It's no secret that Carl Crawford has had a rough year. You can see it every time he flails at a two-seamer that's a foot out of the strike zone that things are just not clicking.
He's been better since June, but it continues to floor me that he has not reached .300 yet.
Oh, you think I mean a .300 batting average? No, no, my friend. I mean a .300 OBP.
Carl's OBP currently sits at .285, thanks mostly in part to a hilarious 19 walks over the course of his 447 plate appearances this season. Carl isn't exactly JD Drew in his patience -- and never has been -- but his hacking has returned to what he was like as a rookie.
But let's not dwell on the past. Let's look forward: What does Carl have to do to get to .300?
To figure it out, I looked at how many games are left in the season: 26. Looking back over his last 26 games, Carl has had 106 plate appearances. I'm going to assume Tito tries to get his regulars an extra day or two off, so let's say he gets 100 more plate appearances the rest of the way.
To date, Carl has 445 AB + BB + HBP + SF, which is the denominator for OBP (it's not overall PA, which I always use as shorthand). With his projected 100 more, this obviously gets him to 545 on the season. To get to .300, the numerator (H + BB + HBP) would have to be 164.
Currently, Carl has 127 in the numerator: the aforementioned 19 walks, 3 HBP, and 105 hits.
So, simple math tells us Carl would need 37 at bats in which he productively gets on base (no, a fielder's choice won't cut it, Mr. Crawford!). This means: he needs to hit .370, or maybe take a few pitches, get three or four more walks, maybe get hit once, and still hit around .330 the rest of the way.
I wouldn't count on many walks. Granted, Carl has been swinging the bat a little better lately -- he was even ahead of a few fastballs against Phil Hughes the other night. And get this: He put together an eight-game hitting streak against Kansas City and Texas last month, over which he hit .333.
So let's get some hits, Carl. Put on your best Robinson Cano costume and start hitting some ropes. Here's an attainable goal that will, at least in the annals of history, make this season look a little less disastrous.
