A’s Phegley pledges to find patience
It’s a habit. A’s acquire a hitter, I fast forward to his on-base percentage. It’s usually sky high. Or at least it was at some point in his career. It often explains why he was targeted by Oakland. The man might not hit for average, but he sure can work a count and draw a walk.
Or be brave enough to stick a body part into a pitch.
Billy Butler once had a .388 OBP. Ben Zobrist’s was .405 once, and it’s .354 for his career, 90 points higher than his batting average. Marcus Semien’s was .380 last year in Triple-A, 113 points higher than his average.
Collecting high OBP hitters is routine for the A’s, who realize the value of a-walk’s-as-good-as-a-hit philosophy. Then they got Josh Phegley from the White Sox in the Jeff Samardzija trade. Once I saw the catcher’s numbers, I started humming that “Sesame Street” song: “One of these things is not like the others.”
Phegley doesn’t wait for a walk. He hacks. As a September call-up, he had 38 plate appearances and actually had a higher batting average (.216) than OBP (.211), and that’s not easy. Zero walks and one sacrifice fly, which counts against an OBP but not an average.
He laughed when I asked if he’s in for an OBP overhaul now that he’s with the A’s.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “I’m just a really aggressive swinger. That’s one thing I’m trying to improve on, being a little more selective. I just have a lot of confidence in my hitting ability. I tend to get a little overconfident, swing at pitches that aren’t ideal.”
Phegley had a bigger sample size with Chicago in 2013, collecting 213 plate appearances and walking five times.
Have the A’s brought up the subject of plate discipline?
“No. I’m sure they will,” Phegley said. “This is what I need. To turn the corner with an organization that really hammers OBP and being patient. It’s exactly what I need.”
Phegley has pop, hits lefties well and is a solid catcher with a strong, accurate arm. He has thrown out 29 percent of attempted base stealers in the majors, 46 percent in the minors, a big improvement over the man he’s expected to replace in a platoon role, Derek Norris, who was at 17 percent last season.
“We got Josh because of his overall profile,” assistant general manager David Forst said. “It’s not one stat we’re focused on.”
OBP remains a popular stat among A’s execs, including one who has the distinction as the only A’s position player since 1901 to play at least 20 games in a season and post a higher average than OBP.
It happened in 1989. Courtesy of Billy Beane.
Giants, too
On-base percentage was a heavy consideration by the Giants in the offseason once they realized they weren’t acquiring power hitters. Their two main pickups, Casey McGehee and Nori Aoki, posted .357 and .349 OBPs, respectively, in 2014. They don’t have the pop of their predecessors, but they reached base more frequently than Pablo Sandoval (.324) and Michael Morse (.336).
Shields fallout
The Giants had interest in James Shields, but it came at a time his asking price was much higher than what he received from the Padres, $75 million over four years. Early in the offseason, that was more doable for the Giants, who wouldn’t give Shields a ninefigure deal and didn’t rank him anywhere near Jon Lester, whom they offered $150 million over six years.
The Giants moved away from Shields and re-signed Jake Peavy. Then Ryan Vogelsong. With Yusmeiro Petit a swingman, that’s seven possible starters. By the time Shields’ price came down, there was little space in the Giants’ payroll.
It was similar to the Carlos Beltran story. The Giants looked into re-signing the outfielder after the 2011 season but initially considered his price too high and dealt for Angel Pagan. Turns out, Beltran signed with St. Louis in late December for two years and $26 million, which could have been doable for the Giants a few weeks earlier.
Around the majors
One reason the Giants sought the comfort of a new 90-seat, all-first-class Boeing 757: They’ll fly 38,228 miles this season, third most in the majors behind the Mariners (43,281) and A’s (40,867). Life is simpler in the Central divisions, where travel is cut in half. The Reds are flying 20,612 miles. ... Scott Cousins was inducted into the USF Hall of Fame and got a warm reception at the ceremony a night before he was honored at halftime of the Gonzaga-USF basketball game. Cousins, who ended Buster Posey’s 2011 season with a vicious collision at the plate, igniting baseball’s no-contact rule, continues his comeback bid as a pitcher in the Rangers’ system. ... The more teams forfeited draft picks by signing big-name free agents, the higher the Giants and A’s rose on the draft board. The Shields signing was the last one to affect the draft. The Giants pick 18th, the A’s 20th. As compensation for losing Sandoval, the Giants also pick 31st. ... Congrats to Jeremy Affeldt, who received an honorary degree from Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., which partners with the Giants’ reliever and his charity, Generation Alive.