Mike Morse is a run-producer (really!)
Posted by Andy on June 18, 2011
Mike Morse has played in the big leagues every year since 2005. Granted, he's never appeared in 100 games in any one season.
That's likely to change, though, based on how he's swinging the bat in 2011. Before today's performance (2 RBI coming on a homer) he's already got 40 RBI in his first 61 games and a 147 OPS+.
In fact, for players who have debut since 2005, here are the top guys (ranked by plate appearances) with an RBI total at least 14% of their plate appearance total. Another way to look at it is that these are the guys to have averaged 1 RBI per 7 plate appearances:
| Rk | Player | PA | RBI | G | Pos | Tm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prince Fielder | 3822 | 596 | 907 | .281 | .387 | .541 | .928 | *3/D | MIL |
| 2 | Brian McCann | 3198 | 504 | 817 | .290 | .360 | .489 | .849 | *2/D | ATL |
| 3 | Ryan Braun | 2850 | 471 | 650 | .307 | .367 | .555 | .922 | *75/D | MIL |
| 4 | Matt Kemp | 2768 | 388 | 697 | .290 | .344 | .488 | .833 | *89/7D | LAD |
| 5 | Troy Tulowitzki | 2661 | 384 | 622 | .288 | .360 | .496 | .856 | *6 | COL |
| 6 | Mark Reynolds | 2546 | 381 | 629 | .239 | .333 | .478 | .811 | *5/349 | ARI-BAL |
| 7 | Carlos Quentin | 2235 | 353 | 566 | .253 | .350 | .496 | .846 | 97/D | ARI-CHW |
| 8 | Adam Lind | 2186 | 324 | 541 | .277 | .328 | .488 | .815 | D7/3 | TOR |
| 9 | Joey Votto | 2185 | 341 | 526 | .316 | .408 | .551 | .959 | *3/7 | CIN |
| 10 | Josh Hamilton | 2129 | 358 | 502 | .311 | .370 | .542 | .912 | *87/9D | CIN-TEX |
| 11 | Mike Jacobs | 2117 | 310 | 556 | .253 | .313 | .475 | .787 | *3D | NYM-FLA-KCR |
| 12 | Evan Longoria | 2010 | 321 | 472 | .280 | .360 | .512 | .871 | *5/D6 | TBR |
| 13 | Nelson Cruz | 1787 | 273 | 465 | .267 | .329 | .501 | .831 | *9/7D8 | MIL-TEX |
| 14 | Ryan Garko | 1752 | 250 | 463 | .275 | .347 | .434 | .781 | *3/D79 | CLE-TOT-TEX |
| 15 | Casey McGehee | 1375 | 205 | 351 | .276 | .330 | .440 | .770 | *5/4D39 | CHC-MIL |
| 16 | Kendrys Morales | 1240 | 192 | 330 | .284 | .336 | .502 | .838 | *3/D9 | LAA |
| 17 | Mike Morse | 901 | 128 | 298 | .295 | .354 | .479 | .833 | /9367D5 | SEA-WSN |
There are a couple of other surprising names on there, but for the most part this is a list of the best young run-producers in the game. Morse is actually one of the oldest players on here, along with Hamilton, Cruz, Jacobs, and Garko.
It looks like Morse is a full-time player now, though, and deservedly so. He's another piece of a Nationals team that is looking like their best team since 2005.
June 18th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Another way to look at aptitude for run production is the ratio of RBIs to Hits. When Killebrew died, his RBI-producing ability was remarked upon. He is one of only 8 players since 1901 with 3000+ PA careers and having RBIs > 75% of Hits (at least 3 RBI per every 4 Hits).
As with the last above, there are some surprises among those 8 players. They are: Ruth, McGwire, Killebrew, Kingman, Greenberg, Cecil Fielder, Jay Buhner and Ryan Howard.
June 18th, 2011 at 4:44 pm
@1
Doug, very nice post. However, as with anything RBI-related it is situation dependant to some degree, although over a career that will tend to even out.
Andy, amazing catch! From reading boxscores and MLB articles day-to-day I would not have picked up Mike Morse's productivity.
The obvious rebuttal is that he may be a statistical outlier based on his fewest number of PA on the list.
I would love Morse and the Washington Nationals (former Expos) to be the "Little Engine that Could" and knock off the Phillies and Braves in the NL East!
June 18th, 2011 at 5:03 pm
@Doug(1): Yet again proving, that Dave Kingman's name will be on any meaningful list 🙂
June 18th, 2011 at 5:06 pm
Sorry for yet another post about an east-cost team, Neil.
June 18th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
@4
Andy, not at all. BRef is officially geographicaly neutral now, IMO. 🙂
Many of the readers hereare from the US East Coast and there are many interesting legitimate Red Sox/Yankees/ Phillies stories.
Living in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) with over 1/3 of Canada's population, I'm used to being on the receiving end of sports bias media barbs from the rest of the country.
June 18th, 2011 at 5:40 pm
The chances of Mike Morse being a National on August first are slightly less than a Milli Vanilli reunion tour.
He's parlaying a career three months into a pennant race here pretty quick.
June 18th, 2011 at 5:45 pm
@6
Chuck, what are you saying?
The Nats will be sellers by the mid-summer?
June 18th, 2011 at 5:52 pm
Is there anyone besides Mike Morse to be excited about on the Nats offense?
