Add new comment

1

Carp's BABIP this year is .411!!!  And it's .429 in the last 28 days (23 games). 
Some use BABIP as a "luck" proxy.  Let me clearly state.  Carp is not running a 'lucky' .429 BABIP.  He's running hot at the moment because he's seeing the ball fantastically, and he's crushing just about everything.  STREAKING players run BABIPs over .400 routinely.  Carp's current line is "unsustainable", but that does not mean "lucky".
There's no question that Carp has taken his game to a new level this year.  And that makes projecting him particularly problematic.  His career minors slashline is: .277/.369/.470 (.839).  But, his 2011 line at Tacoma was .343/.411/.649 (1060)!!
So, is it complete guesswork as to where he'll land?  No, not completely.  The thing that I know is that walk rate is one of the first, most solid stats for players.  On a select few, it will rise (when they change their approach).  But, it will drop for almost nobody.  If you show 80 points of patience in A ball, then you will typically show 80 patience in the majors.  The K-rate may swing wildly, but the walk rates tend to be a lot more stable.
And that is why Carp, IMO, is more or less immune from a Saunders like implosion.  His OBP was 90 to 100 above his average from age 18 (2004) through age 23 (2009).  His morph into power hitter saw that drop to 70 in 2010 and 2011 in the minors, and is only 56 in the majors this season.  He's not walking as much BY CHOICE.  He was coached up into becoming the power hitter that he flashed briefly at age 19 in Hagerstown.
Carp is hard to project because he's STILL putting together his various skill sets.  And he's already shown an ability to adapt and learn and grow.  His current .920 OPS is because he's a good player on a roll.  But, it skews his slash line.
So, what does the future hold?  First, the bad news.  Carp is NOT a .300 hitter.  Ackley is a .300 hitter.  Ackley will not whiff 120 times a year.  Carp has a .277 minors BA, and will fan 120 times a year.  Carp is a .280-.290 hitter at best, (and more likely to slip toward .270).  But, Carp has not recovered his walk rate (yet).  I think he will, (maybe not in 2012, but he will).  I think long term:  .280/.370/.490 is about right.  (But he may have to go through .270/.330/.450 in 2012 to get there).  The number I'm least confident in is the ISO.  He's a legit 200 ISO.  Whether he's a legit 250, it will take a while to see what happens when he's slumping to determine.  The final reality is this -- it will depend on how he hits when slumping, and how long slumps last that will determine his final line.  We've SEEN his "on fire" line.  Have patience when the "ice cold" period arrives.

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><p><br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

shout_filter

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.