Mike Hampton Statistics – Baseball-Reference.com
Just taking a look… Mike was a genuinely outstanding pitcher from 1998 to mid-2001, an ordinary pitcher most of the rest of his career. (Remember, the Astrodome was a terrific pitcher’s park.) On the other hand, he was a kid, and a kid who can pitch ordinary baseball in the major leagues is nothing to sneeze at. If he returns to his 1998-2000 level, the Braves got a huge steal.
He was a kid who was averaging 220 innings per year. And, looking at those walk totals, probably throwing a fair number of pitches in those innings.
He was benefiting a whole lot from both pitcher-friendly parks and very strong defenses in the Astrodome and with the 2000 Mets. A lot of his rebound this year may depend on the kind of defense the braves put up behind him (McGriff at 1B fielding Furcal’s throws?).
I don’t expect Hampton to rebound to the extent Kile did, and I am hoping he doesn’t rebound with the kind of mediocre year Astacio just had. Mostly, I’m hoping that 400 high-stress crappy innings at Coors hasn’t sent his arm to Steve Avery-ville (mediocre with no conspicuous injury to explain it).
You guys are missing the point. Hampton automatically becomes the 4th best hitter on the Braves. I say move him to first base.
Scary thing, but Dave may be right!
Mike Hampton’s BA / OBA / SLG during his two years in Colorado: 315 / 329 / 552.
Same for Vinny Castilla during his 7 seasons at altitude: 299 / 341 / 530.
Per 600 PAs, Hampton has 119 runs and 86 ribbies; Castilla 83 and 98. Hampton has 41 homers, Castilla 33. Castilla does take him on doubles (27 to 16) and triples (3 to 0), but Hampton has him big time in singles (128 to 105).
I wonder if Hampton could play third?
Seriously though, if we could have signed him two years ago for $6.5m I think all Braves fans would have been happy. He had a fairly long track record of pretty good pitching, was young, and appeared durable.
Since then, he has been a below average pitcher whose sole strength is his ability to eat up innings. Unless he can bounce back he has the ability to be a six year Albie Lopez.
Even before Coors, Hampton was not an excellent pitcher. His BB & K numbers weren’t pretty and his overall numbers were deflated by playing in two great pitcher’s parks.
Even though he’s costing the Braves a lot less than Glavine, I think in the short run, Glavine is a much better bet for success. I’m afraid that we’ve gotten a “name” that will save some money but not move us forward and could very easily be a huge step backward.
He’s still several years younger and a lot cheaper than Glavine. And who knows? There could be a Burkett-like effect from being around Maddux (assuming they re-sign him). I say go for it.
Murray Chass’ column in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/18/sports/baseball/18BASE.html?pagewanted=print&position=top) has the following nugget:
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When the Braves’ pending acquisition of Hampton became known Saturday, it was believed that the Braves would not try to sign Glavine, who, like Hampton, is a left-hander, but would pursue Maddux, a right-hander. If that were so, it would leave the Mets battling Philadelphia for Glavine, whom both teams covet.
But that might not be the Braves’ plan at all. The Braves gave Glavine a new proposal Friday night, raising their one-year, $9 million offer to $9 million to $10 million a year for two years and an option for a third year that would depend on how much he pitched in the previous year or two.
“What I’m hearing is they’re giving up on Maddux and want Glavine instead,” the agent said. “I was told Maddux’s demands were so high that the Braves realized they weren’t going to be able to do it.”
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I don’t know if I like the sound of that.
MLB.com is reporting that the PTBNL is 24 year old reliever Ryan Baker. Anyone know anything about him?
I’d never heard his name before, but Braves Report says this:
Baker was Macon’s closer in 2001 and set the team record for saves with 18. But he lost that job to Kevin Barry at Myrtle Beach this season and posted a 3.72 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 38.2 innings. He’ll be 25 next year. Baker will most likely be assigned to AA, but the Marlins will probably not use him as a closer.
He’s 6-0, was 24 last year and didn’t pitch all that well in Myrtle Beach, a pitcher’s paradise (though it didn’t play that way as strongly as in past years). He gave up more than a hit an inning and more than a walk every two, though he did strike out more than 10 per 9IP.