And a league-average rotation and 2.5 good relievers isn't going to beat the Phillies. I'd love to see it, too, but...
June 18th, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Meanwhile, here's the line for Ryan Langerhans with Seattle, since being dealt one-up for Morse in June 2009:
-- .200 BA, 88 OPS+, 20 RBI and 101 strikeouts in 260 AB.
But then, Langerhans was an OF who had never played up to big-league caliber in his first 1,100 PAs (87 OPS+); how could the Mariners have anticipated that he would not play up to MLB caliber for them?
June 18th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
And woah... his RBI % this season is 21.05%! And he leads the majors in RBI% since May 1, with a phat 25.64%. I've totally been checkin' this guy out since a few days ago when Pinto mentioned him on Baseball Musings.
Is Morse the new Jose Bautista?
June 18th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
@8, Voomo -- C'mon, the Nats lost 93 games last year, over 100 the two years before that. Can't we at least let them get to .500 before pooh-poohing their odds of winning the division?
BTW, other Nats having good years with the bat besides Morse:
-- OF Laynce Nix, 138 OPS+, .292 BA, 10 HRs in 173 PAs. Sure, he's a journeyman having a lucky year, most likely. But he's got a higher OPS+ than any Philly regular.
-- 2B Danny Espinosa, 112 OPS+, 12 HRs. Not much of an average so far, but he's 24 and he's got real power.
Also, Ryan Zimmerman is back in the lineup; I think he's pretty exciting.
Yeah, they have holes in the lineup. Most teams do, these days. Bottom line, they have a positive run differential; a 5-man rotation whose worst ERA is 4.25; and 3 outstanding relievers. Jordan Zimmermann has gone at least 6 IP on 3 runs or less for 8 straight starts, the longest Nats streak since 2006. Maybe they don't look like a division winner; but for once, they look like a ballclub.
June 18th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
Self-correction -- Jordan Zimmermann now has 9 straight starts of 6+ IP and no more than 3 runs, counting today. He's allowed 2 runs or less in 8 of those 9 games, with a combined 2.33 ERA in that stretch. In 87.2 IP this year, he's walked only 18 (3.5 K/BB) and allowed just 4 HRs.
June 18th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Mike Jacobs? Harrumph.
A poor man's Steve Balboni.
June 18th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
@11, Yep, those are good points.
And Morse homered again today and they won their 8th in a row.
So yeah, Go Nats.
Still think the Phils will win the Division, then get swept by Arizona in the first round with Ryan Howard going 0-13 with 9 strikeouts.
Yes I am making that prediction in June.
June 18th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Good Lord!Mark Reynolds and those strikeouts.I never thought I'd see the 200 k mark reached let alone exceeded by that much.
June 18th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
To say that this year's edition of the Nationals is "the best since 2005" is like saying that you own the best Edsel in the neighborhood. But there is little doubt that Mike Rizzo has this team on the rise!
June 18th, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Frank, admit it. The first car you laid out for was an Edsel. It's time to come clean. We're all family here.
June 19th, 2011 at 4:48 am
Morse and Nix have .350 and .349 BABIPs right now, so there may be some smoke and mirrors at play.
June 19th, 2011 at 9:37 am
@5 Neil L
"Living in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) with over 1/3 of Canada's population"
I know the GTA has a big population but I don't think its over a third of Canada's population, more like a sixth or seventh. You're looking at over 11 million in the GTA when its more like 5.5 million.
I know its a little nitpicky, just being a Canadian not in the GTA
June 19th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
Neil @#7
"The Nats will be sellers by the mid-summer?"
No, I'm saying the Nats are sellers today.
If the Yankees called tomorrow and offered Adam Warren and some A ball shortstop, Mike Morse will be wearing Yankee pinstripes on Tuesday.
June 19th, 2011 at 6:43 pm
@19
Skinnyboy401, not to argue in front of an American audience, but it depends how you define the GTA.
If you define it as Hamilton to Oshawa, then my fraction is accurate. If you define it as Etobicoke to Pickering, then you are right.
June 19th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
@20
Chuck, the baseball purist in me rebels at the thought that the Nationals would sell assets this early in the season.
After all isn't baseball a competitive game and not a business? I know, I know .....
So would the Nats management be selling "next year" to their fans or are they just the latest big-market farm team, like the Expos were in years before?
June 19th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
"So would the Nats management be selling "next year" to their fans "
No, they're selling 2014.
All they're doing now is trying to fill holes with chewing gum and duct tape.
Even if Strasburg comes back better than ever, even if Rendon and Harper are legit, they still have more holes than the Miami Heat.
Flipping Morse for two AAA guys who will be ready when the core guys are will only increase what Washington is doing.
Something else...Mike Morse is 29.
When the Nats' are ready to compete, he'll be past whatever prime he's in now.
Slow riser's mean fast fallers.
Strike while the iron is hot.
June 19th, 2011 at 9:40 pm
Since Morse's subpar rookie year, he has gone to the plate 647 times (the equivelant of one full season). His numbers over that time are .303/.357/.527 with 31 HR 107 RBI.
June 22nd, 2011 at 11:58 am
@21 Neil L
Even if you include Hamilton to Oshawa (being the GTHA), the population is still only 6.5 million, roughly a fifth of Canada's population, not more than a third.