A.J. Pollock broke his elbow. We still don’t know how much time he will miss this season, but early estimates suggest that in a best-case scenario he’ll be back in September.
After the news broke that Pollock was broke, everyone ran to the waiver-wire to add Socrates Brito. I get it. Brito is a talented, young option who has 15 homer power and the ability to steal 20 bases. However, the belief in Brito seems to be on the wane after the club announced that Chris Owings will also see time in center field. In fact, some took the fact that Owings is slated to start Game 1 as some sign that Owings will be the starting center fielder for the Diamondbacks. That’s simply not true. The D’backs are facing a lefty on O.D., Jorge De La Rosa, so that’s why Owings is in there. In fact, manager Chip Hale said the following about the center field position. "Brito will be our everyday center fielder. Against a lefty, I think Chris matches up better." He also said this. Brito “…"will be in every game, let's put it that way, whether it is starting or coming in for defense. " That sure sounds like Brito will be out there against nearly all the righties with Owings seeing time against lefties. Of course, Owings could also see some time at second and shortstop, but it’s unclear how he will fit into the daily lineup. What is clear at this point is that you should still be favoring Brito over Owings.
There is also this note that the club from Arizona is still looking around to potentially add another option in center field which could ding the outlook of both Brito and Owings.
Owings as a player, let’s dig into that.
Owings has 945 plate appearances at the big league level over three seasons. Last year was the only time in three years that he’s accrued more than 332 plate appearances, so it’s not a huge sample size we’re talking about. Still, this is what I see.
He’s hit .243. That’s terrible. It is a bit low though given that he owns a stellar 25.4 percent line drive rate for his career. Still, even with all those liners, his BABIP is only .312. He’s also hit miserably against lefties to this point with a .214 average. He’s a league average type in this category.
Owings has hit 10 homers in 880 at-bats. Pathetic. He has a 33 percent fly ball rate, one percent below the league average, with a 4.7 HR/FB ratio – half the league average. At 5’10”, 190 lbs he’s just not a guy who has the stroke to drive the ball into the seats.
Last season, in 552 plate appearances, he drove in 43 runs. Can’t think things change much because he isn’t a top of the order option even though he's hitting second on Opening Day. He also doesn’t drive the ball at all with a .113 career Isolated Power mark and a pathetic .356 SLG. Awful.
Owings has a career .283 OBP. Yes, that is worse than the .284 of Zack Cozart and the .287 career mark of Billy Hamilton. That’s how pathetic Owings is at getting on base. He’s simply awful at it. Even in the minors his OBP was only .321.
Owings did steal 16 bags last season, and that is a positive for sure. Still, his overall offense game is lacking to the point that even though he can run a bit, it really doesn’t matter.
Owings qualifies at second base (115 games) and shortstop (35) heading into the 2016 season. He’s obviously going to be seeing some time in the outfield as well adding more flexibility, so check your league rules to see how many games it takes for him to qualify. That’s, finally, a positive for Owings.
Ultimately Owings is nothing more than an NL-only option – albeit a very solid one given his strong positional flexibility. You can add him in your mixed league but I don’t see the point. The average isn’t there, he doesn’t get on base, and he doesn’t drive the baseball. I’ll look elsewhere in a mixed league for some steals production.
Follow this link to check out the entire Player Profile Series as the 2016 season begins.