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.

The Brewers have a 10.5 game lead over the Cardinals, a 13 game lead over the Reds, and a 17 game lead over the Pirates.  All season long, the run away division seemed to be the National League East with the Phillies dominating and the Braves bringing up the Wild Card.  Now, the Braves are 6 games back and at least within striking distance.  The Brewers, on the other hand, have opened up a virtually insurmountable lead.

How did this all happen?  On August 1st, the N.L. Central standings looked like this:

Milwaukee: 60-49
St. Louis: 57-21 -- 2.5 GB
Pittsburgh: 55-52 -- 4 GB
Cincinnati: 54-55 -- 6 GB

Since then, all Milwaukee has done is have one of the all-time great months.  In August, the Brewers have gone 20-5, scored 131 runs, and only gave up 77 runs. The National League records for wins is 29, held by the New York Giants.  While the Brewers won't be able to reach that total, they still have three more games this month.

While the Brewers have been winning, everyone else has been losing.  The Cardinals went 12-13 in August so far, the Pirates went 7-18, and the Reds went 12-11.  What's probably more frustrating for the fans is that each of these three teams added pieces at the trade deadline in an attempt to compete for the division. 

The Cardinals traded away Colby Rasmus but picked up Edwin Jackson.  The Pirates added Ryan Ludwick and Derek Lee.  The Reds traded Jonny Gomes to the Nationals for cash, outfielder Bill Rhinehart, and pitcher Chris Manno. 

Meanwhile, the Brewers stood pat for the most part.  They did trade Erik Komatsu for Jerry Hairston Jr., and they traded Wil Nieves for cash.  Hardly moves designed to bolster their line-up or change their make-up.  The Brewers gelled as a team while other teams were adding new pieces.  They rallied around each other, the players they had battled with all season long, and put so much ground between the Cardinals and themselves that they are almost a lock for the play-offs.  In doing so they now own the third best record in all of baseball. 

So even though the race is all but over, we can delight in the dominance of the Milwaukee Brewers.  We can revel in their success.  Or we can hate their fortune.  That's what baseball is all about.