KC Royals: Matt Fields Is A Power Hitter In The Wings

Matt Fields played a key role in helping the KC Royals AAA-affiliate Omaha Storm Chasers attain the 2014 Pacific League Championship. He is currently in Surprise, AZ for Spring Training, and jumpstarted the Royals comeback on Monday afternoon with a two-run home run against the Cleveland Indians in the bottom of the 6th inning.

The Kansas City Royals could use Matt Fields’ power potential. Power hitting is down across baseball.

One statistic that can be used to describe power hitters is the home run/strikeout ratio. In essence it is a probability description of how many times a player will put up a run(s) versus being one out closer to ending the game. It can also reflect a players batting eye and when averaged over all of MLB can also describe the state of the game.

HR/Strikeout ratio over all of MLB from 1876 to 2014.

I rarely show data pre-Deadball, but in this case it is instructive. The home run/strikout ratio hasn’t fallen below 0.1 since 1920. Since many teams are placing so much emphasis on the pitching game the MLB overall average in 2015 could fall below it.

The KC Royals’ blueprint to breaking into the 2014 post-season with regards to pitching is being emulated by one big name major league club, the New York Yankees. One team that has defied the Royals pitching blueprint and bet big on offensive power instead is the Detroit Tigers.

With the acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes and the re-signing of Victor Martinez, they now have a trio of power hitters with Miguel Cabrera.

One of the better players of our time in this statistic is Victor Martinez. Since returning to the AL Central with the Tigers in 2011 he has averaged a HR/SO ratio of .374, mostly helped out by the monster 2014 season he had with .762.

When you analyze the home run/strikeout ratio for some of the more prominent hitters in MLB and for the Royals in 2014, the numbers are low as you might expect with the overall average hovering around 0.11 in 2014.

HR/SO ratio for MLB leaders and the Royals in 2014.

The highest home run/strikeout ratio average over all of MLB was in 1950. Al Rosen finished second in home runs that year and had a home run/strikeout ratio of 0.514 playing in 155 games with 37 home runs. Joe DiMaggio was the king of this statistic during the height of the home run/strikeout average in the early 1950’s.

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Since the Kansas City Royals were the MLB’s lowest in team home runs last year with 95, to say the boys in blue could use more HR’s in one of the more difficult parks to hit them is an understatement.

Enter Matt Fields, 6’5″ 235 lbs. In 2013, he broke the Northwest Arkansas Naturals Homerun record with 30 and then increased the record to 31. That summer he also won the Texas League All-star Homerun Derby and the MiLB Joe Bauman Homerun Award for AA. His home run/strikeout ratio was .179.

In 2014, Matt Fields moved up to AAA hit 28 HR’s with a .262 batting average, a .514 Slugging, and a .840 OPS. His HR/SO ratio was .171. He finished 3rd in HR’s in the Pacific Coast League last year.

So you may ask yourself, why did the Royals go out and pick up Josh Willingham last August to fill in for Billy Butler while Eric Hosmer was hurt? I believe the first answer is MLB experience, and the second part of that answer is strikeouts.

This is the part that I think a number of fans are not ok with. Strikeouts are fine, and based on the league average of HR/SO, when we bring a power hitter in, I think in certain situations we need to just let them swing for the fences. 10 Strike outs is the norm in MLB if you get a HR for every 10. Let’s not try to hold power hitters in this day and age to antiquated ideas that we just brought up Joe DiMaggio because a better analogy is pitchers with numbers that flirt with Sandy Koufax’s are out there in Clayton Kershaw.

I had an opportunity to ask Matt Fields a few questions to find out a little more about the man, and here is a compilation of his responses.

"As a native of Seattle, Matt enjoyed watching Ken Griffey Jr (who had a career HR/SO = 0.354) growing up and Miguel Cabrera currently because they hit with raw power. I asked him if he could play in any ballpark just once, where would he like to play? His response was Safeco because that is where he grew up, but he would love to play at the K. Personally I want to see him play at Yankees Stadium with that HR park factor. The Royals do have a series there in late-May.Matt credits his mother Tonette Winston with giving him the drive and work ethic to go this far with Baseball. His determination and power should also not be underestimated in my opinion."

Between Kendrys Morales and Salvador Perez at DH this year, there is no question in my mind at some point these guys will need a break. It will be interesting to see what Matt Fields can do.

Next: Alex Gordon Should Have Been Sent Home

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