No game today for Memphis in their Championship series so we’re gonna get an open thread.
Today’s topic: What’s your favorite “type” of ballplayer?
I’ll give an example after the jump.
<--!more-->
Mine is the peak Scott Rolen type player. A 3B who has an amazing glove in the field and power at the plate. On every groundball, he gets to show off his great hands and strong arm. He’s got pop in his bat to hit 30+ HRs, discipline enough to carry a high OBP and great baserunning skills to leg out 30+ doubles. When he does go deep, he puts his head down and and gets around the bases.
I’ll take that guy over a slick SS or CF or a tough as nails catcher.
Entries (RSS)
I’ll take Wainwright. Everything about him.
I like a Carl Crawford type player. Center fielder who has GG defense hits above .300 and can steal 40 bases a year but still hits a few out of the park.
Jimmy ballgame was my fav while he was here. He was a bit over the top at times, but like Rolen was a superior defensive player at a demanding position who was also a superior offensive player with plus power.
I like the Colby Rasmus, J.D. Drew, and Mickey Mantle type player. Amazing talent, fast with a lot of power, and a chance to hit for average and play a good center field. Guys who when they are playing well, make the game look ridiculously easy, but when they suck make it seem like theoretical physics. The only problem with these player is keeping them on the field.
I’m a physicist, and I assure you, theoretical physics is far easier than hitting a baseball.
My favorite is what we all want rasmus to be
For a hitter, my favorite realistic player is the Craig Biggio/Roberto Alomar type player. A Gold Glove defensive second baseman who can pop 20 home runs, hit 35 doubles, and 20 stolen bases. Of course, I prefer what BJ Upton turned into for me on MVP Baseball 2005: a 40-40-40 threat as a #4 hitter as a Gold Glove 2B.
For a pitcher, give me a Wainwright/Gibson type pitcher. Scary competitive with a dynamic breaking pitch. Also, for whatever reason, I like LOOGYs who can throw mid to upper 90s.
Left-handed pitcher who doesn’t break 90, doesn’t always even break 80, but pitches like he’s painting a Rembrandt, every pitch within a millimeter of where it’s supposed to be and never arriving exactly where and when it is expected.
In other words, John Tudor, 1985.
And I HATE it when the Cardinals have to face such a pitcher, because we all know what happens next.
My favorite type of baseball player is an Ace but not only an Ace but an Ace that was downright mean and ornery, and nasty when they took the mound.
Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Orel Herscheiser, Juan Marichal, Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver types even say Roy Halladay from today who not only brought the heat but brought the tough guy mentality with them. They weren’t scared to bring it inside and hit batters if necessary. They would stare down the umpires sometimes even screaming at them when they missed calls. Not many would dare charge the mound on these guys either for fear of getting their asses kicked just like that beating Robin Ventura took charging Nolan Ryan.
Aces who were guaranteed to take the mound every four/five days, they were never injured in the slightest and always were in the top three in Innings Pitched year after year even chasing managers back to the dugout or catchers back behind the plate as the innings got later. Their team knew they were going to win if they could put a run or two on the board and they were definite slump busters never allowing for long losing streaks because if the team had lost two or three games before they pitched they were getting the W.
Definite big money big game type pitchers who wanted the ball on Game Seven of the World Series confident that they were not only going to win the game but they were going to throw a shutout too.
I love watching magicians in the field at SS. Nothing is more exciting than watching someone make near impossible plays look so easy over and over. My fav player of all time Ozzie Smith “The Wizard”.
My favorite type of player is whoever did the most to help the Cards in their most recent win, so I’ll switch it around to “least favorite” type: the veteran outfielder w. an OBP below whatever Skip Schumaker’s happens to be right now.
Nothing irks me more than a guy whose paycheck is built on the expectation that he’ll get XBH and drive in runs, but who has so many terrible at-bats in between the doubles and dingers that he destroys my faith in a just universe.
I guess I’m thinking of Juan Encarnacion and his $4 million a year contract, but I’m sure there are many others.