Nine to Know: Mike Napoli

Periodically, I will look at the current free-agent class.

Here's Nine to Know about Mike Napoli

In 2012, Napoli hit .240 against fastballsIn 2012, Napoli hit .121 against slidersIn 2012, Napoli hit .175 on pitches on the lower-half of the plate

1. Napoli hit .227 in 2012, .093 less than 2011.
2. In 2012, Napoli saw 869 fastballs and hit .240 off of them. He saw 325 sliders and hit just .121 off of them.
3. Napoli is one of 16 batters who have had 20+ homers each of the last five seasons.
4. Napoli struck out 125 times in 2012, which is 30% of all of his plate appearances; he whiffed once every 2.8 at bats.
5. Napoli came to the plate with 283 runners on base and only 33 scored, a rate of 12%.
6. In 2012, Napoli hit .243 with the bases empty, .211 with runners on, .245 RISP, .189 2 outs/RISP.
7. In 2011, as a catcher, Napoli 's pitchers had an 3.16 ERA. In 2012, it was up to 4.32 to boost his lifetime ERA to 4.29.
8. He allowed 42 steals and caught 11 baserunners, a percentage of 21%, dropping his lifetime number to 24%.
9. Napoli can catch, play first, and DH.

Here are his numbers from 2012:

Split	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
as C	71	234	37	58	7	15	41	39	79	.248	.363	.487	.850
as 1B	26	79	13	15	1	5	8	13	28	.190	.323	.392	.715
as DH	9	33	5	7	1	4	7	4	14	.212	.297	.606	.903
as PH	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	.000	.000	.000	.000

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/12/2012.

Here are his career numbers:

I	Split	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
	as C	511	1667	280	441	81	109	281	233	493	.265	.362	.516	.879
	as 1B	125	414	63	99	19	26	68	48	117	.239	.328	.473	.802
	as DH	48	157	26	45	12	11	30	28	45	.287	.392	.573	.966
	as PH	43	35	6	3	1	0	3	7	19	.086	.256	.114	.370
	as PH for DH	4	3	0	1	0	0	2	1	1	.333	.500	.333	.833

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/12/2012.