2B, not 2B: Schumaker vs. Kennedy vs. the Field
TOWER GROVE — On the St. Louis Cardinals’ dime, Adam Kennedy went on to have a fine season with Oakland, filling in at third base for the Athletics and contributing with a .289 average, 63 RBIs and 65 runs scored. It was the kind of the production the Cardinals signed him for and never saw.
All the Cardinals got in return was … better.
When the Cardinals elected, at manager Tony La Russa’s urging, to release Kennedy, they did so knowing there was no experienced player ready to assume his job at second base. Aaron Miles, the Cardinals’ true starting second baseman for the previous two three seasons, had already signed with the Chicago Cubs. To fill the position, they were left with novice major-leaguers like Brendan Ryan, Joe Thurston, Brian Barden and Tyler Greene. And one experiment: Skip Schumaker.
As discussed in an article for Sunday’s paper, Schumaker has a bit more time to prepare for his new position this offseason. Instead of learning about it a couple weeks before spring training, he has a good idea that he’ll be the second baseman in 2010 and that he could be a second baseman for awhile. His career has been changed. And it’s not just because he showed he could field a groundball — it’s because he maintained his offensive production, continued to serve as the leadoff hitter and, at the end of the season, gave the Cardinals more from that position offensively then they have had from one player in arguably six seasons.
Kennedy was never at his best as a Cardinal, but here is how what he did in Oakland in 2009 compares to what Schumaker did with the Cardinals in 2009:
AK … .289 BA, .348 OBP, .410 SLG … 65 runs/63 RBIs
Schu … .303 BA, .364 OBP, .393 SLG … 85 runs/35 RBIs
Schumaker made 129 starts at second base — Kennedy never got past 100 starts as a Cardinal — and Kennedy made 49 starts at second for the A’s. Throw in his work at third, and Kennedy was a part of 38 double plays. Keep in mind the Cardinals groundball favoritism, and Schumaker helped turn 80 double plays. At second base this past season, Kennedy was a minus-10 on the plus/minus scale*, and Schumaker was a minus-14 in far more games. According to Baseball Info Solutions, when it came to “Runs Saved” by their defense, Kennedy was a minus-8 and Schumaker was a minus-11.
(* — The plus/minus scale is one devised by John Dewan for The Fielding Bible. It’s an accessible fielding stat and proves for more tangible and truthful than fielding percentage. It rewards a fielder for successful plays outside an assigned zone for his position (plus), and penalizes a fielder for flubbing plays within the assigned zone (minus).)
It’s worth noting that Schumaker was much improved on both plus/minus and Runs Saved in the second half of the season, as his footwork and instincts improved at the new position.
Better than comparing, Schumaker ‘09 to Kennedy ‘09 however is to look at how Schumaker did compared to the dozens of other players to handle second base since 2004. Even back then, when Tony Womack handled second base and scored 100 runs as the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, the position’s production overall was lacking in areas like on-base percentage and slugging. A second baseman’s slugging percentage isn’t as essential for the Cardinals, who have used their second basemen (ex. Mark Grudzielanek) in mostly on-base percentage-related roles. In that sense, Schumaker anchored the continuing improvement of the position. In 2009, for the first time in the past six seasons, the Cardinals’ production at second ranked in the top half of the NL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Three seasons ago, the position was among the lowest in the league.
Check the overall numbers from 2B since the pennant-winning season of 2004, and the rank within the National League:
YEAR … 2B used … BA (rank) … OBP (rank) … SLG (rank) … Runs/RBI
2009 … 8 2Bs … .288 (4) … .355 (6) … .392 (8) … 99 (4)/43 (16)
2008 … 7 2Bs … .312 (1) … .356 (4) … .398 (11) … 92 (7)/68 (10t)
2007 … 7 2Bs … .265 (10) … .327 (11) … .340 (15) … 73 (16)/48 (16)
2006 … 6 2Bs … .263 (13) … .326 (12) … .375 (16) … 67 (15)/59 (14)
2005 … 4 2Bs … .279 (9) … .320 (15) … .383 (12) … 75 (15)/70 (8)
2004 … 4 2Bs … .288 (5) … .328 (11) … .367 (14) … 100 (5)/46 (16)
In 2007 and 2008, Kennedy was the per se starter and Miles was the de facto starter. In both of those season, Miles and Kennedy both had more than 220 at-bats at the position. In 2007, Kennedy had 270 at-bats to Miles’ 246, though Miles played in six more games at the position. In 2008, Kennedy had 278 at-bats at second against Miles’ 223. But they played the same amount games at the position.
