The question on the table is Alfonso Soriano or Carlos Lee? Sir, your argument?
"Even if he doesn't hit a homer, he can find a way to get in scoring position," a Soriano booster said. "He can score from first on a double. Carlos Lee is a great hitter, but he's a liability defensively and he clogs up the bases."
Yes, Soriano is a vastly superior baserunner, so at first, it seems like this "clog" use isn't that egregious. But here's the thing: Carlos Lee isn't even that slow. He's certainly not Frank Thomas. Last year, Lee stole 19 bases and only got caught twice. He's 96 for 128 for his career, for a 75% clip. Not terrible. I mean, two years ago in Texas, Soriano only stole 18 bases. Basically, what this guy is saying is, "Sure, Carlos Lee is a great hitter, but he only stole three fewer bases than Grady Sizemore and one more than Carlos Beltran last year! That is unacceptable!"
Some scouts are paying attention to reality, I guess, because this was also in the article:
"He has surprising speed for a big, fat guy," an NL scout said.
Labels: clogging up the basepaths
