The Worst .300 Hitter Ever

"Wes Helms isn't that bad. He is hitting .300"

If anyone says this to you, either headbutt them or just walk away. Because they have no idea what they are talking about.

Yes, Wes Helms is hitting .301 right now. He has 22 hits, 18 of which are singles. That equates out to a stellar .356 SLG. But if he's hitting .301, he must have a great OBP, right? Oh of course not. He has only walked 5 times this year, a walk rate of 1 walk per 15.2 plate appearances (his career rate is 1 per 13.1 plate appearnces), which is an OBP of .338. Add all that up and you have an OPS of .694, good for 10th among 3rd basemen in the NL. For a comparison, David Bell had an OPS of .743 last year with the Phillies.

Only David Bell could field. Helms is an absolute butcher at third, currently sporting the second worst fielding percentage for a third baseman in the majors.

But he was the only third baseman available right? Of course not. Though Akinori Iwamura just went on the DL, he is currently hitting .339 with an OPS of .961. Wouldn't be a bad replacement for Helms, eh?

Maybe Helms will start getting some extra base hits. Maybe he will figure out how to play an adequate third base. But right now he stinks, both on offense and defense.

The One That Got Away

The one player I had really hoped the Phillies would make a play for this past off-season was Japanese heartthrob/third baseman Akinori Iwamura. For whatever reason, they did not put in a bid for him to purchase his rights, which ended up going to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for $4.1 million and they signed him to a three year contract for $7.7 million. Instead, they signed Wes Helms to play third base, who was coming off a career year with the Marlins (albeit not actually playing third base), to a two year deal for $5.5 million.

To put it lightly, Wes Helms has not been very good so far. He has put up an OPS of .703 an been a butcher in the field, like most people expected him to be.

On the other hand, Iwamura has an OBP of .559 and an OPS of 1.151. Not too shabby. But hey, at least Wes Helms has round eyes.