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'The Bat' Will Protect The 'Almighty'

The Associated Press

In his past four seasons, Burrell has averaged 31 homers, 99 RBIs and 103 walks.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2009

Updated: 01/06/2009 12:02 am

ST. PETERSBURG - In summing up his search for an impact hitter this offseason, Andrew Friedman's statement from last month's winter meetings said it all.

"We like the fact that we hit right-handed pitching as well as we do," the Rays' executive vice president said then. "…But we'd like to get better against left-handed pitching."

Of all the options available to Tampa Bay through free agency, the player most capable of helping them achieve that goal was Pat Burrell. One of the majors' most productive hitters against lefties for the better part of a decade, he can hold his own against right-handers as well, making him a comfortable fit as the Rays' everyday designated hitter.

And even though he figures to get more at-bats against righties than lefties, simply because there are so many more of them out there, Burrell's ability to mash southpaws made him especially attractive to Tampa Bay.

Only two American League teams, the Blue Jays and A's, were less productive against left-handed pitching last year than the Rays based on collective OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage). Only a handful of Tampa Bay regulars did any damage against lefties, with the light-hitting No. 9 hitter Jason Bartlett (.919 OPS) atop the list and the team scuffling to a .246 batting average and .726 OPS.

Burrell, meanwhile, hit .279 with a .406 on-base percentage and a .545 slugging percentage (for a .951 OPS) against lefties, similar splits to those he has posted throughout his nine-year big-league career.

His track record is steady, and the Rays expect him to make a difference when it comes to those dreaded games against CC Sabathia or Jon Lester.

"He'll obviously help," Friedman said. "He's had tremendous success against left-handed pitching – and that said, he's fared very well against right-handed pitching as well.

"But for us to get better against left-handed pitching is also going to take an improvement with others as well. You're not just going to sign one guy in a nine-man lineup that's going to dramatically alter things. We think some guys struggled a little bit more against left-handed pitching last year than we will going forward; we think it was more of an aberration. So we feel like we're going to have a lot better balance against right and left and not necessarily to the detriment of how we do against right-handed pitching, which was important to us."

It remains to be seen where Burrell will be deployed in Manager Joe Maddon's lineup. He has hit in the fifth spot more than any other during his career and that's a possibility depending on how the top of the Rays' lineup shakes out.

"The thing about him is you don't want to place him too far down, because he sets it up for other people, too," Maddon said Monday. "You don't want to lose his high on-base percentage hitting in front of guys who aren't necessarily RBI types."

Whatever formula Maddon ends up settling upon, the usual starting nine will feature a middle of the order that includes Burrell, Carlos Pena, Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton – a collection that should generate plenty of pop following the lefty-swinging Carl Crawford.

As Friedman said, Burrell's presence alone isn't going to reverse the Rays' fortunes against lefties, but the trickle-down effect should be a positive one. The hitter himself agreed.

"To sit here and predict what we're going to do, I think that's foolish, but what you want to do is you want to have the ability to counter anybody you face," Burrell said. "If you're a left-handed-dominant team against a left-handed pitcher, I think for the most part it's going to be tough. But if you have a good balance of speed and power and both sides of the plate, I think you're going to come out looking pretty good."

The Rays often looked like they were fielding their 'B' team against left-handed starters last season, with mainstays like Cliff Floyd and Eric Hinske on the bench and the likes of Willy Aybar, Jonny Gomes and Justin Ruggiano unable to match their production while Rocco Baldelli was sidelined by illness. Add that drop-off to terrible splits against lefties for Pena (.654 OPS) and Crawford (.641) in particular and the picture often wasn't very pretty for the Rays in those games.

So even though the Rays would have been content to land one of the left-handed hitters on their free-agent shopping list this winter, with Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu, Ken Griffey Jr. and Garret Anderson possible contenders, it seemed Burrell was the best fit.

"As we went through it, we weren't just singularly focused on a right-handed hitter, but it certainly is an advantage for us in terms of the way our lineup stacks up currently," Friedman said. "… We feel like we have a very strong team on paper right now and we feel like we're improved from the team that won the American League championship."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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