Specialty: Sox Slayer

How many of you guys remember all those series we had against the Toronto Blue Jays last year? Now, quick! Name the one player who single-handedly ruined the Sox on multiple occasions! If you guessed Greg Zaun, you'd be wrong, though he did have a knack for hitting most of his home runs against Boston. No, the player I'm referring to is Frank Catalanotto. Catalanotto was particulary effective in the final Sox/Jays series September 27-29 at Fenway, when we were dogfighting the Yankees for the AL East. Have a look:

AB H 1B 2B 3B HR BB IBB SO R RBI SB CS FB GB LD
9/27 8 4 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 4 1
9/28 5 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 2 0
9/29 5 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 2 2 0

So maybe he's not the greatest player in the world. After all, he's somewhat of a journeyman, and at 32, he's not likely to get better. Still, I once made the mistake of underestimating his numbers. Won't do that again.



Is Frankie an All-Star? No. But is he a total scrub? Well, it's tought to call anybod\y who posts .301/.367/.451 a scrub. Still, he's not all that exceptional. What's his secret? If you take a look at Catalanotto's BABIP (Batting Average for Balls In Play), he only occasionally dips below the.300 mark. With the exception of a few dramatic spikes, his BABIP remains at or above average. This could be attributed to a couple of things, not the least of which is the generally atrocious defense in the AL East.

He also struck out just barely over 10% of the time. However, he walked less than 10% of the time as well. What does that tell us? Right, that he puts the bat on the ball, which would explain the high BABIP and support the argument that he was helped by two things: 1. hitting them where they weren't, and 2. poor defense. (SIDENOTE: Very good article today at The Hardball Times by David Appelman called "Dissecting Plate Discipline". Check it out.)

In the case of the Red Sox, we can probably chalk up his insanely clutch success (the numbers don't really do him justice as a Sox killer, save that last Fenway series) to poor pitching and poor defense. No two ways about it.

He's not a superstar, but he's not a slouch. He'll put the bat on the ball and make you work for the out, something the Red Sox have not been so good at as of late.