Chone Figgins is batting like .050 and has yet to have an extra base hit in 2010. Or so it feels like. He's been particularly frustrating to watch given his position in the lineup and because he's made some errors out at second base. He needs a rest, right? He needs to do something to get going offensively, right?
Well, yeah, that would be super. Would you guess though that Figgins wOBA+ is actually as high as 90? Twenty-five walks will do that. Yeah, 25 walks. Figgins walked 101 times last season and he's walking at a higher clip this season. Only a few players have more walks than he does in the whole league. Despite having an (actual) batting average of just .188, his on base percentage is within two points of the AL average. The good news doesn't stop there.
For his career, Figgins has hit .276 on ground balls, .202 on fly balls and .734 on line drives. In 2010, he's been hitting .194 on ground balls, .129 on fly balls and .692 on line drives. Relax. His BABIP is not going to stay a hundred points below his career average. And in the meantime, he's still making pitchers work and he's still drawing walks.
When those hits start falling in, he's going to return to being a very useful offensive table setter. In the meantime, he's still more valuable than a lot of people realize.