A quick graph post tonight before I turn in. I’m trying to come up with a graph that shows the ups and downs of a player’s progress over the course of a season. I know that the praiseworthy FanGraphs has been doing similar graphs for awhile, but I wanted to try my hand at my own style and it’s good Excel formatting practice anyways. These graphs are very simple, they plot BA/OBP/SLG by game. I eventually want to try and do wOBA version since wOBA = the best thing ever.

I’ve probably uttered the following phrase on this site a million times, but Pablo Sandoval really did have a terrific year at the plate last season. He started the season off a little rough, neither hitting for power or getting on base, but he corrected himself pretty quickly. Around game #20 his BA, OBP, and SLG all improved and he never really let up, kicking it up another notch around game #60 — especially in the power department — as he coasted to the end of the year as one of the best hitters in the National League. One of my biggest concerns with Pablo last year was his power, but he sustained a > .500 SLG for most of the season. And he’ll only be 23-years-old next season.

Rowand wasn’t as fortunate as Pablo in ’09. He started off hot, cooled down a little, and was moved to the leadoff around game #37 to somewhere around game #87. Rowand’s success as a hitter while batting leadoff shouldn’t be considered a cure for his hitting problems — more than likely it was a happy coincidence. But, Rowand will be heading into 2010 as the most likely candidate to hit leadoff for the G’s. He’s been a streaky hitter in his career and you can expect more of the same in the upcoming campaign. After watching Rowand limp to the finish line (hello, sliders!) it’s hard to imagine that around midway through the season he was hitting .295/.355/.478.