Guest Post on MASNSports.com: Let's Sit Jake Fox Against Lefties

THe latest guest post on MASNSports.com can be found here. Enjoy.

Jake Fox is Rude...Evidently

Faux pas to deep left!

From the Oriole Insider blog at BaltimoreSun.com:

The Orioles had runners on second and third and no outs in the eighth inning today when Fox came to the plate against Tigers minor leaguer Chance Ruffin. The most important aspect of this story is the score was 13-3 at the time, and both teams had subbed out most of their regulars. Ruffin started the at-bat with three straight balls, but Fox decided to take a rip at a 3-0 pitch in a clear take situation.


It certainly qualified as a breach of baseball etiquette. Swinging 3-0 in a 10-run game with no outs in the eighth inning with a minor league pitcher on the mound is a decent way to make sure you get a fastball in the ribs in your next at-bat. The average fan may not think it was a big deal but Orioles manager Buck Showalter and Tigers manager Jim Leyland certainly did.

I'll never fully understand this but...what exactly is the big deal here? If Buck Showalter had the take sign on or had VERY SPECIFICALLY told Fox to start taking on 3-0 this spring, that's fine. Ignoring your manger is worthy of his scorn.

But this doesn't appear to be the case. Both managers were angry and it seemed to be a simple breach of "baseball etiquette".

But would it have been OK if he swung away at 2-0? 3-1? Swung at the first pitch? Which is it, really? And what would be the difference? And isn't this a spring game? What's the big deal?

"Oh man, you never played the game. You wouldn't understand." Well, I've watched plenty. And when I was watching this 30-3 gem the Rangers put on us....NOBODY STOPPED SWINGING! They scored 16 of those 30 runs in the 8th and 9th innings! They swung away like Merrill!

What did Tigers manager Jim Leyland think about the situation?

“Look, once and for all, it’s not going to affect the team at all. All these people are going to get dramatic about this (expletive), it’s not going to affect this team one bit. Trust me. That’s all reading material. Everybody gets all upset, gets real dramatic ..."


Oh wait...he wasn't talking about Jake Fox swinging at a 3-0 pitch. He was talking about his starting first baseman getting arrested for driving while fall-down drunk! So excuse me if I don't trust HIS sense of perspective! Perhaps Fox could have been forgiven for swinging at a 3-0 pitch....IF HE WAS REALLY, REALLY DRUNK!

(pant, pant, pant)

I mean, really. Screw that noise.

In Defense of Jake Fox

Jake Fox stands next to Josh Bell to make his walk rate look better...

Kind of a funny title, isn't it?

After all, Jake Fox is leading the all of baseball with 7 home runs for spring training. The internet if filled with sportwriters singing his praises and fans are clamoring for him to make the roster as the backup catcher and, now, even a backup second baseman (!?!??).

However, two writers in the Oriole blogOsphere whose opinion I respect have been pretty derisive of The Fabulous Mr. Fox. Stacey and Andrew_G of Camden Chat hate, absolutely hate, the fact that Jake Fox does not walk much. Andrew summed it up thusly:

I think we need to dispell the myth of Jake Fox: decent bench bat.
The guy CANNOT get on base. His career year with the Cubs in ’09, he had a .311 on-base percentage. Two weeks of crushing Pirates Spring Training fastballs does not make him a viable bench bat.

There is no doubt that Fox is a free swinger. He has a mere 4.9% walk rate and chases balls outside the strike zone at a 42.0% rate for his major league career. He will never be a great hitter with those kind of peripherals.

However, his minor league numbers were a bit better than that. His walk rate over the last two years in the minors (covering AA and AAA seasons) was close to 8.5%. He may not approach that in the majors but he has a chance to improve and the projection systems think that he will.

But that's not where his value lies. He's a guy who hits for contact with enormous power. Outside of his unfortunate time in the Oakland Coliseum, he has an ISO well over .200 over the course of his brief major league career.

But there is a way to mask most of Fox's weaknesses as a hitter:

Split   G  PA  AB HR BB SO   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
    vs RHP as RHB 114 277 252 15 14 60 .246 .296 .488 .784
    vs LHP as RHB  85 190 176  3  9 38 .222 .268 .330 .598

Fox should NEVER be allowed to hit against lefthanded pitchers. Ever. Even with his struggles since his graduation to the majors, Fox is a slightly better-than-league-average hitter and one with great power.

So his weakness against lefties can be masked in a part time role. And he would make a good bat of the bench late in a game. Why? Name a lefthanded closer in the American League. Well, there's one. The Athletics' Brian Fuentes and that's only if Andrew Bailey misses significant time with his recent injury. So I would have no problem with bringing up Fox to face any closer in the league.

