Postseason Roster Crunch: David Lough or Alejandro De Aza?

Photo by Keith Allison

Previously I looked at the Orioles postseason roster crunch in terms of the pitching staff. This post will look at the outfield roster crunch on the Orioles bench.

On August 31^st, the Orioles acquired Outfielder Alejandro De Aza from the White Sox in exchange for minor leaguers Mark Blackmar and Miguel Chalas. De Aza, 30, saw his first MLB action in 2007 with the Marlins, but he never appeared in more than 54 games in a season until 2012, when he played in 131 games for the White Sox.

Before looking at the choice, a few words on why I think only one of these two guys will be included on the roster. Jones, Markakis, and Cruz will all obviously be on the roster. Steve Pearce, though he’ll likely be primarily used at 1B, will also be on the roster and able to play in the OF. Around the rest of the infield, Schoop, Hardy, and Davis bring us to 7 of the 13 hitters the Orioles will likely carry (I looked at why that is the case in my last post on the postseason roster crunch). Add in the two catchers and Flaherty and we’re at 10. Delmon Young will be the 11^th player. The final two spots will go to an infielder and then Lough or De Aza. This may be glossing things over a bit, but I don’t see much controversy in these assumptions.

So, who should the Orioles carry on their postseason roster, Lough or De Aza? I’m glad you that you asked. First, we'll take a look at their offensive production. 

2014 wRC+

Sample size warnings apply, as this is only numbers from 2014. De Aza's plate appearances from left to right go 84, 373, 457. Lough's are 18, 159, 177.

Lough and De Aza shouldn't come anywhere near a bat when a LHP is on the mound. Whichever one makes the postseason roster should find themselves on the bench vs. LHPs, with Young likely playing instead. Vs. RHP, while both are vastly improved, Lough has still been below league average production, while De Aza has been slightly above. However, De Aaza's complete incompetence vs. LHP keeps him below league average production for the year.

Career wRC+

For context, De Aza's PA go, from left to right, 448, 1567, 2105. Lough's are 95, 482, 577.

The splits are much less drastic over a larger sample size. However, neither player should be considered a viable option when facing a LHP. Lough shows improvement vs. RHP, but is still a decent bit below league average. De Aza's career numbers vs. RHP are just a tick above average, while his career production is just a bit below league average, but better than Lough's.

In summary, neither of these players should be considered vs. LHP. Overall, De Aza has been the more productive hitter and the sample size we are evaluating him based off of consists of nearly 4 times as many PA's than Lough. 

Fielding is going to be an important piece of this decision, as neither of these players is expected to be in the starting lineup everyday, but will likely regularly serve as a defensive replacement for Young or Cruz in LF. Whichever one is on the roster will be the emergency CF, should something happen to Jones, and could also both play RF, if needed. 

Here's a look at their career UZR/150 at each OF position. 

Career UZR/150

Innings left to right for De Aza are 1406.1, 2618.1, and 227.1. For Lough, 478.1, 179.0, 629.2. Obviously there could be a lot of noise here, particularly in Lough's numbers. But, it would be safe to say that neither is a liability in the field, while Lough looks like a plus defender in his limited innings.

Scouting is always an essential part of player evaluation. I find it especially helpful when looking at fielding data. I talked to our very own Jon Shepherd for a feel of the general scouting consensus on both players. For Lough, Jon said that the scouting report is that he's an above average fielder, which aligns with what UZR tells us. Jon told me that De Aza's running and instincts are considered his strengths in the field. However, his arm has often been thought of as inadequate in CF or RF, but okay for LF. 

In summary, both of these guys can play the field well. Lough is generally regarded as the better fielder, but De Aza is far from a liability and would be the Orioles best defensive option in LF if Lough is not on the postseason roster. 

