Moustakas contributing to Omaha's team stats.

44

is the number of RBIs Mike Moustakas had in Omaha last year, before he got called up to Kansas City in June. This isn’t of great statistical significance on its face, but it did make me take a look at the team on the field around Moustakas, since RBIs have more to do with the guys already on base than the guy in the batter’s box.

The Omaha Storm Chasers in 2011 were the youngest offense in the Pacific Coast League. Weirdly, despite the fact that they were league champs, they were toward the middle or bottom in a lot of offensive categories. They were squarely in the middle of the pack in hits, total runs scored, RBI, and runs per game. They hit fewer homers than almost any other team, but of course many PCL teams play in thin mountain/desert air, and Omaha…is not that.

On the basepaths, the Chasers fared well in the league, ranking toward the top in triples, and 2nd in the league in steals. Somehow Fresno had 209 steals, which ran away with the lead. (And by “somehow,” I mean that Fresno had Tyler Graham (60 SB) and Justin Christan (36) bolstering their team total.)

The Chasers walked fewer times than most of their leaguemates, but struck out the least by far – 826 total, with the next-closest team at 899. (Holy cow, Tacoma. The Rainiers, as a team, struck out 1169 times. In a single season. One thousand, one hundred sixty-nine Ks.) This all led to the Chasers being right around the median in all the slash stats.

Really, other than avoiding strikeouts, the PCL Champion Chaser offense didn’t look too good on paper. But, scoreboard.

ANYWAY, Mike Moustakas wasn’t a Chaser for very long. And now that he’s in the best shape of his life, he probably never will be again, barring a rehab assignment KNOCK ON WOOD.

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PITCHERFACE!

Let’s see if I can come up with a post every day of the rest of the offseason. Today, there are 45 days left until Opening Day on April 6.

45

is the number of games in which Jesse Chavez appeared for Omaha last season. This was good for the team lead. While serving as the team’s primary closer, Chavez struck out a good number (8.43/9) and kept the walks low (2.50/9). However, the Royals broke camp without him, as Toronto claimed him on waivers in October.

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In a MLB jersey, where he hopefully belongs

46

is the number* of games Johnny Giavotella played in the Majors last season. This year,if he indeed makes the big club out of Spring Training, Giavotella will compete for playing time with Chris Getz and Yuniesky Betancourt.

*By odd coincidence, 46 is also the number of photos of Johnny Giavotella I have on Flickr. Weird.

I suppose it’s not a given that Giavotella will start the year in Kansas City. In his 46 MLB games last year, his line was .247/.273/.376 (0.0 WAR), which is not good, per se. But it’s definitely passable for a rookie 2B, and merits another shot.

As a note of comparison: As a 23-year-old, Yuni batted .256/.296/.370, good for 0.5 WAR in 60 games.

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“Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day!”

Taking a hack, and probably adding to his K totals.

47

is the number of doubles Jeff Francoeur hit in 2011.  That’s his highest total of doubles in a season, despite the fact that he only played in 153 games – the third-lowest total of games played in his career. That, combined with his 20 homers, boosted Frenchy’s slugging percentage to the highest it has ever been over a full season.

And while I was looking over his numbers, I was reminded that he somehow only walked thirty-seven times all season. How absurd. Only two other players in all of the Majors played as much as Francoeur (650+ plate appearances) and walked that infrequently. One of those is Chicago’s Starlin Castro, and the other, of course, was Melky Cabrera. SIGH.

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48

is the number of unintentional walks Tim Collins issued. The beauty of this number is, when I started working on the outline of this countdown two weeks ago, Day #48 was going to be about Collins. Now, thanks to the Royals signing Collins to a one-year deal last night, it’s a timely topic.

I love Tim Collins. I love that he came to the Royals in exchange for Professor Farnsworth and Dick Ankiel. I love that immediately, Braves fans started telling me 1) that they were SO SAD to see Collins go, and 2) that we were going to love watching him. I love watching that little half-tornado delivery and the novelty of such a relatively little* guy dishing out legitimate 93+ MPH fastballs.

*he’s still taller than me by a bit, and has frightening muscles. So I hesitate to call him shrimpy.

But I do not love watching Tim Collins walk so many batters, and still get sent to the mound every other day. He walked 6.4 batters per nine innings in 2011, which was the worst among relieves with at least 60 IP. (For reference, the mean among this group is 3.23 BB/9.) Most guys who walk that many batters don’t get that many innings, nor should they unless more of those innings are in garbage time.  In fact, if you lower the minimum IP all the way down to 10, there are still only handful of guys – 16 – who walked more than Collins did in 2011.

