Dan Uggla has been beyond awful this season, which has been documented on this blog multiple times. However, with the Braves heading to Seattle for a series this week, we can focus on someone who has been significantly worse than Dan Uggla this season. Chone Figgins signed a 4 year deal for over 10 million a season with the Seattle Mariners after an extraordinary final season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2009, one that culminated in him putting up 6.9 WAR. Figgins was an excellent player on all fronts that season, posting a .395 on base percentage, playing terrific defense at 3rd base, and stealing 42 bases. He had combined for 7.2 WAR in the 2 seasons before that one, so he had a pretty good track record of being a really solid player to begin with, and posting fantastic numbers in a contract year led to him getting paid handsomely. His combination of speed, batting eye, and defense made him an extremely attractive option for Seattle's innovative run prevention front office strategy.
However, that contract has blown up in their faces, as Figgins combined a drop in walk rate with some horrific defense at a new position (2nd base) to produce just 1.1 WAR last year, and this year he has taken his suckiness to a whole new level. His batting eye, once well above average, has completely abandoned him, as his walk rate is just 5.9% this year, down from 10.5% in 2010. Considering Figgins has never had any power, his offensive value is tied up in how much he gets on base. He's not doing it this year, with a ghastly .235 OBP, and that makes him a complete liability in every sense of the word.
Does this drop in walk rate sound similar to an underachieving hitter with the Braves? Want to know some more similarities? Figgins' ground ball rate is the highest of his career this year, just like Dan Uggla. Its not the worst thing in the world for Figgins to hit the ball on the ground, as he doesn't have any power and can use his legs to get on base. However, that ground ball rate has gone up at the expense of his line drive rate. Figgins has always hit a lot of line drives, and his 18.5% line drive rate would represent the worst of his career by over 2 full points. Grounders are not a terrible thing for a hitter like Figgins, unless they come at the expense of line drives. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has happen for Chone.
But wait, there is more. Related to the batting eye problems mentioned earlier, Figgins is swinging at over 25% of pitches thrown out of the strike zone to him. In 2009, it was just 15%, and it was just over 20% last year. Swinging at bad pitches is not a recipe for success, but it is a death sentence when combined with this next factoid. Chone Figgins' contact rate on balls outside the strike zone is an ungodly 84.5% this season, far and away the highest mark of his career. Putting the two together, swinging at bad pitches and making contact with most of them is just not a way to succeed, as it most likely is going to lead to weakly hit grounders for easy outs (unless you are Vlad Guererro in his prime).
These changes in approach has led to a triple slash line of .188/.235/.252, good for -1.2 WAR on the season even after factoring in a relative rebound in his defensive performance this year. For comparison's sake, Dan Uggla sits at .180/.247/.339 and -.4 WAR. When your numbers this season are without question worse than Dan Uggla's, you have some problems. Figgins' BABIP will rise a bit from its current .213 level to help his batting average at some point, but his contract is really looking like a sunk cost for the Mariners, especially since Figgins is already 33 years old. If Figgins can get back to taking more pitches, it would really help the Mariners in their fight for the postseason, as they need all the help they can get on offense, even after top prospect Dustin Ackley's promotion.
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