Lucroy, and Pitching with RISP

Jonathon Lucroy’s defense has been a somewhat hot topic in recent months, mostly centered around Randy Wolf’s desire to work with somebody, anybody else.  Last night against the Yankees, when there was a man on 2nd base (thus needing to disguise the pitch call), it was very noticeable how long it took Lucroy to work through the signs and seemed to prevent Greinke from getting into any sort of rhythm.

I was curious, so pulled this year’s numbers of Brewer pitchers performance with runners in scoring position (thus the need to do the complex signs) and with no one on base.

***Quick disclaimer - I know these are crude stats and very small samples, this is more just a conversation starter as I was wondering if other people are thinking the same thing.  I know its something I'll be keeping an eye on the rest of the year.

• Naveson: .890 OPS against with RISP, .608 with bases empty
• Greinke: 1.058 RISP, .744 bases empty
• Marcum: .669 RISP, .567 bases empty
• Gallardo: .668 RISP, .784 bases empty
• Loe: .940 RISP, .563 bases empty
• Estrada: 1.028 RISP, .614 bases empty
• Axford: .552 RISP, .568 bases empty

For comparison:

• Randy Wolf (this year): .564 RISP, .710 bases empty
• Greinke career: .723 RISP, .724 bases empty
• Marcum career: .756 RISP, .680 bases empty

As I mentioned, these are full season numbers and with the time Lucroy missed and off days, probably lots of flaws and stuff that can be explained.  However, I found it pretty interesting that besides Gallardo and Axford, all pitchers are getting hit harder with guys in scoring position, oftentimes significantly so.