Overall, the Durham Bulls have been doing very well this year and at the break are 4½ games ahead of Norfolk in the South Division.
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| click on chart for larger view |
Pitching
Twenty-six different pitchers have stepped up on the mound for the Durham Bulls this year. Ranging from infielder Brandon Snyder (1 inning) to Forrest Snow (88 innings).
As a team, they have the best ERA in the International League. In previous seasons, the comparison of starters and relievers provided some mild insights to the team. In this season, the Tampa Bay style of using "openers" and the Bulls' need to have occasional bullpen days are messing with those comparisons.
The team's WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched) is, by a few hundredths of a point, second to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the IL. Pretty good.
Runs
Another way to look at team performance is to track run differentials. That is, how many runs are scored compared to runs allowed. In that race, the Bulls are also doing very well this year.
And not only this year. This chart shows run differentials for the last five years at this point in the season. Looking pretty good.
Hitters
Although I am not a big fan of the OPS stat, it does seem to be a decent measure of overall team performance. This chart shows the cumulative team OPS over the last 20 games. The Bulls rank second in the IL, just behind the Indianapolis Indians.
Twenty-three players have come to bat for the Bulls this year. Their plate appearances range from the visiting Tampa Bay rehabber Adeiny Hechavarria (4) to Justin Williams (327). This table is sorted by wOBA, weighted on-base average, and includes another newish stat called RC+, weighted runs created plus. Important to all is just how truly spectacular those numbers of Rob Refsnyder and Brandon Lowe are, but also to note the very small sample size. Neither has been with the team very long at all.
| Name | Age | PA | AVG | OPS | wOBA | wRC+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brandon Lowe
|
23
|
128
|
.330
|
1.084
|
.470
|
203
|
Rob Refsnyder
|
27
|
57
|
.373
|
1.007
|
.447
|
187
|
Joe McCarthy ˆ
|
24
|
143
|
.265
|
.863
|
.386
|
145
|
Brandon Snyder
|
31
|
252
|
.251
|
.839
|
.376
|
138
|
Kean Wong
|
23
|
310
|
.316
|
.843
|
.376
|
138
|
Ji-Man Choi †
|
27
|
86
|
.270
|
.766
|
.348
|
119
|
Andrew Velazquez
|
23
|
280
|
.262
|
.725
|
.328
|
105
|
Jason Coats
|
28
|
276
|
.245
|
.736
|
.327
|
104
|
Justin Williams †
|
22
|
327
|
.266
|
.711
|
.323
|
101
|
Jeremy Hazelbaker
|
30
|
226
|
.189
|
.647
|
.295
|
82
|
Nick Ciuffo
|
23
|
107
|
.257
|
.646
|
.291
|
79
|
Roberto Pena
|
26
|
36
|
.265
|
.600
|
.278
|
70
|
Michael Russell
|
25
|
106
|
.260
|
.602
|
.275
|
68
|
Adam Moore ˆ
|
34
|
151
|
.225
|
.595
|
.271
|
66
|
Micah Johnson ˆ
|
27
|
137
|
.197
|
.572
|
.259
|
57
|
†=on 40 Man; ˆ= on DL; Hazelbaker has been DFA'd
Defense
Lastly, here's my homebrewed measure of team defense. For much of the year, the Bulls were giving up a lot of runs as measured by unearned runs per game. Lately, they've been doing better. Let's hope that keeps up.
Nameplates!
One more kvetch about the uniforms. Names! Names! Names! I really don't like digging into my program to find out who's on first.
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