posted on Saturday, February 03, 2007 1:07 AM by Jim

Pablo Ozuna

ESSENTIALS
2006 OVERVIEW

OFFENSE

I can't recall a ballplayer making me laugh more than the Secret Weapon did in 2006, maybe because no matter how many hits he racked up in the first half, everything he did seemed so damn improbable.  It doesn't help that he chews his gum like Yeah-Yeah from "The Sandlot."

I laughed during the Pablo Ozuna Game, when he hit his first home run so authoritatively that he could watch it into the stands.  I laughed later when he stretched a seeing-eye single into a double and scored the winning run.  I laughed when he managed a walk-off bunt against the A's, and when he had two jam-shot pop-ups land in the infield for singles against the Rangers, driving in two on an infield single.

And when the All-Star break rolled around, Ozuna's first-half batting average of .413 (38-for-92) made for a three-day chucklefest.

The second half provided far less whimsy, though it actually started when Ozuna left the first inning of the June 30 game against the Cubs.  It nagged him for a while, and Ozzie Guillen thought he might've had to put Ozuna on the DL, Ozuna battled through it.  Not well, unfortunately.

Ozuna struggled through July and August, and when paired with Scott Podsednik, they formed an incredibly ineffective platoon.  At one point, Ozuna was 3-for-40 with a slugging percentage of .100, and yet he batted leadoff just about every time (Ozzie Guillen put Pods or Ozuna in the leadoff spot 159 out of 162 games).  Not only was he not getting on base, but he even struggled getting bunts down.

He did rebound to finish the last month on a good note, closing out by far his finest season ever.  His .328 average was the highest of any non-September call-up.

BASERUNNING

Ozuna rated a +3 in the Bill James Handbook, which is one of the highest on the team.  He was one of the few who had no problem scoring from second (eight times in nine chances), and made the trip from first to home a couple times as well.  He recorded no outs on the basepaths, though he came close when he missed touching third while coming to score on a Paul Konerko single.  Had Michael Young not assumed Ozuna had scored easily, there would've been a play at the plate.

On the other hand, Ozuna wasn't nearly as judicious with his base-stealing attempts.  After stealing 14 bases in 21 attempts in 2005, Ozuna was successful on only half of his 12 tries in 2006.  A lot of that was due to the hamstring injury, though he had a couple of ugly attempts well before.  He was Victor Martinez's first victim of the season, after the Cleveland catcher failed on his first 27 throws.  He's just not that great at stealing bases.

DEFENSE

Considering the way Ozuna's defense looked in his first game of the season, it could've been a lot worse.  A windy night wreaked havoc with Ozuna's judgment in left, even causing a faceplant when he misread the depth of a ball in front of him.  Then he slid way too early in a game trying to catch a ball along the foul line in a loss to Seattle, and it seemed like Pods was going to handle left himself.

As the season progressed, Pablo looked more and more like an outfielder, even if his routes were by no means pristine.  He also added three outfield assists, one of them coming on one of the strangest plays of the year -- Sean Casey's 5-7-3 groundout to left.

Thanks to Podsednik's failings and the addition of Alex Cintron, Ozuna wasn't utilized much in the infield.  Ozuna played third or second in 24 games; in 2005, he played all four infield positions over 55 games.  He managed third and second decently when called upon, and probably would have been a decent platoon partner for Tadahito Iguchi when he struggled to his lefties for the bulk of the season.

2007 OUTLOOK

Due to the weak nature of many of the Secret Weapon's hits, he doesn't inspire much confidence with the bat.  He showed that when his legs aren't right, he renders himself a non-entity offensively, and his glove can't carry the burden.

On the other hand, when healthy, he's been an asset to the Sox ever since impressing Ozzie Guillen with his outstanding performance at Spring Training in 2005.  Rough patches and all, Ozuna has hit .301/.338/.385 as a White Sox in 392 at-bats.

On top of that, Ozuna hit righties exactly 100 points higher in 2006 (.348), although he only had 14 at-bats against them after pulling his hamstring, opposed to 88 against lefties, against whom he slugged better.  Hopefully the Sox won't need him as much in left, because he has shown the ability to change games when used here and there.  I'm still afraid he's the kind of guy who can become overexposed.

PROJECTIONS

Pablo Ozuna
 AB HR RBI
 BA
 OBP SLG OPS
2007 ZiPS
 299
 3 35 .284 .321 .378 .699
2007 BJS
 203
 2
 25 .286 .322 .374 .697
2007 JCM
 188
 1
 22 .292 .325 .376 .701

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