The 5.5 Hole

Anyone who has ever played, watched, or coached Little League baseball knows that every player plays every position for the most part. Position players are often called from their position to pitch and pitchers are sent from the mound to the field. This generally carries on through travel leagues, AAU ball, and high school. In some cases, pitchers and position players are interchangeable even in college.

Yet somewhere between amateur baseball and professional baseball, It is widely assumed that pitchers lose the ability to hit. Once these pitchers start their professional careers, the opportunity to hit is greatly reduced. They are almost exclusively used for what they've been paid to do. But in reality, many of these pitchers can still hit.

To make it to the Major Leagues, players clearly have athletic talent. They retain the ability to do all the things they did in Little League, high school, and college. So why is it pitchers who lose the ability to pitch aren't converted to position players more often?

I'm not under the delusion that all pitchers have a natural, extreme athletic ability, but it has been shown time and again that there are pitchers who have enough talent to play elsewhere on a baseball field. Adam Loewen of the Toronto Blue Jays proved that once again yesterday as he made his debut in right field. Three years ago his pitching career was over due to injury and he was on his way to being out of the game altogether. But he committed and made the decision to try and comeback as a position player. Rick Ankiel did the same thing with the Cardinals, and he is continuing that resurgence with the Nationals. And there are others with the athletic ability to make such a transition.

Carlos Zambrano could if he needed. Mike Leake of the Reds can swing the stick too. Arizona's Micah Owings is constantly used as a pinch hitter. Then there's Dontrelle Willis. That's where our story really begins.

With his unorthodox delivery and his knee-buckling pitches, Dontrelle Willis quickly made a name for himself in Florida. The D-Train. He just missed capturing the National League Cy Young in 2005 with 22 wins, 7 complete games, and 5 shutouts. He led the league in each category, but finished second in voting to Chris Carpenter. Willis would go on to one more decent season before he seemed to lose his ability to get outs. He joined a small but notable group of pitchers to develop the yips, or a mental block causing pitching failure.

After posting no worse than 3.25 walks per 9 innings, Willis began to lose control of the strike zone in 2006. Here are his BB/9 ratios for each year from 2006 on:

2006: 3.34
2007: 3.81
2008: 13.13 (spent much of the year in Triple-A, so this is a small sample size)
2009: 7.49
2010: 7.68
2011: 4.34

During this period of control loss, Willis has struggled to remain a Major Leaguer. His 0-5 record with the Reds this year isn't helping any. But maybe his bat can.

He's already proven he can hit reasonably well. In 383 at-bats, Willis has a triple slash of .243/.287/.376. He has 9 home runs in that time as well. With his focus directed toward hitting rather than pitching, there's no reason to believe he can't build upon those numbers as well. Just take Rick Ankiel for example.

Prior to Ankiel's mysterious loss of control on the mound, he had 87 at-bats. He triple slashed .207/.276/.310 with 2 home runs. Numbers that are very much in line with Willis's considering the far fewer at-bats Ankiel had. Since converting to a position player, Ankiel has performed above average. He has 61 home runs, 373 hits, and 132 walks in the six years of full time position player duties. He has also accumulated 5.9 WAR during that time, proving he is better than replacement level since converting.

Dontrelle Willis is a gifted athlete, more so in my opinion than Rick Ankiel. Rather than let him waste away as a pitcher, some team should give him a chance to play the field. Let him hit, and let him prove his worth elsewhere. Otherwise, Willis will likely find himself out of the league very soon.

It was announced today that the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Toronto Blue Jays pulled off a three player waiver period trade. The Diamondbacks put a claim in for Aaron Hill and John McDonald. In exchange they sent Kelly Johnson to Toronto.

If you didn't know where the Dbacks stood in the National League West standings, this would seem like a pretty good deal. The Jays are getting a veteran second baseman with some pop to help compete with the juggernaut that is the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Diamondbacks are shedding a player who was due for free agency at the end of the season, grabbing a couple of players to fill holes, and dropping a couple million off payroll. Sounds like a move designed to build toward the future doesn't it?

But the future is now. The Diamondbacks are in first place and need every bit of help they can get to push toward the postseason. Generally I'm not one to question a move made by GM Kevin Towers, but this one is a head-scratcher.

Here are the 2011 numbers:

Kelly Johnson: .209/.287/.412, 18 HR, 13 SB, 44 BB, 0.2 WAR, 2 RAR

Aaron Hill: .225/.270/.313, 6 HR, 16 SB, 23 BB, -0.3 WAR, -3 RAR

John McDonald: .250/.285/.345, 2 HR, 2 SB, 8 BB, 0.9 WAR, 9 RAR

With Stephen Drew out for the season, I can see the Dbacks desire to plug the shortstop hole with a veteran. But they gave up a veteran second baseman with some power for a player in Aaron Hill who doesn't even provide more benefit than a Triple-A replacement. As for McDonald, he is a free agent after this year and I'm not sure the Diamondbacks will be re-signing him.

Maybe Kevin Towers has a master plan behind this surprising move, but right now, it looks like the Diamondbacks forgot they were a team in contention. Right now this trade looks like a wash at best, but it certainly does not look like a move designed to make the team better as they head toward a possible date with the Philadelphia Phillies.