Does John Hale
Actually Suck?
The problem, you see, is that people around the league thought he was a full-time player, and the fact is that he simply cannot hit left hand pitching to save his life.
None.
So the full answer as to why John Hale sucks is that he doesn't--at least not against right handed pitching.
His splits last year:
- vRHP: 310 AB, 15 HR, .206/.285/.390
- vLHP: 159 AB, 4 HR, .132/.182/.220
That 159 AB against LHP is no aberration, though. He got 140 at bats against LHP in 2042, 174 in 2041, 133 in 2040. Hell, in that amazing 2038 season, he got 140 against LHP—but the difference was that in Des Moines John Hale got exceedingly lucky in the 68 AB he got there: posting 5 HR, and a .235/.456./.749 slash that he has essentially never duplicated (one can argue that 2040 might have been better, but it’s close).
John Hale’s lifetime OPS vs. LHP is .582. Read that again. That’s .582 (with a “five” at the front). Versus right handers, Hale (.814 OPS) is a different beast.
So, yeah, John Hale is a platoon player, and it’s not even close. Against lefties, Hale is sub-replacement level (-3.3 WAR lifetime). Against righties, he’s a solid little catcher (10.4 WAR)—not the All-Star everyone thought he was, but a decent guy to have around.
The problem is that GMs and managers keep giving him 150 AB against lefties.
In Retrospect
In the recent past we’ve had a few trades in which the viewpoint has been “this one is going to be interesting to look at again in a few years.” In retrospect, the Hale trade is one of them. As noted above, the league erupted when Des Moines traded Hale, suggesting clearly that the Kernels had been destroyed.
In return for Hale, they got Benjamin Clark—what the league considered a crappy little catcher—Juan Garcia, and Pedro Tanon, what the league thought were two pretty “meh” pitching prospects.
It was a bloodbath out there for several days. I mean. The “league” was not happy.
At all.
And yet, even at the time, the writing was on the wall.
Clark, who was actually not really crappy, and was indeed a pretty decent little catcher as long as you didn't need a ton, posted 2.3 WAR for Des Moines over the nest three seasons. Not great, but exactly what one might expect, and only 1 WAR less than Hale posted in both Omaha and Madison over the same time. For that 1WAR difference, Des Moines picked up the two pitchers.
Pitching as s swing man, Garcia has gone on to post 12.2 WAR with the Kernels, and at 25 years old is going to be a fixture around the league for some time. He’s making $4.6M in his last arbitration season, which means he’s either due an extension or will get paid well in Free Agency. He had a tough season last year, but over five seasons he’s posted a 105 ERA+, despite pitching for some pretty bad teams.
Tanon has become a solid little reliever, throwing 3.1 WAR and a slightly above league average ERA+ in his four seasons. He’s been hampered a bit by a string of small injuries, but at age 24 and with two more arbitration seasons left, (1) is still providing value, and (2) at age 24 still has room to grow into an even more valuable pitcher if and when that 6/10 curve ball comes in.
As a platoon catcher John Hale—it turns out—is pretty okay, but unless he breaks out in some way that I just don’t think is practical to expect of a now-30-year-old catcher, Des Moines won this trade by a not inconsiderable margin.
The Bottom Line
The role of catcher is a tough one in the BBA. There are several pretty good ones in the league right now, and that's made more messy by the fact that several of the better catchers make their bucks with the glove rather than the lumber. As a defensive catcher Hale is ... well ... he's okay, kid of. Don't expect any Zimmers. Call him low-end, but not a total embarrassment.
If Charlotte can pair him with a decent RHB platoon mate, look for his numbers to rise.
If not, then John Hale will, indeed, suck--or at least under-perform, which for most of us, is pretty much the same thing.
