We took a moment in our busy schedule to take in a ball game last night and were reminded that though St. Louis may be considered baseball’s “best” town, that doesn’t really mean we know the most about baseball.
Imagine our fortune that we landed on the very game that Aaron Miles makes it back to the Cardinals, fresh from double-A Springfield. Pushing down poor Allen Craig who got to smell the sweet air of the Show just long enough to wonder if it was all just a dream. Sorry Allen. You have upside and we are all just about the imagined greatness of yet another little scrappy white guy in St. Louis. You’re best bet? Hack 6 inches off yourself, strike out a ton, and play horrible defense…oh, but run really hard when you do get a walk 4 times a year. We love that.
Yes, he bit a guy that tried to take him hostage while in the minors. Yup, I’m sure he’s a very nice guy. Straight up though: He’s horrible, and lame on his best day. Please stop cheering him, we all look like assholes when you do that.
Here’s why: Though we can admit his career batting average of .282 in 7+ seasons of major league experience and some 2500 at-bats isn’t horrible, it all goes down from there. He only walks a mere 5.4% of the time making his career on base percentage a crappy .322 (when starting with a .288 average). It gets worse when looking at his horrible defense, and those the metrics are murky for that kind of stuff, even the most die-hard Miles fans can recall more than a few botched plays (though they won’t admit it)…plus all those plays he didn’t even come close enough to screw up.
Still not enough to make you realize he’s wasting a bench spot? How’s about this stat: If you compare Miles’ career to that of the average player, or what is called the “replacement” player…as in any old dude you can call up, Miles ends up costing us 7.4 runs. That’s right. Grab any old guy in the majors and put him up there, and he’ll do 7.4 runs better over a season than spunky little Miles. So at best…best! He’s basically a random baseball player…but a little worse. At least Allen Craig as upside.
This is like Royals fans going apeshit over Willie Bloomquist coming to bat. Who? Exactly.
[Editor's Note: Love love love that for some reason it appears the Royals chose to have a picture of Bloomquist dropping the ball on his player page.]
Stats via Fangraphs
