How Kearns and Berkman Should be Used Against Lefties

Written by Sean P | 01 August 2010

For all the ballyhoo surrounding Austin Kearns, I think it’s probably best we remember who he is: A reserve outfielder who shouldn’t take too much playing time away from Swisher, Gardner or Granderson. So far Kearns is hitting .272/.354/.419 with a wOBA of .343. As most know this line is propped up by a ridiculously hot April and a yearlong BABIP that’s 40 points above his career average (.341 this year compared to .303 lifetime). Since April he’s hitting .253/.338/.376. Additionally Kearns hasn’t fared as well as one would think against lefties this year. Here’s how Granderson, Berkman, Kearns, Thames and Gardner have stacked up against lefties this year and over their careers.

If Kearns is going to take playing time away from anyone, it should be Granderson and only against lefties. This may seem obvious to you but our unfortunate troika of announcing filth last night seemed to think they were getting an everyday player in Kearns. They aren’t. They seemed to think Kearns was going to take significant playing time away from Granderson AS WELL AS Gardner. He shouldn’t.

In addition, if there’s any debate about who should DH against lefties, well, it looks pretty one sided- Thames has been significantly better against LHP this year and throughout his career than Berkman.

I think against lefties, the lineup should go something like this:

Jeter SS

Swisher RF

Texieria 1B

Rodriguez 3B

Cano 2B

Posada C

Thames DH

Kearns LF

Gardner CF

Personally, with the way Jeter has swung the bat this year I’m about ready to drop him from leadoff duties but that’s a post for another day (Gardner is a pretty obvious choice to leadoff). I tried to give Granderson the benefit of the doubt against lefties but I think it’s just something he can’t do right now.

-I noticed something about Lance Berkman’s defense while looking at his numbers. Berkman is a pretty good defender at 1B. Last year while he had a -3.5 UZR and a 0 +/- Berkman was 5 runs above average according to Total Zone and has been better so far this year: 7 runs above average according to +/- and a UZR of 2.7 (compared to Tex -2 +/- and -3.7 UZR). It’s too small of a sample to really rely on at all but for his career Berkman has been a very solid defender at first base. So a little additional good news is that Berkman isn’t a total loaf playing first when Tex is at DH. Inconsequential, but interesting.