I'd argue that Donaldson would make adjustments to any ballpark. He's really not that far off Home/Away this season -

Home
.307 .415 .607
19 57 in 257 ABs

Away
.272 .395 .520
15 52 in 250 ABs

Some less power, line drive % takes a dip, but in the end you - should - be pretty competent batting in your own ballpark. You play half your games there.

What do you mean by competent?

Not a trick question. Is there a specific skill to hitting at a certain ballpark that doesn't exist at another ballpark? (Other than maybe Boston).

Perhaps, sj. But a guy who's hitting .392 on the road is pretty impressive. I'd be more inclined to lean towards a guy who can hit anywhere.

Another thing that I looked at earlier which I forgot to mention, in response to the statement that Altuve doesn't work deep counts:

Altuve's had 219 PAs where he's gotten to a two-strike count. His OPS in those PA's is .783.

Donaldson's had 318 PA's where he's reached a two-strike count. His OPS in those PA's is .671.

That's something that doesn't show up in WAR.

Again, advantage to Altuve when he needs to battle.

Another issue I have with WAR. Very bad with situational stuff. But its a very good point and one that I missed.

BL -
> What do you mean by competent?
> Not a trick question. Is there a specific skill to hitting at a certain ballpark that doesn't exist at another ballpark? (Other than maybe Boston).

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you play half your games somewhere, you need to be able to adjust for hitting there. Its expected that a player should be comfortable and productive in their own ballpark.

I don't get why two strike OPS matters if overall OPS is the same. Do hits with two strikes give you some sort of bonus?

And I don't think I'd draw any conclusions from OPS after X count anyway. Altuve has a .865 OPS at 0-2 but .654 at 2-2.

I dont think anyone would argue that Altuve is good at 0-2 but not good at 2-2. It's just a fluke.

Altuve is more productive with two strikes on him than is Donaldson.

Do you have even the slightest ******* understanding about baseball? Because this is pretty basic stuff.

I'm saying I wouldn't draw any conclusions from it because things get weird when you start looking at subsets like that.

Over their careers, Donaldson has a better OPS with two strikes.

What does a player who is successful hitting with 2 strikes tell you?

Quote post by sjpoker on 9/8/2016 5:02:00 PM:
BL -
> What do you mean by competent?
> Not a trick question. Is there a specific skill to hitting at a certain ballpark that doesn't exist at another ballpark? (Other than maybe Boston).

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you play half your games somewhere, you need to be able to adjust for hitting there. Its expected that a player should be comfortable and productive in their own ballpark.

I think most hitters do better at home. But some parks (CO, TOR, PHX to name a few) give a boost to offense due to their elevation, air density, dimensions, etc. If we're trying to determine who the best hitter actually is, we should account for that.

Quote post by sjpoker on 9/8/2016 5:12:00 PM:
What does a player who is successful hitting with 2 strikes tell you?

Most players aren't successful hitting with two strikes. Career-wise, Donaldson and Altuve are pretty much tied at a .600ish OPS. Approach doesn't seem to matter.

Argue Monkey chooses to ignore facts and substitute his own narrative when the facts are inconvenient to his argument.