For
a lot of Mets fans, Eric Campbell
came out of nowhere in 2014 to be an
interesting right-handed bat off the bench who could play the corner positions
acceptably. For those that follow the minor leagues closely, he was a long-time
depth guy (drafted by the Mets in the 8th round of 2008) who had
been beating up some on AA and AAA pitching since 2012, but who never hit for
enough power to profile as a starter at the corner positions he played less
than spectacular defense at. Last year, Campbell was one of the last cuts in
spring training, and then a slow start from Josh Satin opened a door for a
red-hot Soup to get the call. Soup came up and had some big hits in his first
week with the club, especially in the pinch-hitting role, and he quickly became
a go-to guy for Terry Collins. But Soup didn’t hit in the majors like he had in
the minors, so I wanted to take a closer look at his season.
To
start, let’s compare his overall major league stats with what he’s been doing
in the PCL the past two years.
Table 1a – Eric Campbell’s stats with Las Vegas in 2013-14
and the Mets in 2014
Team
|
PA
|
AVG
|
BABIP
|
OBP
|
ISO
|
K%
|
BB%
|
XBH (HR)
|
wRC+
|
2013 LV
|
425
|
.314
|
.357
|
.435
|
.161
|
14.1
|
15.5
|
36 (8)
|
148
|
2014 LV
|
163
|
.355
|
.398
|
.442
|
.170
|
12.3
|
12.3
|
18 (3)
|
157
|
Mets
|
211
|
.263
|
.348
|
.322
|
.095
|
26.1
|
8.1
|
12 (3)
|
97
|
Table 1b – Batted ball and extra base hit rates (GB/BIP,
FB/BIP, LD/BIP, XBH/AB)
Team
|
GB%
|
FB%
|
LD%
|
XBH%
|
2013 LV
|
55
|
28
|
17
|
10.6
|
2014 LV
|
47
|
23
|
30
|
12.8
|
Mets
|
55
|
27.5
|
17.5
|
6.3
|
