On Ryan Howard

The Phillies highest paid and least productive player is having a less than stellar year, in fact I will goes as far saying he is having a shitty year. Here are his stats through last nights game (source: CBS Sportsline), against the devastating extra inning loss against the Mets, where he was 1/6, his lone hit being a single, but he struck four times, a couple of times in clutch moments of the game

• At Bats: 337
• Total Hits: 75 (38 singles)
• Doubles: 12
• Triples: 2
• Home Runs: 23
• RBI's: 76
• Batting Average: .223
• Slugging Percentage: .475
• Strikeouts: 123
• Base on Balls: 44 (9 intentional)
• On Base Percentage: .313

Working some of my own numbers here is what I come up with. Based on his current statistics, Howard is more likely to strike out than to get a hit. Of his 337 at bats, he has struck 36% of the time, versus his over all batting average, 22.4%. Of his home run total (23), he hits home runs only 7% of his at bats. His singles percentage is only 11% of his bats.

In Comparison, here is the Phillies other slugger Pat Burrell's numbers:

• At Bats: 287
• Total Hits: 80 (37 singles)
• Doubles: 20
• Triples: 2
• Home Runs: 21
• RBI's: 53
• Batting Average: .279
• Slugging Percentage: .582
• Strikeouts: 70
• Base on Balls: 66 (1 intentional)
• On Base Percentage: .412

Howard's OBP, is about average for the team overall, which is .313, and his slugging percentage of .475 is above the team's .437 percentage. He does however have a national league leading 76 RBI's which is very respectable, but could you imagine what his numbers would be if even 25% of his strikeouts were hits, or if he worked the count more.

What bothers me the most, and probably most Phillies fans, is his strikeouts. A lot of the strikeouts he seems to swing at really bad pitches, especially low and outside breaking balls. In my mind, I am comparing him Dennis Haysbert's character Pedro Cerrano in the movie Major League, who couldn't hit a breaking ball to save his life.

The team has a total of 608 strikeouts. His 123 strikeouts account for 20% of the total strikeouts. Pat Burrell has the second most strikeouts, 70, or 12% overall, but Burrell is batting .279, 21 home runs, and Pat's hits are about equal, 37 singles, 20 doubles, 2 triples, but the deal breaker for me is that Pat Burrell's is a much better defensive player than Howard. Burrell is having a much better season than Howard, and is a more consistent player, but mostly and much more mature player, which Howard seems to lack (read his new found wealth has gotten to his head)

Howard won a ten million dollar arbitration hearing before the season started, and at this point, it looks like he should give some of that money back.

Ryan needs to find his bat, and be more productive at the plate, and get back to doing what he does best. Overall he is driving in the runs, but his strikeouts, especially in critical situations is deplorable, and unacceptable. His arbitration deal was for this year only, and if he wants to continue making the kind of money that he does, he needs to be more productive at the plate and on the field. Maybe some extra time in the cages would do him some good, or bring in Mike Schmidt to help Ryan find his bat.

This team has the makings of a winner, and hopefully Ryan will start contributing more at the plate. He can't count on other members of the team to continue to pick him up, which they have done.

--gfo