Nothing against Benintendi, but the primary reason he is the centerpiece of today’s post is because his last name gives me an easy transition to talk about the Nintendo Classic. Those of you that follow the football side of things here at Razzball likely also know that the good guys that run this site are crazy enough to let me share my ideas with you there as well. I guess you could say that I go both ways. On second thought, I’d prefer you didn’t. Today’s rant is actually part two of a rant I began about seven weeks ago in a football post. Grey can correct me if I’m wrong, but I might be the first Razzball writer to start a post on the football site and finish it on the baseball. Yeah, I get it, whoop de doo. Regardless of what you think, I can appreciate my own creativity. After all, if you don’t enjoy your own brand…
When I last left you I was on the verge of making a pilgrimage to Nintendo’s HQ in Japan to leave a flaming bag of poop at the their front door. He called the shit poop! Then I realized the Nintendo of America in Redmond, Seattle might be a little closer. And if I ended up behind bars, I’d much rather it be in the United States. But since then a lot has changed. Between then and now I have managed to purchase twelve Nintendo Classics at retail price. That’s right, I said twelve. I’ll leave the when, where and how until a bit later in the post. In the meantime, I should probably talk a little about Benintendi. That is why most of you are here.
Andrew seemed like a long shot to make it to the majors in 2016. Given the plethora of offensive weapons the Red Sox already had in their lineup, and his limited time in the minors, the prospect of this prospect playing his home games in Boston appeared unlikely. But if you were one of the many that stashed him at the right time, his 34 game stint in Boston surely helped out your team. During those 34 games he had 118 plate appearances, finishing with a line of .295/.359/.476, which was good enough for a 120 wRC+. For those unfamiliar with wRC+, this means that Benintendi created 20 percent more runs than a league average hitter would have produced in the same number of plate appearances. While his 118 plate appearances are only 1/6th of a full seasons total, his numbers are still very encouraging.
Here at Razzball I am the resident points leagues guru. I’m not sure if guru is appropriate, but that’s the term I’m going with until told otherwise. Last year Benintendi Classic scored 67 points, giving him a .567 points per plate appearance average. While that’s not exactly eye popping, we need to remember that he was playing college ball in 2015.
Let’s take a closer look at Andrew’s 2016 numbers.
Strikeout Rate: 21.2%
While his strikeout rate did nearly double when making the jump from Double A (11.4%) to the Major Leagues, for many this is to be expected when you consider the jump in skill of the opposing pitchers. The league average for 2016 was about 21.1 percent, putting him right square at the average. Here are the 2016 strikeout rates of some established players that are not considered power hitters. Brandon Belt (22.6%), Dexter Fowler (22.5%), Chase Utley (20.4%), Jason Kipnis (21.2%), Danny Valencia (22.2%), Jackie Bradley Jr. (22.5%) and Carlos Correa (21.1%). I realize the last two are not really “established” players, but they are guys that will be drafted early in most fantasy drafts.
Walk Rate: 8.5%
Many have praised Benintendi’s plate discipline and ability to control the strike zone. This is very important for a hitter in the big leagues. That was me wearing my captain obvious cape and mask. His .367 average on balls in play (BABIP) puts him in among the best hitters in the game. Only DJ LeMaheiu (.388), Starling Marte (.380), J.D. Martinez (.378), Jonathan Villar (.373), Mike Trout (.371) and Freddie Freeman (.370) had a higher BABIP. Donning my captain obvious costume again, Benintendi’s numbers are based on 118 plate appearances while the rest of league had 600 or so. It’s often very difficult to compare smaller sample sizes, but it’s what we have to work with. The 2016 league average walk rate was 8.1 percent.
Benintendi doesn’t project to be a home run hitter. At least not a guy that will hit more than 20. He hit eight in 263 Double A plate appearances last year before joining the Red Sox. He proceeded to mash just two with the Sox. However, teammate Jackie Bradley Jr. wasn’t much a home run hitter either while in the Red Sox farm system and he managed to hit 26 jacks last season. I haven’t really dug deep enough into the comparison to determine if this is even a fair comparison, but I thought I’d throw it out there.
Fenway actually isn’t a great stadium for home run hitters. Based on the stats, it’s actually below average. Instead, it serves a ballpark that encourages doubles. Here’s some proof. While Benintendi only had two home runs, he did hit 11 doubles. Over the course of a full season he was on pace for about 48 doubles. David Ortiz lead the Major Leagues in doubles with 48 in 2016. Is it a coincidence that they are both Red Sox? Highly unlikely. According to MLB Park Factors, Fenway Park was the best stadium for hitting doubles with a score of 1.424 last season. For those not fluent in park factor speak, a value greater than one favors the hitter. Below one favors the pitcher. From 2003 to 2009 Fenway was the best place for hitters to rack up doubles. Every year since 2009 Fenway has been either number one or two. To say Fenway was a great place for doubles hitters would be an understatement. I say double up on Benintendi.
