Durham Bulls Hitters — 100 Games

We last looked at the Bulls hitters when the team was 60 games into the season. We’ve seen a few changes since then.

This table is sorted by Weighted On Base Average (wOBA) a stat we really like. A second not-usual stat is Weighted Runs Above Average (wRAA), which compares the player to the rest of the league in terms of runs contributed. The table is sorted by wOBA.

Players marked by an asterisk are on the Tampa Bay Rays 40-man roster. Those marked with a strike-through are players who have played with the Bulls this season, but are playing with the Rays right now. Two of them (Curt Casali and Cole Figueroa) we expect back. The other, Kiermaier, we’re not so sure about. He’s now had more games with the Rays (50) than he did with the Bulls.

	Age	G	PA	AVG	OPS	wOBA	wRAA
Jeremy Moore	27	17	70	.379	1.111	.486	8.6
Mikie Mahtook	24	88	374	.303	.857	.381	15
*Kevin Kiermaier	24	34	143	.305	.823	.370	4.5
*Cole Figueroa	27	54	239	.300	.805	.368	7.1
Justin Christian	34	88	375	.277	.803	.362	9.3
*Vince Belnome	26	80	343	.234	.731	.337	2
Mike Fontenot	34	79	327	.276	.708	.328	-0.5
Wilson Betemit	32	79	337	.231	.730	.324	-1.6
Jayson Nix	31	44	180	.244	.709	.323	-0.9
*Curt Casali	25	46	183	.237	.694	.323	-1.1
Robby Price	26	56	200	.237	.658	.310	-3.1
*Hak-Ju Lee	23	63	253	.203	.536	.256	-14.8
Ray Olmedo	33	73	289	.216	.540	.256	-17
*Ali Solis	26	43	161	.209	.486	.224	-13.5
Mayo Acosta	26	12	36	.152	.434	.209	-3.4

Source: FanGraphs

What’s changed? The big change is the addition of Jeremy Moore to the roster. He’s right at the top and he’s made an obvious difference. Mikie Mahtook continues doing very well. Justin Christian’s wOBA has improved from .355 to .362. Vince Belnome’s wRAA has come up a couple of points. Hak-Ju Lee, however, has seen his wOBA drop from .285 to .256, although Ray Olmedo’s drop has been a bit worse, .290 to .256.

This year’s Durham Bulls are not a great hitting team, but they aren’t bad. .320 is considered an “average” wOBA and most of this year’s Bulls are above that line.

wOBA
Excellent	.400
Great	.370
Above Average	.340
Average	.320
Below Average	.310
Poor	.300
Awful	.290

Consider, for example, this year’s Tampa Bay Rays. Yes, it’s the major leagues, and yes, it’s a bit of a stretch. But several of them, notably Evan Longoria and Wil Myers, are not having good years. Note who’s at the top of the list.

Name	PA	AVG	OPS	wOBA	wRAA
Kevin Kiermaier	175	.313	.921	.397	11.5
David DeJesus	210	.269	.806	.358	7.4
Sean Rodriguez	165	.240	.808	.348	4.6
Ben Zobrist	376	.267	.763	.338	7.6
Matt Joyce	308	.270	.773	.336	5.7
Desmond Jennings	400	.244	.723	.325	4
James Loney	407	.283	.717	.318	1.9
Evan Longoria	431	.260	.723	.316	1.3
Brandon Guyer	158	.275	.686	.307	-0.7
Wil Myers	224	.227	.666	.299	-2.2
Yunel Escobar	317	.249	.657	.295	-4.2
Ryan Hanigan	190	.212	.636	.291	-3.1
Logan Forsythe	210	.250	.649	.289	-3.7
Jose Molina	165	.196	.442	.205	-13.7