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