This morning I noticed a Twitter thread between Lola The DH Rule Isnt Real Baseball (@lawbibliophile) and Real Housewives of Chavez Ravine (@RHOCRPod). The debate was whether or not Joc Pederson was better or worse than Chris Taylor at the plate. I decided to dive into the numbers and see for myself. The results surprised me.
Also, did you hear the one about Frank McCourt and the sky gondola to Blue Heaven? Finally, an update on our favorite redheaded third baseman, Justin Turner. We’ll discuss it all in this new LADR Youtube video. Enjoy!
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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Good stuff about comparisons of Joc and Taylor and I couldn’t help but notice your left sleeve. Obviously, you like the Dodgers but apparently you like the Stones.Both got me thru puberty and now my Golden Years. Where does someone find that patch. Is it available on a t-shirt? I appreciate your emotion about the Dodgers as I can be too. I read the blog daily and have many short nights as I live in NW Indiana and the games usually start after 9:00 here.
Hey Dan, sorry for the late reply. Thanks for watching the vids and commenting here.
Yup, I love the Stones. They’re my all-time favorite band. About the patch, I got that years ago at the county fair from one of those vendors that sold rock t-shirts and that sort of stuff. They had patches and I was lucky enough to find that one.
The Stones baseball tongue was the logo they used for a tour about ten years ago when they toured only baseball stadiums. It was on tshirts. I recommend searching ebay. Someone might be making those still.
Oscar
Give me a break please————————–!!!!!!!!!
Oscar
This is a bad comparison, because Joc doesn’t have as many at bats as Taylor this year, and Joc is not hitting at the top of the order.
Also, this is Joc’s fourth year in the majors, and because of this, he actually has more major league at bats then Taylor, so one would expect more from Joc, then Taylor.
At least Taylor did hit consistently last year, because Joc hasn’t hit consistently after three years, in the majors.
Joc is better at getting walks, but I don’t know if Joc would pick up walks so easy, hitting first, after a while.
Because there are not to many pitchers, that want to walk a hitter, that is hitting just above the Mendoza line, like Joc is.
But it is still early, and if Taylor doesn’t start getting on base better, he should probably be moved down in the order, but I don’t think Joc is the answer, if he continues to hit, just above the Mendoza line.
Taylor has demonstrated a little more power then Joc has this year, but Taylor has had more at bats.
And remember Oscar, Taylor gets five at bats a game, most of the time, so while he is struggling, that extra at bat a night, really makes a lead off hitter’s numbers go down very quickly, then all the other hitters, in the line up.
What would Joc’s numbers look like, if he hit in the lead off position all season long, and he was getting five at bats, a game?
And remember Joc is a platoon hitter, unlike Taylor, who demonstrated he could hit both lefties, and righties, last year.
MJ..You have lots of good points, but I’ll say this. I wasn’t comparing career numbers or last season. I was only talking about this season’s at bats, and only using stats that were important to my comparison.
For example, walks are not relevant. It wasn’t about who can walk, but hitting with RISP is very important. Joc was heating up in the week prior to my video, and as we saw over the weekend, he really turned up the heat and underlined what I was saying about his performance with RISP.
That changed my thinking about him as a washed up batter, and showed me he was better (more productive) at the plate than Taylor.
Package, Not sure what you’re referring to here,…but I’m always happy to give our readers a break. Like Diamond Dave once sang, “One break…coming up!!!”