The SF Giants starting lineup is a bunch of Old Geezers
Posted by: Richie Rich in Barry Bonds, Giants, Stats
This week, I’ve been watching the Giants a lot.
One of the things I noticed was that the San Francisco Giants usually trot out a very - uh - mature lineup. The Giants start a lineup which typically averages 36 years of age.
In the Giants regular starting lineup, there’s not a single player under the age of 32. Five of them are aged 35 or older. And their utility infielder (Aurilia) is 35 as well.
Their position players have nearly 100 years of MLB experience under their collective belts almost every time they take the field.
| Pos | Player | Age | Exp | Pos | Player | Age | Exp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LF | Barry Bonds | 43 | 21 | C | Bengie Molina | 33 | 9 |
| SS | Omar Vizquel | 40 | 18 | RF | Randy Winn | 33 | 9 |
| 1B | Ryan Klesko | 36 | 15 | 3B | Pedro Feliz | 32 | 7 |
| 2B | Ray Durham | 35 | 12 | Average | 36 | 13 | |
| CF | Dave Roberts | 35 | 8 | IF | Rich Aurilia | 35 | 12 |
Sometimes, there’s something to be said for experience … when you’re winning.
Both the Yankees and Tigers field older starting lineups and they’re both competitive in their respective Divisions and the American League. The Giants, on the other hand, are a percentage point away from having the worst record in the National League.
Why?
| R | H | BB | HR | TB | AVG | SLG | OPS | E | Fld % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB Average | 602 | 1,165 | 419 | 127 | 1,834 | .266 | .419 | .753 | 79 | .984 |
| SF Giants | 546 | 1,108 | 451 | 103 | 1,694 | .251 | .384 | .707 | 73 | .985 |
| Rank | 27th | 26th | 6th | 23rd | 28th | 27th | 29th | 29th | 9th | 9th |
Very simply, they can’t hit. The Giants have assembled an aging crew of hitters whose batting stats are consistently ranked near the bottom of several categories across MLB. Opposing teams only have one man to fear when the Giants are at the plate - Barry Bonds.
They field pretty well, but they can’t protect their main man. The regular players listed above (not including Bonds) have the following collective stat line …
.260 BA / .318 OBP / .385 SLG / .703 OPS
There’s two reasons Barry Bonds gets walked so often
- He can hurt you with the bat
- His teammates can’t
When Bonds gets on base via a ball in play or a walk or getting plunked, he’s been brought home only 22.5% of the time.
Entries (RSS)
March 7th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
[...] only thing ESPN ever reported on from the Bay was Barry Bonds. Add to the fact that the Giants were an old ballclub that couldn’t hit and there was nothing to really speak [...]
May 5th, 2008 at 2:43 am
You sure know how to count beans, but you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Winning in baseball, come down to more than simply putty a young lineup out on the field.
May 5th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Hey Billy -
How did the Giants play last year?
Awesome Winning record and a Division title with that Senior Citizens Softball team they threw out there, right?
Wrong.
They had the 27th worst batting average and the second FEWEST runs scored in the majors or their way to finish 20 games under .500 and 19 games out in the NL West.
I mentioned two teams who were competing with older lineups. The Giants didn’t.