Chris Johnson - NL Batting Leader

[GovClintonTyree]

Who is saying that he is a "huge negative" out there? I've repeatedly said that he's more than made up for what he lacks on defense with his bat thus far. Though I've also pointed out that Simmons deserves credit too. A contending team that lacks Simmons cannot afford to start CJ everyday like we have, IMO. This is also why we cannot afford to lose Simmons to injury (and need him starting pretty much everyday a la Uggla). Of course having a bad defender in Uggla at second is part of it too. Uggla has the worst DRS on the team, IIRC.

Zito is.

But now the arguments are getting very circular. To return to the original premise, it's getting late and he's hitting .346 and his closest competitors are at .330. He shows no sign of letting off. He could win a batting title, The Throw In could.

 

[Tapate50]

I know more about Chris Johnson than anyone who's arguing with me. I was one of the people in the positive of taking him in. I assumed he'd hit around the same level as Prado would for us but we'd be at a net loss because of defense. Now Prado is sucking and Johnson is raking but if they were playing how they were expected that statement I made would still be true.

Where is that smiley with the air jerk off icon we asked Sav for? I need it.

 

[Dunit24]

Chris Johnson hit .280 last season and I remember him being a good prospect coming up in the Astros organization. I forget who said it but CJ used to try to be a power hitter and now he is just trying to hit the ball to all fields and we all see how good of a season he is having. Thats why im convinced hes legit. He probably wont hit .340 next season or ever again, but I think he can be a .300 average hitter here on out bc he has adjusted and has a good idea about the strike zone. Smart player.

 

[stpeteirish]

Chris Johnson hit .280 last season and I remember him being a good prospect coming up in the Astros organization. I forget who said it but CJ used to try to be a power hitter and now he is just trying to hit the ball to all fields and we all see how good of a season he is having. Thats why im convinced hes legit. He probably wont hit .340 next season or ever again, but I think he can be a .300 average hitter here on out bc he has adjusted and has a good idea about the strike zone. Smart player.

they said that last night on ESPN, just trying to hit the ball. Exactly what this lineup needs.

 

[Russ2dollas]

ppl talk about his walk rate....but I don't see him swinging at a bunch of bad balls.

Maybe someone will have all the swing and miss rates to look at CJ. But I think his approach doesn't scare ppl. He's not a power threat so people are more aggressive with him. Contrast to Uggla, who despite not being as a good of a hitter gets walks as ppl still fear his power.

What I'm saying is that I don't think his walk rates are the result of a flawed approach or eye. I do think the two hits he had last night could easily be outs next year, but I don't think he goes from 340 to 275.

If he continues to work on this approach, he might be able to turn some of these singles in doubles....he seems to have solid strength and bat speed. If that is the case he could drop into the 290-300 range and have a similar value.

 

[Heyward]

Probelm is what happens when Simmons goes down? Also if he's costing us 5-10 runs with Simmons, what would he do if SImmons went down? Would Simmons be a better defensive SS if he had an average 3B next to him? What about if we made the move for a good defensive 3B? All viable questions that have to be weighed when it comes down to making a choice for our roster next year. Keeping Johnson likely means we lose a pitcher or potentially means we cannot keep McCann. IF my choice is signing Mac or having Johnson and say Venters, I would choose the first one all the time every time

We can keep Johnson and Mac.

With the TV revenues, and money off the books, it's not a big deal.

Said it before on Mac, all depends how much of a discount he'd take to stay.

 

[Heyward]

I'm still not seeing it where Johnson is an awful defender.

Obviously he won't hit this well next year but I see no reason why he can't hit around .280 or so next year. As the the said, trading Uggla is more needed. Johnson is one of our better contact hitters. Adding a young contact hitter like LaStella to the lineup would be great.

Just not sure who takes him.

And who replaces him that is better?

 

[gilesfan]

ppl talk about his walk rate....but I don't see him swinging at a bunch of bad balls.

Maybe someone will have all the swing and miss rates to look at CJ. But I think his approach doesn't scare ppl. He's not a power threat so people are more aggressive with him. Contrast to Uggla, who despite not being as a good of a hitter gets walks as ppl still fear his power.

What I'm saying is that I don't think his walk rates are the result of a flawed approach or eye. I do think the two hits he had last night could easily be outs next year, but I don't think he goes from 340 to 275.

If he continues to work on this approach, he might be able to turn some of these singles in doubles....he seems to have solid strength and bat speed. If that is the case he could drop into the 290-300 range and have a similar value.

His outside the zone swing rate is the highest of all the starters (37.7%)

 

[zbhargrove]

But if he's hitting those balls for basehits, its hard to say he's swinging at bad balls. He's just exploiting the pitcher... the pitcher thinks he's getting away with a good pitch but CJ thrives on some pitches outside the zone. He rarely swings at bad balls... not balls outside the strike zone... bad balls.

 

[gilesfan]

But if he's hitting those balls for basehits, its hard to say he's swinging at bad balls. He's just exploiting the pitcher... the pitcher thinks he's getting away with a good pitch but CJ thrives on some pitches outside the zone. He rarely swings at bad balls... not balls outside the strike zone... bad balls.

Then why is his contact% so low? (76%) Lower than all the other hitters at the top in average.

 

[Orphan Black]

Why are people trying to come up with numbers to show that Johnson has been bad...the only number that matters is .346.

Obviously the guy isn't going to hit that for the rest of his career, but let's enjoy it while we can.

 

[gilesfan]

There are no numbers that would show that he's been bad. But, some of the excuses that are made (different than; hey he's just been lucky) are clearly wrong.

 

[jpx7]

Obviously the guy isn't going to hit that for the rest of his career, but let's enjoy it while we can.

This is basically where I find myself currently:

Dr. BAbiplove (Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Chris Johnson's 2013 Season).

 

[zbhargrove]

Then why is his contact% so low? (76%) Lower than all the other hitters at the top in average.

I definitely cannot give you a great answer for that, I'm just basing my reasoning off the eyeball test. I cannot back my claims up statistically, I've just watched him all year... closely the last 2 months or so... It just seems that he doesn't go after many terrible balls.

 

[nsacpi]

A nice little interview with the "BABIP Brave"

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/five-minutes-with-chris-johnson-babip-brave/

 

[sentenza]

another great stat from CJ:

His batting average on balls in play is .419. That's not off the charts, that's impossible. Only four players since 1950 have hit .400 on balls in play according to Baseball-Reference, with Rod Carew's .408 in 1977 the "record."