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Blog*Spot ArchivesContactRichard Ceccarelli Josh Mandir |
Saturday, August 07, 2004Doing the splitsI may be the last person in all of blogdom to realize it, but Larry Walker's home/road splits this season are exactly the opposite of what one might expect from a man who plies his trade in the Mile High City:
Granted, it's a small sample size (just 38 games), but it is surprising nonetheless. I'm sure that's one thing the Cardinals looked at when they made this move. Of course it's highly unlikely he will stay anywhere near these numbers, but even if Walker regresses to his normal road numbers (about .280/.390/.490) the Cards have still got themselves a damn fine ballplayer. I’d say that’s the most conservative estimate on how Walker will fare out of Coors. Ask the Rockies’ pitchers- they’ll tell you the problem with Coors Field isn’t so much the fact that the ball jumps off the bat, it’s that all their breaking stuff is dead. And once they do figure out how to make the ball dance at elevation, they head out on the road and have to start all over from scratch. I’m sure it’s much the same for the hitters. You get used to facing guys with no movement to speak of at home, then you go on a road trip and all of a sudden everything looks like a Barry Zito curveball. It takes time to adjust, and by the time you do you're back on the plane heading for Denver. Once Walker starts getting a good gauge on non-Colorado breaking pitches (he looks like he’s already there) he’ll probably get in a groove and stay there. Now there's no trips to Colorado to take him out of it. |
