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Saturday, August 19, 2006
LaRoche in full road rage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Over the course of a season, the home/road splits tend to even out for most players, provided they don’t play in an extremely pitcher-friendly or hitter-friendly ballpark.
And then there’s Adam LaRoche.
This has become nearly unbelievable, the difference between the first baseman’s hitting at home and on the road. I’m not exaggerating when I say LaRoche is one of the best road hitters in the major leagues this season.
And at home? Uh, let’s just say he’s not been one of the best.
Here’s what I’m talking about: LaRoche is batting .304 with 20 home runs, 52 RBIs and a 1.093 OPS on the road (.392 OBP, .701 slugging). Those are Pujols-like numbers, people. Seriously.
And at home: LaRoche has hit .238 with five homers, 16 RBIs and a .686 OPS (.293/.393).
That just doesn’t happen very often with such a productive hitter, unless we’re talking about Coors Field (pre-humidor), where Colorado sluggers used to routinely hit over .400 with huge power numbers, then hit in the low-200s on the road.
But Turner Field is not a severe pitcher’s park. It’s a pitchers’ park more than hitters’ park, yes, but not severely so. And in the past, LaRoche hasn’t had anything resembling this year’s disparity. In fact, it leaned the other way.
Before this season, he had a .281 career hitter with 18 homers, 64 RBIs and an .843 OPS in 118 games. On the road, he was a .254 hitter with 15 homers, 59 RBIs and a .751 OPS in 133 games. Not exactly scintillating either way, but solid for a young player who missed time with a separated shoulder.
Anyway, see what all that booing him in the early season did, people? You ruined him.
Kidding, of course. Even LaRoche says that has nothing to do with it. Besides, he’s not getting booed at home anymore, or at least no more than others do if he screws up, etc.
If he can find a way to hit anywhere near as well at home as he has on the road, the man would be putting up absolutely huge numbers. But even with the huge dichotomy, he’s putting up damn fine numbers for a few months now.
Since June 24, he’s hit .329 with 14 homers and 31 RBIs in 42 games, and 38 strikeouts in that span aren’t overly significant when you consider the 1.076 OPS in those 42 games.
He’s probably played himself into being kept by the Braves for next season, if there was ever doubt. Because he still will make less than $2.5 mill next year in first year of arbitration, and that’s not too much for a guy who might hit 35 homers and play way above average defense.
OK, gotta get down to the clubhouse. Talk amongst yourselves.
Oh, and let me know if any serious typos in this; I’ll fix ‘em when I get back upstairs. Don’t even have time to re-read the thing right now.
Thankyouverymuch.
