Mike Carp’s Doppelganger

There is an interloper in the midst of the Mariners.  This intruder has evaded the authorities, and now lives amongst the active roster.  This doppelganger that resembles Mike Carp should not be trusted.  The true Mike Carp has a slash line of .200/.333/.257.  That was the Mike Carp of June 2011.  Who is this Mike Carp of July and onwards?  The real Mike Carp wouldn’t contribute to the Mariners lineup.  He is too selfish.  He is too proud.  Who is this faker fooling us right before our eyes?

Firstly, the following chart is taken from July 30th to August 21st.  Robinson Cano and Matt Kemp have the longest active hit streaks, being thirteen and eleven, respectively.  I chose Jose Bautista because, well, he’s Jose Bautista.  Let’s have a look:

We can gather some interesting data if we look at both percentage and counting statistics.  Carp doesn’t lead in any of the percentage statistics, but he’s not far behind in batting average and slugging percentage.  Looking at the obvious stats, Carp is really seeing the ball well.  He’s far behind Bautista and Cano in ISO, but those guys are having monster seasons.  And a .213 ISO is well into the upper percentile compared to the rest of the league.  Mike Carp is mashing the ball, and also not mashing the ball, which is a good thing.  He can hit a baseball.

Secondly, he is not walking very much.  He is seeing the ball well, but not well enough to lay off pitches he should be.  This can be interpreted another way, in that he has an aggressive swing.  Either way, his approach has paid off.  As of right now, he has a twenty-game hit streak.  Considering that Ichiro Suzuki‘s longest streak was twenty-seven games, Mike Carp is venturing into an exclusive territory.  He joins ten other players this year to have a hit streak of twenty games or longer.  Mike Carp is doing really well.

Carp is doing great for himself, and he’s definitely cemented himself a spot in the starting lineup.  This is exactly how youngsters get noticed by the big-wigs.  Now, if only all of the rookies did this. . .

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Adam H. Wong
Follow: @themarinerspen