Love It When Fans Are Paying Attention

I recently posted an article titled “Solving the Mike Napoli Puzzle: Make Contact or Give Carp More Playing Time”. In the article I built the case that Mike Carp should get more playing time because Mike Napoli was whiffing at a stupefying rate. In the article I said that Carp had only struck out 14 times.

Jul 14, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman

(12) follow through against the Oakland Athletics during the eleventh inning at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

A few days later, astute fan Jim wrote me pointing out the error of my ways. It was indeed true. I don’t know what stat sheet I was looking at but Carp had actually struck out 46 times in 132 at bats. After I got done wiping that egg off my face I ran the numbers again and found that while I was way off on Carp’s K total, my point still stood – but only by a little.

In the first half, Napoli struck out at a 37.92% rate while Carp struck out 34.85% percent of the time. While I was still technically correct, my argument wasn’t anywhere near as compelling.

So I guess the comparison is a virtual dead heat. It will be up to John Farrell to get the right read on Carp and Napoli down the stretch to see who might be heating up or playing a hunch.

Thank you Jim for keeping me honest.