It’s always good to look at spring training numbers to give you an idea what you can expect from guys during the season. They’re facing the top pitchers who are all displaying their best stuff. No one needs time to get warmed up. No one’s trying new pitches or getting a feel for the ball. They are at the height of their game in March. In fact, I think someone should propose to Bud that the World Series could easily be played in March. Yes, The March Classic. I like how that sounds. Since these spring training numbers mean so much, I decided to look at some players in March:
Sean Rodriguez – Has 6 homers while batting .460. Forget Sean-Rod, how about Wow-Rod?! Am I right or am I right-right?!
Dana Eveland – Absolutely sparkling so far with a 1.23 ERA. He’s barely beating hotshot, upstart… Really Madlibs in any enthusiastic adjective for Rodrigo Lopez with his 1.64 ERA.
Justin Masterson – 29 Ks to 6 BBs. Thank you, Lord, the walks have finally found their way out of his dazzling repertoire.
Corey Hart – On the sad emoticon front, Hart is hitting .127 in the spring.
These stats are from 2010 Spring Training. That’s right. You fell for the oldest trick in the book, mon. These are not from 2011. A real beauty pageant of names, right? Seriously, please stop looking at spring stats. Dana Eveland went on to post a 6.79 ERA in only 54 and a 1/3 IP, Rodrigo Lopez had a 5.00 ERA in 200 IP and Justin Masterson had no luck with walks and threw a 4.70 ERA. Corey Hart had his best season after an awful 2010 Spring Training while Sean Rodriguez had only 9 homers over the course of the whole season. Spring stats mean nothing. You should only be looking at who’s healthy, who’s winning position battles and who’s winning rotation spots. The rest is meaningless.