I bring that up because … When looking at what Schumaker did against the field of infielders the Cardinals have employed at second in recent years, it may be best to break out the regular starter and see how the offensive production compares against the defensive ranking. Kennedy, for example, was a +18 at second base in 2008, but hit just .270/.310/.324. Miles, meanwhile, was a +1 with a .341/.377/.439 slash line. The choice is clear. Give a little defense to get a little offense.
Schumaker certainly follows that theory, though not as well as several of his predecessors. All batting stats are from that players’ production at second, not overall in the season:
2009, Schumaker … .307/.371/.400 … minus-14
2008, Miles … .341/.377/.439 … plus-1
2007, Kennedy … .226/.291/.300 … minus-1
2006, Miles … .262/.330/.343 … Even
2005, Grudzielanek … .292/.333/.406 … plus-20
2004, Womack … .310/.353/.386 … plus-16
Improving his defense — as he did, as he plans to do, as he’ll have to do — will also enhance Schumaker’s balance between glove and bat. He could be the best blend at the position of the past six seasons. He will certainly bring consistency to a position that has seen everything but that for the Cardinals in the past seven seasons.
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THE POST-DISPATCH’s POSITION BY POSITION SEASON RECAP
Starting last week and continuing through this week, The Post-Dispatch baseball writers are touring the Cardinals’ roster to recap the 2009 season and take a look at what to expect in 2010. The above entry is a companion online element for the Second Base. Other articles in the series (schedule subject to change):
- First Base — Oct. 16, “Pujols’ Comments Surprise Cardinals”
- Second Base — Yesterday, “Schumaker Settled In at Second”
- Shortstop — Today, “Given Chance Ryan Didn’t Come Up Short”
- Third Base — Tuesday
- Catcher — Wednesday
- Starting Rotation — Thursday
- Bullpen — Friday
- Outfield — Sunday
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
Funny, did anyone notice when Kennedy was here originally 1999, the Cards never really came close to making the post-season that year. He leaves in 2000 right before the season starts (March) and they promptly make the playoffs 6 of the next 7 seasons. He returns for two years (07-08) and and they don’t make the post-season in either year, and then he leaves again before this season and they win their division again! Coincidence? hhmmm!
I’m busy working on the player ratings for DYNASTY League Baseball and use a combination of John Dewan’s plus/minus, Range Factor, Zone ratings and scouting reports to determine a players Range rating (since there is no one perfect stat for Range).
Skip’s Range rating comes in as a C+ on the DYNASTY League Baseball historical Range Factor scale. From reading Sunday’s article, that seems to jive with Skip’s second half performance plus/minus rating.
Assigning Skip a D rating seems too extreme based on plus/minus. Perhaps a C Derrick?
Schumacher’s Error rating at 2b is 70 on a 5-100 scale which is pretty good considering the lack of experience at that position.
The middle infield of the Cards has been a frustrating sore spot for awhile with me, other than this years “pujols bat 4th”. The middle seems to have been a revolving door lately, it would be nice to see the same two players there on a daily basis. But next year doesn’t hold alot of hope either due to the possible DeRosa, Lugo, Ryan, and Skip 4 headed monster we’ll see next year and another possible peek at T. Greene too. Which means another year of hearing about match ups and giving players rest and giving them a chance to succeed and how someone was 4 for 9 against that pitcher even though Skip went 5 for 5 the night before and is batting .320 and needs days off to stay fresh. Yup I’ve been to this rodeo .
C seems not only fair, it seems accurate. There is an argument to be made that a C-minus more appropriate because you cannot ignore the first half of the season. Here’s betting he ends next season better than C+. He’ll be moving into that B category …
And, by “C” I mean average, not what “C” has come to mean …
Skip must be doing well, since there didn’t seem to be a bad defensive liability for him at 2nd base past Spring Training. Jarrett Hoffpauir barely had a shot to unseat him and now add Daniel Descalso to that list.
Jarrett Hoffpauir 2009 Memphis stats: .291BA, .357OBP, 486SLG. 35BB/28Ks. 39XBH, 14 were HRs.
Skip Schumaker 2009 St. Louis stats: .303BA, .364OBP, .393SLG. 54BB/69Ks. 39XBH, 4 were HRs.
Seems like unless Hoffpauir’s defense is worse than Skip’s, he deserves a legit shot in Spring 2010.
Right. “C” would be average Derrick. There is no C- on the DYNASTY League Baseball Range scale so it would be either D, C or C+.
Interesting stuff about Skip’s off season work out regimen and I also remember Jimmy Edmonds going through that same work out.