posted on Friday, January 26, 2007 11:30 PM by Jim

Rob Mackowiak

ESSENTIALS
2006 OVERVIEW

OFFENSE

Though he was overwhelmed defensively, Rob Mackowiak had a beautiful season with the bat.  He set career-highs in batting average (.290) and on-base percentage (.365), and those rates include his stumbling out of the gate.  He went 5-for-35 in April, and since the Sox went 17-7 during that stretch, he didn't exactly hold the team back.

From May 1 through the rest of the season, Mackowiak put up a line of .314/.383/.436, a more consistent stretch than he's ever experienced in his career.  Part of that is due to him getting fewer at-bats, but none of it was due to platooning.  Even with part-time duties,  he was still in the ballpark in terms of facing his usual amount of lefties.  He had 60 plate appearances against lefties; he averaged 64 PAs against southpaws in his three fullish seasons with the Pirates.

He didn't hit lefties with any remote trace of authority (.222/.288/.222), but he hammered righties to the tune of .308/.384/.453 -- or .331/.402/.486 after his early slump.

What's interesting about Mackowiak is that game-winning hits weren't his thing, but he helped to set up a lot of dramatic moments.  For instance:
  • His pinch-hit homer off Oakland closer Huston Street tied up the ballgame in Frank Thomas' return to Chicago.  He then singled in the 10th, one batter before Pablo Ozuna's walk-off bunt single.
  • His leadoff double in the 10th set up Alex Cintron's game-winning single off Dan Wheeler.  Mack scored the winning run.
  • His single off Bob Wickman in the 11th tied up the June 10th game against Cleveland.  He was thrown out trying to score the game-winning run, but Tadahito Iguchi drove in Ozuna from first with a smash down the line one batter later.   
  • He singled in the ninth inning off Baltimore's Chris Ray -- three batters later, Ross Gload hit a game-winning grand slam.
Not surprisingly, Mackowiak excelled at starting innings, going .389/.421/.574 in those situations.  Yet another reason why he would've been great as the regular starting left fielder in the second half of the season.  He hit slightly below his season totals with runners in scoring position.

One odd area in which Mack faltered was hitting at home.  Even though U.S. Cellular Field is an excellent hitting environment for lefties, Mack posted a sub-par .674 OPS, as opposed to his .885 clip on the road.

BASERUNNING

Bill James rated Mackowiak a -3 on the basepaths last year, which I think is a fair assessment.

He had some bright spots, like when he scored a run off a wild pitch that didn't even come close to reaching the backstop against the Mariners.  He also stole five bases in seven attempts, although he was wrongly called safe once.

Mackowiak made only one out on the basepaths trying to advance -- the aforementioned game against the Indians -- and was doubled off once against the Orioles. And he was successful less than half the time scoring from second (three times in eight chances), so add in those and the small sample size, and it's why he comes up a little below average.  Nothing noticeable in single-game situations.

DEFENSE

I've already spent enough time describing Mackowiak's faults in center through the season to put it into any sort of cohesive form again. 

More evidence that he shoud've replaced Pods -- his finest moments with the glove came as a corner outfielder.  He threw out Ben Broussard at second, made a leaping grab at the wall to rob Kevin Kouzmanoff of extra bases, and had a nice diving catch against the Royals.

Meanwhile, a quick run through State of the Sox brings up the following misplays in center, in order of the search results:
  • April 22:  Goes wrong way on Joe Mauer flyball in win against Minnesota.
  • May 21:  Bad jump, ill-advised dive leads to triple, loss against Cubs.
  • May 31:  Bad jump leads to triple in loss to Cleveland.
  • June 2:  Ball goes over Mackowiak's head in loss to Texas.
  • June 8:  Two consecutive misplays leads to two runs in loss to Detroit.
  • June 24: Misplays several balls in win over Houston.
  • July 16:  Misplay on flyball leads to double, run in loss to New York.
  • July 19:  Late start on flyball helps lead to grand slam in loss to Detroit.
  • Aug. 8: Drops ball in win against New York.
  • Aug. 16:  Two misplays -- although one was a knuckler -- in loss to Kansas City.
  • Aug. 23:  Lets flyball drop for single in win against Detroit.
  • Sept. 1: Throwing error aids six-run inning in loss to Kansas City.
  • Sept. 15: Mistimed dive leads to three runs in loss to Oakland.
  • Sept. 18:  Drops ball in loss to Detroit.
This does not account for all Mackowiak misplays, nor the catches that he made more difficult than they had to be.  It is interesting to note the Sox went 4-10 in games where Mackowiak made an egregious error in center field, even if real meaning can't be derived from it.

2007 OUTLOOK

The good news: Ozzie Guillen won't be considering Rob Mackowiak an option in center field in 2007.  Darin Erstad isn't the only option either -- Ryan Sweeney and Luis Terrero can man the position if Brian Anderson isn't up to the task for whatever reason.

On the other hand, it would have been nice for the Sox to find a right-handed outfielder, because Mackowiak could be half of a real productive platoon.  His swing is tailored to hit righties, but the way he steps away in the box renders him ineffective against lefties.

As of this writing, it's difficult to get a gauge of how often Mackowiak may play in the outfield, but he shouldn't exactly be considered an infielder, considering he only played six games at third in 2006.  Even considering his partial seasons with the Pirates, Mackowiak never played fewer than 24 games in the infield.  Let's hope he isn't rusty.

Considering his ability to draw a walk and decent speed, I woudn't shy away from hitting him first in the order if there are no better options.  But since he isn't a track star, I doubt Ozzie would slot him there. 

PROJECTIONS

Rob Mackowiak
 AB HR RBI
 BA
 OBP SLG OPS
2007 ZiPS
 395
 12
 60 .258 .332
 .405 .737
2007 BJS
 267
 7
 33 .266 .342 .401 .743
2007 JCM
 240
 6
 31 .272 .349 .411 .760

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