Doing the Splits: Can You Name These Cubs Players Based on Performance vs. LHP and RHP?
There’s nothing I love more than seeing an opposing manager make a move to the ‘pen based on the book, only to see it backfire. But if I had to choose something else I enjoy, it’s the thousands of armchair managers who claim they could do a better job than [insert skipper’s name here] when it comes to personnel decisions. It’s been pretty hard to second-guess Joe Maddon this season, particularly of late, but I wanted to give my readers the chance to see if they know their team well enough to take Maddon’s job.
Below are a series of different splits for some Cubs regulars. See if you can guess which players the numbers represent without looking at the answers at the bottom.
A)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 12.1% | 13.6% | .89 | .342 | .464 | .550 | 1.014 | .207 | .371 | 30 | 14.1 | .438 | 184 |
vs R | 11.3% | 13.2% | .85 | .279 | .385 | .541 | .926 | .262 | .276 | 64 | 23.3 | .392 | 152 |
B)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 13.2% | 34.0% | .39 | .239 | .340 | .435 | .774 | .196 | .346 | 14 | 2.4 | .340 | 117 |
vs R | 13.2% | 29.8% | .44 | .259 | .368 | .451 | .819 | .192 | .353 | 52 | 13.1 | .358 | 129 |
C)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 10.8% | 24.3% | .44 | .233 | .351 | .433 | .785 | .200 | .250 | 5 | 1 | .344 | 120 |
vs R | 13.3% | 25.4% | .52 | .223 | .329 | .379 | .708 | .155 | .270 | 26 | -0.2 | .310 | 96 |
D)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 14.8% | 30.9% | .48 | .239 | .358 | .284 | .642 | .045 | .372 | 8 | -1.4 | .289 | 81 |
vs R | 5.1% | 29.8% | .17 | .278 | .320 | .416 | .736 | .137 | .385 | 32 | 1.5 | .318 | 101 |
E)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 4.6% | 17.2% | .27 | .229 | .264 | .277 | .541 | .048 | .279 | 5 | -4.8 | .241 | 49 |
vs R | 3.9% | 16.3% | .24 | .239 | .273 | .309 | .582 | .070 | .273 | 23 | -17.1 | .251 | 56 |
F)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 11.1% | 22.2% | .5 | .100 | .229 | .133 | .362 | .033 | .136 | 0 | -3.6 | .185 | 10 |
vs R | 10.7% | 17.0% | .63 | .261 | .342 | .455 | .797 | .194 | .284 | 45 | 8.2 | .342 | 118 |
G)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 8.1% | 23.3% | .35 | .167 | .244 | .282 | .526 | .115 | .224 | 4 | -5 | .237 | 46 |
vs R | 7.3% | 28.8% | .25 | .262 | .321 | .392 | .712 | .129 | .356 | 32 | 0.6 | .313 | 98 |
H)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 8.6% | 40.0% | .21 | .250 | .314 | .469 | .783 | .219 | .375 | 5 | .8 | .340 | 116 |
vs R | 12.6% | 22.1% | .57 | .338 | .432 | .625 | 1.057 | .288 | .389 | 21 | 10.1 | .445 | 189 |
I)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 9.1% | 24.2% | .38 | .233 | .303 | .317 | .620 | .083 | .318 | 5 | -2.1 | .272 | 70 |
vs R | 2.6% | 22.6% | .12 | .287 | .310 | .380 | .689 | .093 | .358 | 12 | -0.9 | .301 | 90 |
J)
Handedness | BB% | K% | BB/K | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | ISO | BABIP | wRC | wRAA | wOBA | wRC+ |
vs L | 11.5% | 19.5% | .59 | .306 | .384 | .418 | .802 | .112 | .373 | 16 | 3.6 | .351 | 124 |
vs R | 12.6% | 22.1% | .57 | .227 | .329 | .397 | .726 | .170 | .274 | 46 | 3 | .321 | 103 |
Alright, that’s 10 sets of stats. Got a pretty good idea of who some of these guys are? I was trying to figure out a way to flip the text or rotate it so that it was backwards, but all the options ended up looking pretty shoddy. So I went old-school invisible-ink style and made the answer text white. The line immediately below this contains the key, so just highlight it to check your guesses or to save yourself much thought. If it’s too much of a chore, I can put it in the comments section later.
A) Rizzo; B) Bryant; C) Montero; D) Soler; E) Castro; F) Coghlan; G) Russell; H) Schwarber; I) Denorfia; J) Fowler