Opponents find no place lefty to hide against Utley
February 7
2007
One of the many things that Chase Utley did well last season was hit against left-handed pitchers. Here's a look at Utley's numbers against lefties over the past three seasons:
| Year | AB | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS | XBH | % of AB vs LHP |
| 2006 | 216 | 301 | 394 | 463 | 857 | 22 | 32.8 |
| 2005 | 128 | 219 | 348 | 469 | 817 | 15 | 23.6 |
| 2004 | 45 | 200 | 234 | 289 | 523 | 2 | 16.9 |
Notably, Utley hit 82
points higher against lefties last season than in '05. His percentage of
at-bats against southpaws also continued to grow as he moved from a guy who
battled for time with Placido Polanco to one of the best everyday players in
the league. A little odd is that he actually posted a higher slugging
percentage while hitting .219 in 2005 than he did in hitting .301 last
season.
Coming into '06 there had to be at least a little bit of a question about
just how long it would take for Utley to hit lefties. In 185 at-bats
against left-handed pitching before '06 he had gone just 41-for-185 (.223).
Looks like we can all just calm down a little.
Brett Myers has lost weight.
An article on the Phillies web site reviews left-handed starting pitching prospects in the organization. If we're voting on the anonymous scouting report, I'm going thumbs down. On the other hand, if you're going to be a pitcher you can't do much better in terms of a name than "Outman." Another article on the team's site has an overview of the Phils headed into spring training.
This article says that the Phillies have yet to discuss a new contract with Ryan Howard's new agent. It also says that the Phillies are close to a deal with Geoff Geary. Geary is the Phillies' final remaining arbitration-eligible player and has a hearing date set for February 19 if no deal is reached.
Beerleaguer's Jason Weitzel talked about the Phillies on WIP last night. You can listen to the audio at Balls, Sticks and Stuff.