What Has Made The Dodger Offense More Successful In 2015?
When new president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman traded away Dee Gordon and Matt Kemp and allowed Hanley Ramirez to depart as a free agent, the common narrative was that the Los Angeles Dodgers were sacrificing offense to become a more defensive-oriented team.
The latter part of that narrative turned out to be accurate to no one’s surprise, as Howie Kendrick, Joc Pederson, and Jimmy Rollins are all superior defensively to their former heirs.
What might be surprising to some, though, is that the offense this month– yes, even without Kemp and Ramirez, has also been superior when compared to April of last season.
Don’t believe it? Let’s take a look at the statistics comparing the two months.
Included in last year’s sample size is the two-game series in Australia from March 22-23 and Opening Day at Petco Park on March 30, thus the additional plate appearances.
Despite playing in six less games, the 2015 squad had a higher team batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and wRC+. Even more remarkably, the team slugged four more home runs in 247 fewer plate appearances without the presence of a “true” right-handed power threat.
CONTINUE READING: Who Has Made The Offense Better?
