Centerfield Stat Analysis (Part 3) - Gomez wins job

La Velle E Neal III is reporting that the Carlos Gomez has won the starting centerfield job so this short series of comparing meaningless Spring Training stats will now come to an end. Did the Minnesota Twins make the right decision though? It's tough to say and in my mind the starting centerfield job could really have gone either way to Span or Gomez. Perhaps the Twins giving it to Gomez signals a little more that this is primarily a rebuilding year. There is no doubt that Gomez is the centerfielder of the future and has the makings of a real special player but if the Twins were simply looking for the best leadoff hitter right now I think Span would have to be declared the winner. Looking one more time at the stats, Span's on base percentage has remained steady even climbing a few points to 404 which is 100 points better then Gomez who did manage to get his on base percentage up to 300. Span showed modest improvements in his slugging and batting average as well and even took another couple walks which is usually a good thing for a leadoff hitter. Gomez has kept improving in all of his stats as well though and really has caught up to Span in batting average and continues to really outperform him in slugging. His downfall really has been his lack of walks and higher number of strikeouts. Maybe he makes up for that though with his blazing speed (10 stolen bases this spring) and his extra base power. In a game I was following the box score last week, Span got a hit or a walk to lead off the game (can't remember which one), then Gomez hit into a fielders choice. He stole second and third however and appeared to be brought home by a sac fly. A quick glance shows that Span had a better at bat, yet Gomez really manufactured that run mostly on his own. I think that kind of excitement that game changing potential that helped him beat out Span. For whatever reason we'll soon find out if it was the right decision as the season is set to begin. Play ball!

Centerfield Stat Analysis (Part 2)

Our three starting centerfield candidates all have had another ten plus at bats and the difference in these numbers from the ones in my last post just goes to show how meaningless stats are at this time of the year. That being said I still continue to look at them in an attempt to understand who is winning the battle and will be wearing a Minnesota Twins' uniform in centerfield on opening day. Let's run through our three candidates and see which direction their numbers are moving.

Denard Span -- His numbers are slightly lower then my last analysis but overall he's remained very consistent as he still is hitting 276 with an on base percentage of 400. That on base percentage would look pretty good in the lead off spot if he can keep it up all year.

Jason Pridie -- His numbers have actually slightly improved though like Span he is staying fairly consistent. His batting average has dropped a few points to 297 but his on base percentage and slugging are both up a bit. He did finally get an extra base hit but still has a very empty batting average. The biggest problem I see is that he has stuck out 7 times to only on walk. Yikes!

Carlos Gomez -- Here is where we see the biggest improvement as Gomez raised his batting average almost 100 points to 263 as well as his on base percentage to 286. Not great numbers by any means but considering where those numbers were a few days ago, that's a huge step in the right direction. His slugging went up even more drastically from 292 to 500 as continues to make his hit's count in big ways. In that sense he's the exact opposite of Jason Pridie. Gomez has been exciting once he's gotten on base as well as he stole 3 more bases in the last few days doubling his total.

I got to watch these guys play on TV this weekend and I'm definitely pulling for Gomez. Span still continues to look consistent and is probably better suited for the lead off spot but Gomez is going to be a pretty exciting player and should continue to improve. That is probably the most valuable thing from looking at these meaningless statistics again. None of these players are putting up jaw dropping stats but one of them looks like he could. And who knows, in another week maybe he will.

Looking at the Twins Centerfield Candidates' Stats

It’s still Spring Training so we can’t really put much stock in player stats but since I have no way to watch most of the games I find myself keeping a close eye on the stats being put up by the Minnesota Twins' three centerfield candidates. As of Wednesday morning a few things are standing out to me so I figured I’d share them.

The first thing I noticed was that Carlos Gomez leads the team in at bats with 24 (not surprisingly) and yet he only has a 167 batting average. Compare that with Jason Pridie who is hitting 304 so far and Denard Span who is hitting 278 and Gomez appears to be less than impressive. This got me a little more excited about Pridie though and my initial reaction was to think that he probably has the best chance to win the centerfield job. Looking closer at his numbers though reveal that his batting average is extremely empty as he has no extra base hits and no walks to go along with four strike outs. Then I looked at Denard Span’s stats and found that he is currently the doing the best of the three and it isn’t even close. Spans 278 average is nothing special but he has backed it up with a couple of doubles, four walks and no strike outs giving him a 435 on base percentage which is head and shoulders better then the other two. Of course it’s early but the winner after the first couple weeks based on the stats alone is clearly Span. Of course stats this time of the year mean next to nothing but it’s still surprising to me to see Span leading the charge.