We picked up Fred Lewis from the Giants for very little, in the middle of April. He turned out to be very useful when Travis Snider hit the DL then was in Snider's way after Travis came off the DL. A second round draft choice in 2002, since making it to the big leagues he's been kind of on the edge of being a useful player. Offensive numbers that would be ok if he played good defense in CF but not really good enough for a corner outfield.
This year was much the same:
Fangraphs has hit at a 0.9 WAR, which they value at $3.7 million, so since we paid him $455,000, we got our money's worth.
A lefty bat, he had a pretty normal split, hitting .266/.337/.439 against RHP and .247/.314/.323 against LHP.
He had pretty similar numbers at home, .257/.316/.408 as on the road, .266/.347/.419.
With RISP he hit .240/.330/.400. Bases empty .267/.339/.426.
His walk rate dropped quite a bit from the year before (7.9% this year, 10.7% last) not a great thing for a leadoff hitter, but maybe brought on by our team's hitting philosophy. Strikeouts were also down (24.3% from 28.5%). Line drive rate dropped (18.3% from 21.3%), ground ball rate dropped (47.4% from 52.1%) while fly ball rate went up (34.3% from 26.5%) and his infield fly rate jumped a fair bit too (16.1% from 10.7%). All that caused a sight drop in BABIP (.325 from .348).
His longest hitting streak was 8 games. He never went more than 3 games without a hit.
By month he hit:
April: .200/.250/.311
May: .333/.366/.561
June: .279/.344/372
July: .250/.357/.476
August: .200/.293/.288
September: .211/.318/.211
I guess we all knew that he started off strong and cooled as the season went on.
UZR didn't like his defense, giving him a -11.8 UZR/150 in left and a -10.1 UZR/150 overall in the OF which would have him as one of the poorer outfielders in baseball. All of us watching would agree with that.
His favorite team to play against? Well he had 7 great at bats against the Padres, going 4 for 7, with a double and triple. Of the AL teams he hit best against the Twins hitting .364/.364/.682 in 5 games. Fred hit worst against the Mariners (0 for 6, with a walk in two games) and the Yankees (3 for 37, .081/.227/.108).
The Jays have to make a decision on Lewis. He's made it to his first arbitration year, not that he would be awarded all that much, but he really isn't what I'd like for an everyday LFer. He might be ok as a fourth outfielder, but I'd like better defense and the ability to play all three outfield positions. Also, judging by things Cito said, Im not sure he would be happy in the fourth outfielder role. But I don't think he has much trade value, so we might have him around next year.