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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Is Jeff Francoeur the new Shea Hillenbrand?
Craig Burley asked via twitter the last time someone with no strengths to his game was allowed to play more often than Jeff Francoeur. I won’t bore you with all the math, but the name I came up with is Shea Hillenbrand. Shea had no patience at the plate, no power, slightly below average in contact, no speed, and no fielding ability.
Frenchy currently has 3325 PA. Shea retired with 3816 PA. Frenchy is only 491 PA from matching Shea.
If I compare French’s career through yesterday, to Shea’s career through July 31, 2006, we get this, with Frenchy on the left, and Shea on the right:
3091, 3108: AB
838, 840: R+RBI
170, 175: BB + HBP (excluding IBB)
179, 201: 2B+3B
99, 95: HR
22, 16: SB
The big difference between the two:
549, 602: singles
586, 399: strikeouts
And fielding-wise, Frenchy is better, which cancels out Shea’s advantage with singles.
Anyway, so the question is on the table: who was the last player who had as limited a game as Shea, but allowed to play more than he has? And will Frenchy continue on his path to exceed them?