Devils in the Pros: National League Aces Beware of Andre Ethier
In our weekly look around pro baseball, we find a former Sun Devil lighting up National League aces and Ike Davis struggling in Brooklyn.
(See our man channeling Rudy Carpenter.)
Throughout this season, and especially since the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Manny Ramirez, Andre Ethier (ASU 2002-03) has been stuck in the glut of Dodgers outfielders, though Dodgers manager Joe Torre said on Sunday that Ethier will start regularly from here on.
On Tuesday, Ethier came off the bench after sitting against tough Philadelphia lefty Cole Hamels, and then singled in the game-winning run off southpaw J.C. Romero — who is holding left-handed hitters to a .080 average (7-for-87) this year — in the bottom of the ninth inning to seal the Dodgers’ 4-3 win.
Two days earlier, he faced San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain, going 2-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored and an RBI. It continued his career success against Cain, improving to 7-for-11 against him this year, and 13-for-22 in his career.
Interestingly, Ethier isn’t just razing Cain, he’s lighting up his fair share of NL aces.
He has posted a 1.000 OPS or better (in limited plate appearances) against Cain, Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, Chris Young, Ryan Dempster, Aaron Cook and Carlos Zambrano, all of whom have been N.L. All-Stars over the last two seasons.
Here’s a look at Ethier’s numbers against them:
| Cain | 22 AB | .591 AVG | 0 2B | 0 HR | 2 BB | 1.259 OPS |
| Cook | 14 AB | .429 AVG | 1 2B | 1 HR | 2 BB | 1.214 OPS |
| Dempster | 11 AB | .455 AVG | 2 2B | 1 HR | 0 BB | 1.364 OPS |
| Haren | 9 AB | .444 AVG | 1 2B | 0 HR | 0 BB | 1.000 OPS |
| Webb | 15 AB | .467 AVG | 3 2B | 0 HR | 3 BB | 1.223 OPS |
| Young | 19 AB | .474 AVG | 2 2B | 4 HR | 3 BB | 1.756 OPS |
| Zambrano | 13 AB | .462 AVG | 1 2B | 0 HR | 1 BB | 1.038 OPS |
Obviously this is a function of small sample size. Even Barry Bonds (ASU 1983-85) would be unlikely to put up those numbers against that caliber of pitching, but the numbers are what they are.
Joe Torre made the right choice; now he just has to stick with it. When your other options are Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones, playing Ethier every night is probably the best strategy for L.A.
EXTRA INNINGS
Ike Davis (ASU 2006-08) spent five minutes with David Laurila from Baseball Prospectus. He’s batting .235 (36-for-153) with 11 doubles and 11 RBIs in 40 games with the Brooklyn Cyclones.
(Photo courtesy: Los Angeles Dodgers)
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Cain was not an All-Star in the last two years (or ever… yet), thoguh all of the rest were. The point is well taken though: Andre Ethier fears no man!
GO DEVILS!