The Very Definition

At least we know that he owns a glove...

By now we're all aware that Travis Hafner set the Kauffman Stadium record for the longest home run by bashing a 481 foot shot into Rivals Sports Bar in deep right field.  I'm not ready to predict a return to Pronkville, but the numbers that Hafner has put up this season are certainly a pleasant surprise.  And he had best be doing it with the bat because he certainly has no ability to play in the field anymore.  Wait, let's think about that.  Travis never did.  The last season, the only season, in which Pronk played in more than 11 games at first base was 2003.  It was his first year with the team and he basically split his time between first and DH, seeing 42 games in the field.  Over the course of his 11 year MLB career, Hafner has played exactly 72 of his 1041 games in the field.  That is 6.9% of his games played.  In fact, the only other player with more than 162 games of Major League experience that played fewer than 7% of his games in the field was Sam "Matter" Horn.  Sammy saw action at first base in 12 of 389 MLB appearances or 3.1%.  Now we all recall Horn (mostly from his mashing circa September 1993, during which he posted a 1.321 OPS for the Tribe), but few would consider him to be an everyday player like Hafner.  Horn played 121 games with O's in 1991, his only season of 100+.  Following Horn on the list are Allan Lewis and Herb Washington, two of Charlie Finley's "designated pinch runners" from the 1970's (don't know 'em, I'll tell you next time).  The only other notable player under 15% in the field is David Ortiz.  Big Papi checks in at 14.3% in the field, more than double Hafner's.  Keep crushing those long balls Pronk, because you are the very definition of a guy who cannot play the field.

Back to Josh Tomlin.  The other day, I mentioned that Josh's biggest problem this season was missing over the good part of the plate on what would be considered pitcher's counts.  Now, his OBA is .351 this season versus .248 in 2011.  While most of his splits are up over last year and the sample size is small, there are two specific example that strongly support my contention: average with the pitcher ahead and average with two strikes.  In the first instance, Tomlin allowed just a .177 average in 2011.  This season that number is up to .267.  In the latter circumstance, a situation in which the pitcher should be absolutely dominant, the OBA has skyrocketed from .163 to an even .300.  Even though he was able to fan 7 in his start, he is simply giving the batters far too many fat pitches when he should be making them hit his pitch.  I am a huge Josh Tomlin fan, but unless he can correct that flaw, his Major League career will soon be over.

Lastly, here's a quick update on Johnny Damon.  Today, JD will be in Goodyear to finish his physical.  Assuming all goes well, the Indians will announce his officially official signing tomorrow.  After that Damon will spend a couple of days loosening up, before taking part in what will likely be about a week or ten days of extended Spring Training.  What that means is that he will playing simulated games in which he can get in work in specific circumstances like leading off an inning or moving a runner over.  As soon as Johnny and the brain trust feel that he has his timing back to zero, he will join the Clippers for somewhere in the range of two weeks.  These time frames are, of course, approximate.  The actual decision will be made by evaluating Damon's performance on the field.  Still, the expectation is that he will join the Tribe sometime in early May.  I'm not quite sure where he's going to play, but it can't hurt.

Cheers.