I'm about 3 yrs too young to remember Rudy Law...in the winning year i see he was maybe average as a leadoff guy (i should say besides stealing bases). If you remember him, briefly describe what he was like, perhaps chart him with regards to other past Sox leadoff guys.

 

Pods statistically was not off the charts in '05, this i know. obviously he got things going at opportune times and will always be remembered as such.

 

 

Leads up to the question: can our leadoff hitter --even if just average to slightly below--be at least as good as the ones we had in winning years?

Edited March 3, 200917 yr by Princess Dye

The reason i bring this up is most people here doubt Owens can be more than a slap singles hitter. From what I can see the organization has done well with leadoff hitters that dont hit doubles. If JO can do even a little worse than that storied end of 0607 stretch.... i think he could be at least passable and enough for a winning team.

The reason i bring this up is most people here doubt Owens can be more than a slap singles hitter. From what I can see the organization has done well with leadoff hitters that dont hit doubles. If JO can do even a little worse than that storied end of 0607 stretch.... i think he could be at least passable and enough for a winning team.

 

Owens has no power at all. To make up for this he needs a good average (>.300), OBP (>.360) and have a stolen base success rate of > 80%. His problem is that with no power pitchers can challenge him and go right at him. They can pitch him inside and not worry about leaving the ball over the plate because there is nothing that he is going to do to hurt them, hench the weak grounders. Joe Crede struggled with a good slider, as do many MLB hitters. The problem for a pitcher is if you hang that slider Joe can crush it......or pop out on the infield,,,but I digress....with Owens, a pitcher can live with making a mistake because he is unable to make them pay.

 

Alphonso Soriano can not hit good pitching but he makes his money pounding mistakes and destroying bad pitching.

Rudy Law in '83 was better than average as a leadoff hitter. That was 1983, not 1998, you have to have the perspective of the time.

 

A .283 average and .340 OBP would have been pretty good, and 20 doubles with 7 triples is pretty good for a non-power hitter. He was also a very good contact hitter, striking out only rarely. But the guy also stole 77 bases, caught only 12 times (86.5% success), which is a huge number. He was a better than average leadoff guy.

 

And yes, I confess, I'm old enough that I have watched him play in person.

 

The guy that I compare Owens to is Lance Johnson. Slap hitter, good speed, weak arm. There's only one difference. Johnson was good.

The guy that I compare Owens to is Lance Johnson. Slap hitter, good speed, weak arm. There's only one difference. Johnson was good.

Yeah, that's a pretty big difference.

 

The last true lead-off hitter the Sox had was Kenny Lofton, and they didn't have him for very long. I am consistently annoyed by the local media here, and our front office, for constantly trying to beat it into the minds of the fans that Owens has the potential to be a true lead-off hitter. Quit it already. He's not even a true 4th OF. People who think Owens has the potential to be even average are going to s*** their pants if Jordan Danks ever gets here.

Edited March 4, 200917 yr by Kenny Hates Prospects