Are the Dodgers starting their best 2nd baseman?

Phil Gurnee ♦ September 9, 2017 ♦ 1 Comment

Maybe it was laughable to suggest that Austin Barnes should be the starting 2nd baseman back in June, but here we are on Sept 9th, and I don’t think that is such a laughable concept anymore.

Chase Utley had a nice run in May but has since stabilized into what you would expect from a 38-year-old second baseman. Since the all-star break, Chase has an 89 wRC+. Not horrible but not that good.

Logan Forsythe has a second half wRC+ of only 75.  Just about all of Logan’s value come from his 18% walk rate. His slug% is .265 with an ISO of .068. Outside of the walk rate those are the hitting skills of a pitcher.

Austin Barnes has been one of the Dodgers best hitters all year long as a backup catcher, pinch hitter, and the occasional (15 games) second baseman.

Kyle Farmer was brought up today, and it might be time to see what Austin Barnes can do at 2nd base now that the team has an extra catcher.  The numbers don’t lie, as a hitter Austin Barnes is head and tails above the other second baseman.  Can his glove play there will enough, the eye test says yes but in very limited opportunity?  Austin has only played 15 games at 2nd this year, maybe that should double by the end of the year?

Except………..

I just noticed that Austin Barnes doesn’t have an extra base since August 11th.

Damn, can’t anyone hit?

For the season:

Rk   Pos              Name Age  PA   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS OPS+
3     2B    Logan Forsythe  30 380 .227 .358 .311 .669   80
9     2B      Chase Utley*  38 316 .230 .324 .387 .711   88
10    UT Enrique Hernandez  25 312 .216 .305 .429 .734   92
12     C     Austin Barnes  27 216 .298 .412 .481 .893  136

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/9/2017.

For the second half:

Rk              Player    Split Year  PA   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
6       Logan Forsythe 2nd Half 2017 166 .197 .343 .265 .609
8    Enrique Hernandez 2nd Half 2017  97 .218 .299 .379 .678
10       Austin Barnes 2nd Half 2017  90 .320 .433 .400 .833
11         Chase Utley 2nd Half 2017  88 .241 .318 .380 .698

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/9/2017.