One thing that the Orioles will consider when choosing between these two is how they match up against the opposition's pitching staff. Yes, sample-size concerns are legitimate here, but Showalter is known to heavily weigh match ups. My decision making process wouldn't weigh the following info as heavily, but I'm not the one making the decision. I looked at the 4 members of each rotation with the most starts this year. The numbers are the player's slash line with the number of AB's in parenthesis. Here's how they line up against potential opponents.  

Royals

	De Aza	Lough
Shields	.167/.219/.200 (30)	.500/.500./500 (2)
Vargas	.000/.333/.000 (2)	No AB’s
Ventura	.000/.000/.000 (2)	.000/.000/.000 (5)
Guthrie	.250/.351/.313 (32)	.167/.167/.167 (6)

De Aza has hit poorly against Shields and below average against Guthrie. There's really not much here that I see as a make or break decision, even for Showalter, should the Orioles face the Royals.

Athletics

	De Aza	Lough
Lester	.286/.333/.571 (14)	No AB’s
Samardzjia	.083/.083/.083 (12)	No AB’s
Gray	No AB’s	.000/.500/.000 (1)
Kazmir	.667/.667/.667 (3)	.000/.000/.000 (4)

De Aza'a success vs. Lester really shocked me. Yes, it's only 14 AB's. But considering De Aza's awful splits vs. LHP combined with how good of a pitcher Lester is, I didn't expect his numbers to be anywhere near their respectable level. Could De Aza, who is generally inadequate against LHP, be included against the A's in part because of his success against LHP Lester? 

Angels

	De Aza	Lough
Weaver	.444/.545/.889 (9)	.500/.500/.500 (4)
Wilson	.000/.300/.000 (7)	No AB’s
Shoemaker	1.000/1.000/2.000 (2)	No AB’s
Santiago	No AB’s	.333/.500/.333 (3)

Not a lot that separates either guy here, which is not surprising when looking at sample sizes that are so minuscule. If anything, I suppose there's a slight edge to De Aza

Tigers

	De Aza	Lough
Price	.333/.333/.333 (6)	No AB’s
Scherzer	.256/.333/.349 (43)	.143/.143/.571 (7)
Verlander	.226/.294/.516 (31)	.167/.211/.222 (18)
Porcello	.206/.270/.235 (34)	.286/.375/.429 (7)

De Aza isn't going to force his way onto a roster vs. Detroit because of these numbers. However, Lough's numbers, in less AB's, are pretty poor as well. They both have hit one pitcher decently (De Aza vs. Price, Lough vs. Porcello) in very few AB's and the rest is poor. If the Orioles face the Tigers, I'd expect whichever one is on the roster to spend much of the series out of the lineup.

Mariners

	De Aza	Lough
Hernandez	.200/.333/.200 (10)	.333/.333/.333 (3)
Iwakuma	.111/.200/.111 (9)	.333/.333/.333 (3)
Elias	No AB’s	No AB’s
Young	No AB’s	No AB’s

I think Showalter weighs match-ups enough that, despite only having 6 total AB's, Lough's best chance for making the postseason roster is if the Orioles face the Mariners. De Aza hasn't had success against the two guys he's faced and Lough has managed to do okay in a grand total of 6 AB's. 

And finally, a quick look at base running. De Aza 78 steals and has been caught 35 times in his career. His career BsR is 6.2. Lough has 13 steals and has been caught 7 times in his career. His career BsR is 3.1. Some in Chicago were concerned with De Aza'a base running. Ultimately, both are solid options off the bench to pinch run late in the game for someone such as Cruz or Lough and I don't see either gaining the upper hand because of their base running. 

So, who makes it? I think Lough was given too hard of a time by Orioles fans for his early season struggles at the plate and not given enough credit for his glove. That being said, De Aza is a competent fielder. De Aza also offers more at the plate and has done so over a larger sample size, which is noteworthy because Lough has, so far, outperformed what scouts projected for him as a big league hitter. If I'm deciding the Orioles postseason roster (spolier: I'm not), I'm picking De Aza over Lough. 

All stats courtesy of Fangraphs and ESPN (current as of 9/9/14).