Not The Weekest Link

For all the crap that Rickie Weeks gets from every Brewers fan, including myself, he does deserve some credit for what he has accomplished. Although it may not seem like much, he does some things particularly well and he is getting better in many areas of his game. Don’t get me wrong—he has not been as good as advertised when the Brewers drafted him. But as I mentioned, he does do some things pretty well and needs to be recognized for his efforts.

I am bringing about the issue because the Brewers and Weeks avoided arbitration yesterday with a one-year contract worth $2.45 million. That’s a big chunk of money for a career .245 hitter. That’s what the typical fan might think. The following numbers might surprise you though.

So hopefully I have successfully engaged all those Rickie Weeks haters who are right now shaking their head at me for defending the man. How can a .245 hitter make $2.45 million in a year? The answer is by doing the other things right.

Remember when Weeks came into the league? Sure, he hit his first Major League home run off stud pitcher Johan Santana. Brewer fans were ecstatic at the young prospect. They then realized that his defense was about as bad as Mark Reynolds. 2005 and 2006, Weeks led (in ’05 he was tied with Alfonso Soriano with 21) all Major League second basemen with 21 and 22 errors respectively. His .952 fielding percentage was also near the bottom of the league. He worked hard to get rid of his image. His errors dropped from 22 to 13 the next season even though he played in 23 more games. That .952 fielding percentage climbed to .976. He kept it up the last season fielding .975. Now even I’ll admit that when a routine ball is hit to Rickie, I get that feeling that he will boot it. But through all the adversary, he has quietly improved his defense and might bring his error total to single digits next year.

So what about the other part of the game? Well I’ve already mentioned that he is a .245 hitter who is coming off his worst batting average season of .234. So what positives are there from this? The big number that jumps out is the .352 on base percentage. For those of you that don’t know if that’s good or not, get this: Weeks’ .352 on base percentage is higher than All-Star and potential Hall of Famer Jose Reyes’ .336. Yes those numbers are right—Weeks does have a higher on base percentage. And as a leadoff hitter, that’s all Rickie is asked to do. Get on base so the other hitters can drive him in. So that .245 doesn’t mean as much as the .352 does.

A leadoff hitter still needs to get himself in position to score. This leads me to my next point. After getting on base, Rickie has done a great job of getting to second base and giving his teammates an opportunity to drive him in. I’ve got more staggering numbers for you: .848, .799, and .770. You might be wondering what these numbers mean—and no they are not fielding percentages! They are success rates on steals for three players: Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, and Rickie Weeks. Care to guess who owns the .848 number? Well if you said Reyes or Ramirez, you are wrong. That’s right Weeks has a higher success rate than those two All-Stars.

So let’s recap. Weeks gets on base better than Jose Reyes and has a higher success rate on steals than both Reyes and Hanley Ramirez. And people still give him crap. It’s time to start realizing what Rickie brings to the Brewers—a man who is improving his defense, a guy who can get on base, and a guy who can make the most of his opportunities once he reaches base. So you may want to reconsider your stance when you talk about the holes in Rickie’s game and start to talk about what he does exceptionally well.