So how did I go from fvck you Nintendo, unable to get my hands on an NES Classic, to being able to purchase twelve of these bad boys at retail price? First I’d like to mention that I am writing this post from a beach chair outside of the Target in North Attleboro, MA. Right now it is 6:30am and while I am waiting for the Target to open at 8am so I can buy the one Nintendo Classic they are supposed to have, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and compose this post.
So how do I know that they are supposed to have one NES Classic? The answer is brickseek.com. Somehow, brickseek.com has access to Target’s inventory system. When the trucks pull up to Target at night they scan a sheet which tells them what is on the truck and when that happens, it goes into their inventory database. At this same time brickseek.com will show the quantities of Nintendo Classics (and every other item sold in the store) that each store will have when they open the next morning. What this means is that when they open, they should have that many for sale. In order to get one, you need to be waiting in line at the door when they open. The time you need to get there will vary from store to store and based on the quantity they are expected to have. Before Christmas I found that if you got there two hours before they opened that you would be about sixth in line. If you got there threes hours before they opened you’d be third or fourth. There was always one or two people that got there six or more hours before opening.
Before attempting to wait in line for hours I checked brickseek every night for about a week and then called several Targets the next morning to verify how many they actually had for sale that morning when they opened. The numbers matched up every time. I wanted some level of confidence in the site before I braved the early morning cold and took the Nestea plunge.
The first night/early morning I decided to give it a go I headed to a nearby Target in Milford that was supposed to have two. I got there at 4am, three hours before open, and there were already two people waiting. I pulled up front, wished them luck, and was back in bed 20 minutes later. The next day I was right back in the saddle. Brickseek said that the Target in Westborough was going to have six. When I got there at 5am, I was number six in line. A half hour before the store opened the manager came out to let us know that they had six Nintendos. She gave six of us tickets and let us sit in our cars for the next 30 minutes. The seventh guy left empty handed. At least he had only been waiting about 40 minutes.
Two days later I headed to Framingham where they were expected to have eight. I got there two and half hours early (4:30am) and was the third person in line. The second person was the seventh guy from two days earlier and the first guy had gotten there at midnight. They had exactly eight and I had gotten my second NES Classic in three days. By Christmas I had gotten ten.
The week after Christmas there wasn’t a Target within 50 miles with one for sale. But since the new year, I have been able to get two more. It seems a couple days a week a few Targets get one. Now you might think, given what I’ve already said, that being first in line to get that one would be next to impossible. Guess again. Perhaps many have given up the hunt, or are less willing to wait, but I am now two for two. Since the holidays ended Target has gone back to their normal 8am opening time. Both times I have gotten to the Target at about 6:15am. Around 7am is when other people start showing up. When they see me waiting, they leave. The shitty thing about there only being one is that you have no one to wait in line with. I’ve met a handful of interesting people while waiting. That’s why today I am sitting here writing this post while I wait to collect my 12th NES Classic.
Update. I am no longer sitting outside a Target. I am home and I was once again successful. I have also gone back in this post to edit it to reflect that I have now gotten twelve.
Before anyone asks, all twelve are accounted for. I am keeping four of them for myself. Thanks to the work of some Russian hacker, we now have a relatively easy way to add about 50 additional games to these things. That’s 80 games. I am going to hack four of these, giving me a total of 320 games, 300 of which I will never play. Any suggestions on your favorite NES games would be appreciated. I gave three away as holiday gifts and one to a friend at face value. That accounts for eight. The remaining four I put on eBay with a starting bid of 99 cents.
If you are still trying to get one it’s not very hard if you are willing to wait for an hour and half. Brickseek tends to update around 11:30pm and then again between 4 and 5:30am. That’s when the trucks get to Target. Most trucks come early in the morning, but a few come the night before. If they do come the night before Target will not sell them until the following morning. Happy hunting. And if you pull up to a Target in the Boston/Metro West area and see a dude wearing an NY Islanders snow hat, that’s me.
Here is the exact link you need to search for the Nintendo Classic Edition: http://brickseek.com/target-inventory-checker/?sku=207-29-0180
You can also give Walmart a shot, but I have no experience with Walmart: http://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker?sku=54043501
As for Andrew Benintendi, I believe he’s going to be a player that has a favorable chance of helping your fantasy team in 2017.
