When It Takes Two To Make One, The Perfect Platoon

A lineup filled with players like Michael Brantley, who hit .300 against both right and left handed pitchers would be optimal, but there is only one Michael Brantley. The Indians only have seven regular starters beyond Brantley and in order to fill out a lineup card on a daily basis, Terry Francona has found going to the extreme with the platoon bias has been able to fill that final spot. In fact, by combining two players for one position, he has wound up with something much greater than the either player could be on his own.

Ryan Raburn and David Murphy have combined to be the Indians DH, right fielder, left fielder and pinch hitter, batting second, fourth or wherever else needed. While Murphy has more at bats (because most pitchers are right handed), Raburn could be more considered the starter as he has nine at bats against right handed pitchers (0/9 with 4 K’s [All stats as of 5/29. Raburn tripled off Fernando Rodney last night to make it 1/10]) compared to just two at bats versus left for Murphy (0/2 with 1 K).

It is a very rare opportunity for a manager to use batters this exclusively with the platoon advantage and Francona is “lucky” enough to have two players who completely compliment each others deficiencies. Both are poor defenders and play essentially equally in both right and left field, so changing for defensive purposes has been unnecessary and, as the chart above shows, neither is particularly adept against similarly handed pitchers.

The chart above shows how the two have played this season in their primary use and the combined result there-of. This season, that composite player is second on the Indians in at bats, doubles, average and slugging percent while sitting third in home runs and OBP. Of the regulars, only Michael Brantley has struck out less than these two have combined.

While a more productive pair could probably be established, by using someone else with extreme splits like Carlos Santana (.853 OPS vs RHP, .589 OPS vs LHP), the situation really doesn’t work out well for anyone else on the team where two players are almost exact duplicates in every way except the side of the plate they stand on.

Last season, both players were on the team, but there were a few things keeping Francona from using his players in this fashion. For one, without a regular right fielder, which they have now in Brandon Moss, they often needed both to play simultaneously. This year, they have been able to focus more on the DH role, where the poor combined defensive work can be hidden and they can split at bats. Secondly, Raburn wasn’t capable of holding up his end.

A chart is worth 1,000 words and it isn’t hard to see that Raburn was completely dreadful in every way in 2014. It isn’t that the Indians didn’t try (Raburn played nearly twice as much against lefties), Raburn just couldn’t hit anyone. This year, he is pulling more than his fair share, particularly in the power department where he has already surpassed his extra base hit total from 2014.

It is incredibly rare for a team to have this opportunity and it’s possible the Indians have never had a duo used this exclusively in favorable match-ups. One in recent memory was the Tribe’s first base situation from 2006, Eduardo Perez and Ben Broussard. While they weren’t used specifically situationally, it was one of the more consistent platoons over the past decade.

While it may not be completely relevant, there are some interesting similarities here. In fact, given the decrease in offense around the league since 2006, the rate stats might as well be identical. For those with poor memories wondering why they only combined for 310 at bats for the season, the Indians were able to trade this platoon to Seattle in two separate moves for Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo, both moves that were essentially trading a half of a player for a full player. Of course, both full players eventually would become the backbone of the team for years to come including the 2007 Central Division champion edition.

The primary purpose of bringing up the last time a platoon was used is to bring up the bad news. Both Murphy and Raburn have near a .300 (league average) batting average on balls in play over their career (Murphy is exactly there, Raburn at .309), but this year, they have been incredibly lucky with marks above .320 each. While Murphy’s .322 mark is possibly sustainable for a year (he had a .333 in 2012 and .227 in 2013), Raburn’s .364 mark is not. In his career, Raburn’s BABIP has not been consistent at all and was largely the reason he hit so poorly in 2014 when he had a BABIP of .245. From 2009 through 2011, Raburn managed a BABIP of above .320 each season, so his style of play can obviously create a greater than league average BABIP, but even so, it will not stay at .364 this season.

On a second point, Raburn and Murphy, while being too expensive to drop this off-season, are actually signed very cheaply for how well they are producing right now. The two combined will make $8.5M in 2015 and have already produced a 0.8 WAR, better than all but three hitters on the Indians team (Lonnie Chisenhall is the third for those wondering). In the best possible contract situation, both players are only guaranteed money for this season with a team option for 2016 ($7M for Murphy, $3M for Raburn with a $500K and $100K buyouts respectively).

There are three points here: One, that Murphy and Raburn have played at a level where they actually have value to a Major League Baseball team. Two, that they can’t possibly sustain that rate and three, that they are under very team friendly contracts. With these combined and the extreme amount of Major League ready prospects in Columbus, the comparison with Eduardo Perez and Ben Broussard should become obvious.

At some point this year, the Indians will need roster space for James Ramsey and Francisco Lindor if no one else and there may be no better time than right now to try to move the pair as a unit. A contending team looking for corner power could be interested and it would be worth it to Cleveland just to free up the roster space and salary. For now, Murphburn can help the Indians win games with offense, but soon, they could help even more by making way for the next generation and possibly bringing in some new blood in return.