Ryan Howard's Average May Be Down, But His Production is as Good as Ever
By: Mike Reisman
If you were to talk about the Phillies this year, you would talk about a lot of things. The four aces, Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels would probably come up, maybe some conversation about how Chase Utley has progressed since coming back. You might talk about Domonic Brown, or even the bullpen's surprising success. However, one inevitable topic would be Ryan Howard and whether he was worth the contract extension he received last year.
This discussion has been an issue all year, especially with the below average season Howard had last year, and the poor average that he's maintained for the first half of this year. Howard's contact numbers, though never good, have been dipping 2009, when he batted a decent .279. He is now hitting a bad .251, numbers that shouldn't be associated with the best hitter on a team.
All these numbers certainly don't look raise-worthy, and they certainly don't look like the numbers of somebody who was once the MVP. However, a closer look at Howard's stats reveal not such a bleak year for Howard. The slugger has 57 RBIs, a number that is 3rd in the MLB, behind only Prince Fielder and Adrian Gonzalez. Numbers that, at this point in the season, have him on pace for 35 home runs, and 134 RBIs, not a bad season for someone unworthy of a contract extension.
However, these numbers are just power stats, and just pure power doesn't make a player great anymore. So for further proof, just take a look at what Howard has been able to do with runners in scoring position. Howard is batting an astounding .305, and besides Placido Polanco, he is the only Phillie batting over .300 with runners in scoring position. Even better is Howard's OPS of .932, a number higher than Howard's overall OPS of .841.
This isn't a small sample size either, as more than 49 percent (but just less than 50) of Howard's at-bats come with these runners in scoring position. More than half of Howard's 66 hits come when there are runners in scoring position, and as mentioned earlier, besides Placido Polanco, Howard has been the lone bright spot for a team that has struggled with runners in scoring position.
So yes, anyone could look at Ryan Howard's batting average and simply say that he isn't worth nearly as much as his contract gives him. However if anyone were to give Howard a chance, and look at some more stats, it becomes obvious that the Phillies investment was a sound one.