Tulsa still waiting for their offense to wake up

[Tulsa Tornadoes]

Tulsa is currently having a pretty good season; however, their offense has simply been attoricious - and for no real reason. Only three players have an OPS over .800, and only one of them (Denorfia) has more than 100 at bats. But why is this happening? Well that is anyone's guess. Lets take a quick look at the lineup.

SS Jose Reys
2B Jason Kipnis
OF Matt Kemp
1B Ike Davis
DH Billy Butler
RF Alex Rios
CA Ryan Doumit
3B Chris Nelson
LF Chris Denorfia

The lineup changes a bit against lefites, but really this article wants to look at the should-be "big bats" of Jose Reyes, Matt Kemp, and Billy Butler.

In 2012, SS Jose Reyes hit .287 with a .347 OBP (he is a career .342 OBP batter).
However, in PSBL, Reyes is hitting .246 with a .299 OBP.

In 2012, OF Matt Kemp hit .303 with a .367 OBP and .538 slugging.
Yet in PSBL, Kemp is hitting .269 with a .337 OBP and .406 slugging.
HUH? Kemp is one of the best hitters in the game. He's struggling in 2013 in real life because of injuries, but based on his career .292 batting average, .349 OBP, and .492 slugging (which includes this year), this line is ludicrous.

In 2012, 1B/DH Billy Butler hit .313 with a .373 OBP and .510 OPS.
However in the game, he has hit .266 with a .313 OBP and .357 OPS.
This one is the most ridiculous of all as Butler is known as mr. consistency. He's a career .287 hitter, .363 OBP, and .462 OPS. This line is beyond ridiculous, its borderline conspiracy.

In short, just about everyone on my team is struggling to hit and it simply defies logic. The above three are great players. And I'm not even mentioning the struggles of Rios, Davis, and Doumit.

Tulsa is currently open to any and all suggestions as to how an entire offense could be struggling.


(And if anyone has any idea how Jered Weaver can have an ERA over 4 when his ERA was under 3 in 2012 and 2011, and his career ERA is 3.26, Tulsa is all years).

[Anvil Chucker]

This isn't rocket surgery.

Brad probably still hates you, Ray.

[Brad]

Small sample size, about the only thing super-surprising to me is Butler's SLG being that low.

His power rating is set appropriately, I can double-check some of the major code points to see if that's doing what I'd expect.

Probably 1 in 2 players, you can pick out a 45-game stretch that's much poorer than their full season...and all their ratings look good.

A little rating game:
Billy Butler's power should be about the same as ______ who's hitting for the #'s that I'd expect Butler to hit for.

[Seattle Stealth]

Also bear this in mind: what happens when only the best half of the pitchers in the majors face only the best half of the hitters? You can't have both awesome stats for pitchers and awesome stats for hitters, as seems to be expected here. In fact, you'd have to expect both hitters and pitchers to underperform and regress toward being "average" players since none of the worst players are playing against them all that often.

[Tulsa Tornadoes]

I considered that Seattle, which is why I only called out my stars. Butler is mr. consistent, a .300 hitter with 20+ homers, Kemp is a stud, and Reyes is Reyes. Your point is valid, but Reyes is hitting .204 and Butler has a .271 (okay) but .317 OBP. Butler is a career .363 OBP guy.

I'm gonna let Brad's suggestion play out a bit more but so far, this is craziness!

[Tulsa Tornadoes]

So much for small sample size. Sure in real life Matt Kemp was bad this year because of injuries, but a .631 OPS from a guy who did this - OF Matt Kemp hit .303 with a .367 OBP and .538 slugging - in 2012?!?

And Billy Butler, mr. consistent, with a .675 OPS when in 2012 he did this - .313 with a .373 OBP and .510 OPS. And a career .287 hitter, .363 OBP, and .462 OPS.

Hard to win when your stud bats hit like scrubs.