So Fox has enormous power, can play the corner infield and corner outfield positions in addition to catcher, hits righties well and nearly all the closer in the game are righthanded pitchers.

Sounds like a pretty good backup catcher/bat of the bench to me.

Spring Training Updates: Week 2

The end of the second week of spring training games is upon us, so lets see how these position battles are shaking out.

Before the season I listed 5 things to watch:

1. Pie versus Reimold - Felix Pie is hitting .250/.250/.350 still with just the two doubles over 20 plate appearances and, characteristically, no strikeouts or walks. Nolan Reimold is hitting .308/.471/.577 with 2 homers, 7 walks and 5 strikeouts over 33 plate appearances. Reimold is not only outhitting Pie by a large margin, he's getting a longer look this spring. With Derrek Lee's injury, they may both make the Opening Day roster, at least for a while.

2. Chris Tillman versus Jake Arrieta - Arreita has a 3.60 ERA, Tillman has a 7.20 ERA. However, Tillman's peripherals are better (0 HR, 4 K, 1BB) than Arrieta's (1 HR, 2 K, 2 BB) I haven;t seen either of them to see how hard one or the other is getting hit. Zach Britton has been moved up to starter with Tillman working in relief for today's game. A sign of things to come? At the moment, it does not look good for Tillman.

3. Brian Roberts Rebound - Sidelined with neck spasms early, now he is sidelined with back spasms. Not good.

4. The Battle for the Backup Backstop - Craig Tatum got up off the mat and is hitting .300/.333/.350 after last night's game. However, Tatum only has 21 plate appearances. Jake Fox has 30 and has posted a line of .367/.367/.767 with three homers and three doubles. Fox is getting the longer looks this spring and is hitting very well. And he has not embarrassed himself behind the plate. Fox has the edge.

5. Who's the Backup Middle Infielder? - None of the candidates has hit. Cesar Izturis has been hurt but is hitting .250/.250/.357 so far and probably has the job by default at this point.

Further developments: Koji Uehara threw on flat ground yesterday...Some beat writers believe that Ryan Drese has pitched well enough this spring to insert himself into the competition for the 5th starter. Drese has not pitched in the majors since 2006 or in affiliated ball since 2008...I saw Jeremy Accardo for the first time last night. He's getting groundball, throwing strikes and has yet to allow a run this spring. If he pans out, kudos to the Oriole scouting team for rescuing him from the Toronto farm system he has been buried in for the last two seasons...Ryan Adams might be a better prospect than I thought. He has decent power and a good approach at the plate. His fielding needs some work but if he's passable, the bat might play. He should get to (if not starts in) AAA at age 24 this season. I'll be curious to see how he does...Top prospect Zach Britton is coming up on the outside in the rotation competition. He has given up no earned runs and his peripherals and ground ball rates look great...Rule 5 pick Adrian Rosario has been wild and has a 9.00 ERA. The team can arrange a trade for him with the Brewers but he looks like a wasted pick at this point...Meanwhile, RHP Pedro Beato has a 1.80 ERA for the Mets but the peripherals are not so good for him. RHP Pat Egan has a 0.00 ERA but only two appearances for the Brewers. Both may be offered back to Baltimore or in Egan's case, he could be swapped for Adrian Rosario.

O's Acquire Jake Fox

According to The Baltimore Sun's Jeff Zrebiec, the Orioles have acquired UT Jake Fox from the Oakland Athletics for a minor league pitcher.

Considering the fact that the pitcher they give up is expected to be no one of consequence, this is a good move all around. edit: Looks like the pitcher will be Norfolk P Ross Wolf. That's totally fine.

Fox can come in and play first right away. He's not a good fielder...but then again neither is Garrett Atkins. Atkins should see the writing on the wall at this point and he is not likely to be on the roster past this weekend. Fox brings an added dimension as he can play C, 3B or the corner outfield positions in a pinch.

Fox only hit .214/.264/.327 for the A's but played sporadically for Oakland, rarely starting 2 games in a row. He did hit .259/.311/.468 for the Cubs last season.and he was a tad unlucky in Oakland. You would have to think he'll perform better with regular playing time...which he should get in Baltimore where there are no better alternatives. ZIPS projects his to hit .248/.309/.425 with a wOBA of .324 and an ISO of .177 the rest of the way. That's not great but it's a big improvement over what we have now.

And you never know....Fox only has 350 PAs in the majors. He just might get better.