BDD: The Matt Lindstrom Conundrum

by Bill Baer on December 6th, 2009
Posted in Baseball Daily Digest, MLB, Sabermetrics | Print | 2 Comments »

At Baseball Daily Digest, I take a look at Matt Lindstrom and determine if he’s worth the risk to the several teams interested in trading for his services.

His runners left on base percentage (LOB%) was 61.6% after previously resting at 72.3% and 76.3% the previous two seasons. Aha. Lindstrom was allowing hits at about a 34% clip and averaging about a walk every two innings — a bad combination. The league average LOB% is 72%.

While some of his LOB% woes may be due simply to randomness (or bad luck if you prefer), it’s so far under what we’d expect that there has to be an underlying factor. My theory is that as a result of his walk rate, and coupled with his thin pitch repertoire, he was very transparent on the mound. Thus, hitters were more successful against Lindstrom when there was at least one runner on base as opposed to the bases empty. The statistics bear this out [...]

  1. 2 Responses to “BDD: The Matt Lindstrom Conundrum”

  2. By GrandSlamSingle on Dec 7, 2009

    I wonder if the Phils are one of the teams interested. Should they take a flyer on him?

  3. By hk on Dec 7, 2009

    I hope they pass. For as fast as he throws, he doesn’t strike out enough hitters and he walks too many. I also hope they pass on Lyon and that the bring back Chan Ho.

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