Abe Almonte's stats are actually propped up by an above-average BABIP. Otherwise, he'd lead all of baseball in outs produced. Yet ... 20 times at the top of the lineup card.
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Almonte is still the only Mariner routinely going deep into counts. He's the only guy...and I do mean the only guy...in our entire batting order...who is making opposing pitchers work. I would agree, though, that he's not an OBP threat and should't be batting lead-off.
Wow. Abe has absolutely no hits with the count 0-2, 1-2, or 2-2. He had 3 hits in 15 full counts with zero walks. But when he swings at the first or second pitch, he clobbers it. He's hitting .500 with the first pitch or a 1-0 pitch. He hits .400 with 1-1. When the count is 3-1, he's a walking machine: four walks in six PAs.
When Abe has two strikes, it's over. Ziltch, zero, nada. Like you suggest, Matt. Something for him to work on...preferably at the bottom of the lineup, because he's the third best defender in the AL right now, just behind Cain and Trout.
His Range Factor is actually a bit below the league average AND he had an UZR150 of -20.4 in CF last year so it is a bit difficult to assume his 41.4 is dead on this year. In Guti's two best CF seasons with the M's he was at 29.0 and 28.8 UZR150. Let's take Almonte's # with a grain of (small sample) salt. He isn't THAT good.