{"id":5215,"date":"2011-10-21T20:38:13","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T01:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=5215"},"modified":"2011-10-22T04:12:59","modified_gmt":"2011-10-22T09:12:59","slug":"allen-craig-poised-to-tee-off-against-rangers%e2%80%99-southpaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/5215","title":{"rendered":"Allen Craig poised to tee-off against Rangers\u2019 southpaws"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After coming through with a go-ahead RBI single off the bench in Games 1 and 2, Allen Craig<\/a><\/strong> is expected to start as the Cardinals\u2019 right-fielder as the series shifts to Arlington.\u00a0 And with a pair of left-handers scheduled to start Games 3 and 4 for the Rangers, the addition of Craig\u2019s stick into the Cardinals\u2019 potent batting order couldn\u2019t be better timed.<\/p>\n

After nearly five years of raking his way through the Cardinals\u2019 system\u2014.885 OPS, .209 ISO in 2180 plate appearances\u2014Craig made his big-league debut on April 8, 2010, and went on to appear in 44 games and post a .711 OPS in 114 at-bats.<\/p>\n

Although Craig\u2019s 2011 campaign was slightly marred by trips to the disabled list and serving as a bench player under Tony LaRussa, he was incredibly productive when in the lineup.\u00a0 In 219 plate appearances, Craig slashed .315\/.362\/.555 and posted a .158 wRC+ while playing all three outfield positions as well as second base \u2013 he finished the season with a 9.9 UZR\/150.<\/p>\n

Craig\u2019s increased success at the plate can largely be attributed to a noticeable improvement at hitting offspeed pitches.\u00a0 Always regarded as a good fastball hitter, Craig struggled against all offspeed offerings in 2010 (-2.0 wSL, -0.9 wCB, and -1.7 wCH), but it was partially offset by a 3.0 wFB (total runs produced off of a fastball).<\/p>\n

In 2011, however, Craig\u2019s ability to hit offspeed pitches exponentially improved across the board: 1.3 wSL, 0.6 wCB, and 1.4 wCH.\u00a0 And while one might have anticipated his success rate against fastballs to suffer as a result, he managed to improve that as well (4.3 wFB).<\/p>\n

So should Craig have started in both the Game 1 and 2? In my opinion, yes.\u00a0 But with Chris Carpenter<\/a><\/strong> and Jaime Garcia<\/a><\/strong> pitching against a free-swinging team in cold weather, I understand that defense is even more of a premium and Nick Punto<\/a><\/strong> is the Cardinals\u2019 best defensive second baseman.<\/p>\n

Even though it will probably kill TLR that he can\u2019t weave a pitcher into the batting order, the use of the designated hitter will allow Berkman to serve as the team\u2019s professional hitter <\/em>for the next three games, which in turn plugs Craig into right field.<\/p>\n

The Rangers\u2019 Game 3 starter is Matt Harrison<\/a><\/strong>, who will be followed by fellow southpaw Derek Holland<\/a><\/strong> in Game 4 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

This season, Craig absolutely mashed left-handed pitching \u2014 and even that might even be an understatement.\u00a0 In 67 at-bats, he posted a 1.000 OPS in addition to a .343 ISO and 175 wRC+.\u00a0 Therefore, the inclusion of DH has the potential to bolster the Cardinal offense.\u00a0 And while he\u2019s already been a hero once (technically twice) this postseason, Allen Craig<\/a><\/strong> will have the opportunity to make a monumental impact on this series.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After coming through with a go-ahead RBI single off the bench in Games 1 and 2, Allen Craig is expected to start as the Cardinals\u2019 right-fielder as the series shifts to Arlington.\u00a0 And with a pair of left-handers scheduled to start Games 3 and 4 for the Rangers, the addition of Craig\u2019s stick into the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1300,6,16,11,13,10,14],"tags":[2822,2075,168,2826,1854,202,2613,510,61],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5215"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5220,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5215\/revisions\/5220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}