Let Kim Hit Against Lefties

[Steve Dalkowski]

Obviously, we all understand the logic of sitting Kim against lefties. But his history in Korea shows that he can hit lefties fine. Let's give him a shot against lefties in the major leagues. He may not hit homers against them, but I think he has enough ability to at least draw walks and get on base. What the hell does this man need to do to deserve a starting spot in the lineup everyday? His OBP is still 400, he's hitting over 300 still. I love you Buck, but come on!

[clapdiddy]

At this point, I think he'd be better than Reimold. Reimold's production against LHP is awful.

[Ruzious]

He's doing well, but his OPS was .679 in July and .763 so far in August. 14 at bats against lefties is a SSS, but him going 0 for 14 doesn't inspire me to give him more at bats a against lefties.

[DrungoHazewood]

What were Kim's splits in Korea? The KBO page doesn't have them, bb-ref only has a tiny fraction of 2009.

A typical platoon split for lefties is about 0.035 points of wOBA. Kim currently sits at .367. So a typical LvL split for him would be about .330. If your prior is that he doesn't hit MLB lefties that well, maybe it's more like .310 or .320. In the absence of better information I'd expect his performance against lefties to be somewhere between the current production of JJ Hardy and Chris Davis.

[LA2]

He's doing well, but his OPS was .679 in July and .763 so far in August. 14 at bats against lefties is a SSS, but him going 0 for 14 doesn't inspire me to give him more at bats a against lefties.

In Kim's case, isn't what we're really looking for OBP rather than an outstanding OPS? OBP in July/August is .346/.357.

Any way he can get practice sessions against an O's farm system lefty?

[LookitsPuck]

He's doing well, but his OPS was .679 in July and .763 so far in August. 14 at bats against lefties is a SSS, but him going 0 for 14 doesn't inspire me to give him more at bats a against lefties.

Not so sure we should be evaluating Kim just on OPS. Month by month OBP:

April: 647

May: 366

June: 422

July: 346

August: 357

He's only had 18 PAs vs. lefties. Walked 3 times and only struck out twice.

[Can_of_corn]

He's doing well, but his OPS was .679 in July and .763 so far in August. 14 at bats against lefties is a SSS, but him going 0 for 14 doesn't inspire me to give him more at bats a against lefties.

0-14 eh? Remind me how he started this spring training.

[FlipTheBird]

I'm going to trust Buck on this one. If they don't think he'd hit left-handed pitching, fine.

[DrungoHazewood]

Might as well. Reimold might be the single most useless player on the roster right now.

Reimold was pretty decent last year, earned his way back into a role. The difference between '15 and '16 Reimold is five singles and five walks in 80 games.

[Can_of_corn]

Might as well. Reimold might be the single most useless player on the roster right now.

Steve Pearce last seven days.

2G, 2 PS, 2 AB, 1 SO, -100 OPS+

Huh, that's more useless than Reimold.

Fancy that.

[DirtyBird]

Has Buck given a Rickard update lately?

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm going to trust Buck on this one. If they don't think he'd hit left-handed pitching, fine.

I think the answer is that they don't think he'll hit lefties much better than Reimold and Buck needs to give all 25 guys a job and a reason to buy into the plan.

[Redskins Rick]

Regardless of whom plays and whom doesn't. There will be small minority that isn't happy.

[TINSTAAPP]

Reimold was pretty decent last year, earned his way back into a role. The difference between '15 and '16 Reimold is five singles and five walks in 80 games.

Actually Reimold wasn't pretty decent last year. He had -0.1 WAR because he was absolutely atrocious defensively. And he's been a below replacement player since his great rookie season which was seven years ago.

[Redskins Rick]

Actually Reimold wasn't pretty decent last year. He had -0.1 WAR because he was absolutely atrocious defensively. And he's been a below replacement player since his great rookie season which was seven years ago.

I think WAR hurt bench guys that don't play regularly.