk about: why I'm doing this and how this is going to work.

Last year was really my first year covering college baseball, or really even following it as closely as I did. Because of that and having to listen to all the games on the radio, I found it hard to keep up-to-date on the stats. I'm not sure if anyone else has that problem too, but I decided to go ahead and give weekly stat updates.

Now, the way this is going to work, I'm going to post one of these every Monday, followed by some analysis of the stats and changes in the stats. In the chart which I post, you'll see two things: the stats themselves and for certain stats, which I'll note, you'll see the change in that stat. The ones which I show changes in will be any stats that actually have to be calculated (batting average, ERA, on-base percentage, etc.). Just for clarity, I'm not going to mess around with defensive stats in the charts unless something just really stands out to me, in which case, I'll mention it in the analysis.

So now, let's get to the stats. All players are listed in alphabetical order. Any explanation for a given stat or abbreviation can be found here. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Hitting

So that Kel Johnson kid is pretty good. It's amazing to see how quickly he's adjusted to the college game. What stood out to me most to him over the weekend were that his two home runs and his ground-rule double were all to right field or right-center. Power is nice, but opposite field power is very nice.

Among the disappointments for the first weekend were Daniel Spingola, A.J. Murray and Matt Gonzalez. Danny Hall showed his willingness to change things around to get the best of his players. That was shown in game 2 of the doubleheader when he dropped Gonzo into the clean-up spot.

The biggest surprise up there for me was Brandon Gold. He was solid last season and put some good swings on the ball, but it never seemed to be quite enough to get it over the fence. He's definitely gotten better. I attribute this to three things really: physically maturing/getting better, the new baseballs and the added competition from freshman Blake Jackson. As we saw in the first game, Jackson also has a really nice swing. It'll be interesting to see how those two progress throughout the season.

Something I noticed in the defensive stats (not posted on there) was how many runners still tried to run on Arden Pabst and A.J. Murray. Fordham and St. John's combined to attempt eight stolen bases. They only succeeded three times. They didn't split that stat, so I don't know how many would-be runners were thrown out by each catcher.

Pitching

Since we've only had three games to tell anything from the pitching stats, it's hard to really see anything conclusive. One player that did stand out to me was Devin Stanton. He started off very well, going 4.2 innings scoreless before blowing the game wide open. He managed to strike out a team-high six opposing batters. But he also walked four. If he wants to produce like he did last season, that is definitely something he'll need to work on.

Another thing that stands out to me is the team opposing batting average of .294. That's a tad ridiculous. For reference, we finished last season with a team opposing batting average of .254.

What stands out to y'all about the stats so far?