So basically, the only pitchers in all of the Majors who issued more walks per nine than Tim Collins barely pitched at all.

I want to reiterate that I love Tim Collins. I truly do. (Enough to make a wallpaper of him, even!) I just hope that he is made to earn his spot as the go-to lefty this year, rather than being handed the team lead in appearances just because he was That Guy for the team last year.

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49

is the number of plate appearances Salvador Perez  made in Omaha before being promoted to the Majors. That is literally all I have for today. It is 1:00 a.m. and I just got home from work somehow? And Firefox keeps crashing. This countdown thing is HARD.

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Too fast for cameras.

50

is the round in which outfielder Jarrod Dyson was drafted in 2006. Back in November there was a good discussion at Royals Review about Dyson’s future as a Major Leaguer. Based on the poll there, fans feel that Dyson will accumulate at least as many MLB plate appearances in the future as he has until this point. But will it be with the Royals?
Though I like Dyson, I agree completely with Jeff Zimmerman’s conclusion a few weeks ago:

For the Royals in 2012, Dyson is not the answer. He just doesn’t get on base enough, mainly because of his 25% K%, to utilize his speed. While he may be the best CF defender, the speed is not enough to make for his inability to hit.

Dyson’s one ace-in-the-hole for the season is his speed though. He could be used as a pinch running specialist. The Royals like to have a deep bullpen. With the current starting pitching staff, they are probably going to need it. If Lough or Maier is the 4th OF, it would leave only 2 spots on the bench for an utility infielderr and a catcher. Having Dyson on the bench for pinch running is a luxury the Royals can’t afford. Dyson is just not the answer.

A guy whose main asset is speed is lovely to have IF you can afford a smaller bullpen and IF you are so close to contention that a few late-inning runs by your Speed Guy will be the difference between October baseball and going home. The Royals might meet one of those ifs in 2012, but probably not.

Dyson would be a good fit on a team with an older manager who likes to make all kinds of late-inning substitutions. Don’t you think someone like Charlie Manuel would love to have speed like Dyson in the 8th or 9th inning?

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Spring Training invitee Brandon Sisk

It is only Groundhog Day, and I am watching professional baseball that’s not squirreled away on my DVR from last season. Thank you, ESPN3, for carrying the Caribbean Series! (Remember: Watch for these five Royals in the Series.) Now for some linkage:

• Given that those ESPN3 broadcasts are in Spanish, you may need these Spanish/English baseball dictionaries. I really need to re-sharpen my Spanish skills before Opening Day…
• Sounds like Rex Hudler is the favorite to take Frank White’s vacated booth spot. Kings of Kauffman has more about him.
• Check out Lee Warren’s piece about Mike Montgomery, whose stock is still high even after some struggles last year.
• Lastly, I’m pleased that the Royals have invited Brandon Sisk to big league Spring Training again. As pointed out on the Storm Chasers Twitter feed, right-handed batters have absolutely no idea what to do against Sisk.

Archer said it best.

A few Royals have been playing in the Caribbean Winter League, and will presumably be a part of the Series.

Jose Mijares
Mijares, one of the newest Royals, has had a nice winter. He has struck out 12 batters and walkedzero in 10 innings of work for the Tigres de Aragua.

Brayan Pena
Sadly, Pena’s winter performance has not done much to solidify his spot on the Royals’ catching carousel, but on the other hand…it’s the winter. .200/.235/.293 is an ugly line, but who knows how much stock GMDM will put into that, especially given that Pena was sharing playing time with eight other catchers this winter.

Teaford pitching at Reno, where I randomly happened to be once.

Everett Teaford
Firstly, I recommend following Teaford on Twitter. He’s pretty entertaining, despite his self-description as the “Most Uninteresting Man In Baseball.” Back to the topic at hand, Teaford’s been a strikeout machine this winter, racking up 29 Ks in 23.2 innings. Oh, and he only walked three. NICE.

Irving Falu
Falu’s stats page is kind of screwy right now and not showing his winter stats for Mayaguez, but according to Facebook he did, in fact, play.

Luis Mendoza
Last but not least, 2011 PCL Pitcher of the Year has spent the winter pitching in Mexico. Numbers-wise, it was a ‘blah’ winter, but again…it’s the winter leagues. Oh, Mendoza is also on Twitter. (Mere moments before I published this post, Mendoza tweeted about the Series.)

So! There’s some local interest in the Caribbean Series, but really, we don’t need an excuse to watch baseball games, do we? It’s February! Just tune in and enjoy!