In George We Trust
A(nother) blog about the most storied franchise in sports
Friday, April 28, 2006
The Great Gardner
I've been giving Brett Gardner praise since the day this blog started, and it's certainly not going to stop now with the way he's playing. I had some time to kill so I decided to do some number crunching, calculating the BA-OBP-SLG-OPS since the start of 2004 through today for each outfielder drafted before Gardner in the 2005 draft:

Drafted (Rd/Pk/Tm)BAOBPSLGOPS
Trevor Crowe1/14/CLE.334.413.533.946
John Mayberry1/19/TEX.288.376.507.884
Jacoby Ellsbury1/23/BOS.360.455.498.953
Travis Buck1/36/OAK.363.450.542.992
Eli Iorg1/38/HOU.334.382.540.922
Daniel Carte2/52/COL.301.378.516.896
Brad Corley2/59/PIT.316.371.509.880
Nolan Reimold2/61/BAL.338.446.6591.105
Kris Harvey2/64/FLA.322.359.559.916
Brian Pettway3/86/TOR.309.390.530.921
James Boone3/91/PIT.318.402.501.903
Sergio Pedroza3/106/LAD.306.411.573.983
Brett Gardner3/109/CLE.376.458.505.963

High schoolers Cameron Maybin (1/10/DET), Andrew McCutchen (1/11/PIT), Jay Bruce (1/12/CIN), Colby Rasmus (1/28/STL), John Drennen (1/33/CLE) and Jordan Schafer (1/107/ATL) were not included because high school stats are just too hard to find, plus they're skewed as each of this guys probably hit close to .700 with a 2.000 slugging percentage or something ridiculous like that.

So of all the guys drafted before him, none has had a higher BA or OBP since the start of 2004, and only 3 guys have a higher OPS over that span. Gardner's best tool is his speed - which we all know can't be taught and doesn't go into a slump - which ensures he'll at least have a shot each and every year of posting high BA's. He should be hitting the Bronx in about 14 months, and I for one can't wait to see him play in person.
Written at 10:47 AM by Mike A.
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