Chapter 8: Scott Hatteberg Pickin’ Machine

This is part eight of the blog for Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. Feel free to join in the discussion of the book.

After reading this chapter one would have thought that Scott Hatteberg is by far the most valuable hitter in MLB. But Hatteberg does support the thesis. Hatteberg is emblematic of why the A's win as one of the poorest teams.

Recall, Hatteberg was picked up to play first after power-hitting Jason Giambi left for the Big Apple. It was never expected that Hatteberg would hit for the power most think was Giambi's strength. Rather, he was brought in for his OBP which was entrenced in his ability to take pitches. Hatteberg was deliberate at the plate and caused pitchers to work to pitch to him. Unlike Giambi in the previous chapter and every other known batter, Hatteberg doesn't have a hole in his swing. And with his discipline the A's lost slugging percentage, but no on-base percentage.

Lewis is a talented writer. His description of Hetteberg's AB against Moyer was classic. Indeed the whole chapter learning about Hatteberg's life is interesting, but filler mostly to the thesis.

This chapter highlighted something I have felt was obvious, but apparently is not. Much of the action takes place in the video room where players go to view ABs against specific pitchers and I presume pitchers go to view certain pitch sequences against specific batters. Feiny is in charged of splicing the videotape for these to be available in the Oakland clubhouse. But isn't this a system itself which is inefficient? I would think MLB would provide this to all the clubs, but absent that, wouldn't Elias, Stats, or someone else be able to sell this product to all the teams at a rate cheaper than an individual club hiring someone to do so? Making it digital would add even more efficiency to the system. That there is a guy splicing tape in the clubhouse is remarkable to me.

I am a Phillies phan and during the summer of 2002 we were treated to the gift of Jeremy Giambi. While our manager would not play Giambi on a regular basis, his high OPS was remarkable. Why had we gotten Giambi for . . . for . . . John Mabry? It's not like Mabry was playing a lot in Oakland and he was shipped out at the end of the season. The rumor in the east was that Giambi had partied too much and lost favor with Beane. Lewis was a journalist on the scene when all this was going on and he didn't know what had transpired. Since Jeremy Giambi was a significant player to keep Oakland offensively potent, it would seem to part of the story. This lack of detail rings Lewis' access as suspect. He has us believe he knows what makes Beane tick, but he cannot provide insight to this. Don't all moves support the thesis, Mr. Lewis?

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