Mormon Baseball

The backup role is hard. I’ve wondered for some time what toll the backup role takes on a player’s performance. Take John Buck, for example. As a backup this year the catcher has played in just 4 games so far, while last year he had played in 16 games by April 20th. And last year at this point Buck had a .293 batting average, while this year he is hitting just .231. How much of this difference is because Buck isn’t playing every day this year? And how much is because he began last year on fire?

This past week, despite his backup role, Buck was .333 at the plate with a walk and 2 strike outs, raising his batting average for this year to near his career average. Still, in a backup role its hard to have much higher expectations of Buck.

The other Mormons at the plate are led, not surprisingly, by Jacoby Ellsbury and Bryce Harper. Ellsbury appears on the statistic leader board in three categories, including batting average (.338) and stolen bases (8). Harper had an off week but still sports a .292 batting average with a home run and 6 walks.

Among pitchers, the Mets’ Kyle Farnsworth maintained his impressive early record, with a 1.08 era, 1.08 WHIP and 6 strike outs in 8.1 innings. White Sox’ closer Matt Lindstrom isn’t far behind, especially after a strong performance this past week—no runs, no walks and just 1 hit in 3 innings of work (0.33 WHIP for the week). Unfortunately, Lindstrom hasn’t yet overcome some early bad outings, and has only managed 1 save so far this year.

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Hitting Stats Leaders:

• Jacoby Ellsbury — .338 average (15th), 8 stolen bases (tied 5th), 23 hits (tied 19th)

Pitching Stats Leaders:

• Jeremy Guthrie — 2 wins (tied 20th)

Fielding Stats Leaders:

• [none]

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• Darwin Barney — second base — Chicago Cubs
  1 for 9 (.111), 1 runs, 2 rbi, 1 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 1 so
  YTD: .129, 2 runs, 2 rbi, 1 hr, 6 bb, 0 sb, 6 so in 31 at bats.
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• John Buck — backup catcher — Seattle Mariners
  2 for 6 (.333), 0 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .231, 1 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 2 bb, 0 sb, 3 so in 13 at bats.
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• Jacoby Ellsbury — centerfield — New York Yankees
  6 for 21 (.286), 4 runs, 3 rbi, 0 hr, 2 bb, 2 sb, 6 so
  YTD: .338, 10 runs, 6 rbi, 0 hr, 7 bb, 8 sb, 9 so in 68 at bats.
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• Kyle Farnsworth — relief pitcher — New York Mets
  0-0, 0.00 era, 3 hits, 0 er, 0 bb, and 3 k in 2.2 innings; 1.13 WHIP
  YTD: 0-0, era 1.08, 7 hits, 1 er, 2 bb and 6 k in 8.1 innings; 1.08 WHIP
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• Doug Fister — starting pitcher — Washington Nationals
  Injured — 15-day DL
  YTD: 0-0, era n/a, 0 hits, 0 er, 0 bb and 0 k in 0.0 innings
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• Jeremy Guthrie — starting pitcher — Kansas City Royals
  0-0, 6.00 era, 6 hits, 4 er, 2 bb, and 4 k in 6.0 innings; 1.33 WHIP
  YTD: 2-0, era 4.34, 17 hits, 9 er, 7 bb and 11 k in 18.2 innings; 1.29 WHIP
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• Bryce Harper — starting centerfield — Washington Nationals
  6 for 23 (.261), 2 runs, 1 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 1 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .292, 7 runs, 5 rbi, 1 hr, 6 bb, 1 sb, 18 so in 65 at bats.
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• Elliot Johnson — second base — Cleveland Indians
  Did not play
  YTD: .091, 1 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 4 so in 11 at bats.
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• Josh Johnson — starting pitcher — San Diego Padres
  Injured, did not pitch (15-day DL)
  YTD: 0-0, era n/a, 0 hits, 0 er, 0 bb and 0 k in 0.0 innings
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• Matt Lindstrom — Chicago White Sox, closer
  0-0, 0.00 era, 1 hits, 0 er, 0 bb, and 1 k in 3.0 innings; 0.33 WHIP
  YTD: 1-1, era 3.38, 9 hits, 3 er, 2 bb and 3 k in 8.0 innings; 1.38 WHIP
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• Brandon Lyon — relief pitcher — Los Angeles Angels
  Not on roster — reassigned to minor leagues
  YTD: 0-0, era n/a, 0 hits, 0 er, 0 bb and 0 k in 0.0 innings
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• Clayton Mortensen — relief pitcher — Kansas City Royals
  Not on roster — reassigned to minor leagues
  YTD: 0-0, era n/a, 0 hits, 0 er, 0 bb and 0 k in 0.0 innings
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• Shane Peterson — Oakland As minor league affiliate, infield
  Did not play — reassigned to minor leagues
  YTD: .000, 0 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 0 so in 0 at bats.
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• Adam Rosales — Texas Rangers, backup infielder
  Did not play — reassigned to minor leagues
  YTD: .000, 0 runs, 0 rbi, 0 hr, 0 bb, 0 sb, 0 so in 0 at bats.
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• Eric Sogard — Oakland As, backup short stop
  4 for 16 (.250), 1 runs, 2 rbi, 0 hr, 1 bb, 0 sb, 2 so
  YTD: .209, 4 runs, 2 rbi, 0 hr, 5 bb, 2 sb, 4 so in 43 at bats.
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