Carl Crawford

[Blackout]

who does Carl Crawford remind you of historically?

[Minstrel]

A poor man's Rickey Henderson. A rare combination of speed and power, a great base runner and base stealer, an excellent defensive corner outfielder who could play center field if necessary. He's just worse in each aspect.

The glaring difference is that Crawford doesn't even approach sniffing distance of Henderson in terms of getting on base. He hits well, but just doesn't draw walks.

[Blackout]

he may be a better hitter for average

[Honus Wagner Rules]

he may be a better hitter for average

That's debatable. Through six seasons Crawford (.295) is slightly ahead of Rickey (.291). And Crawford is a far worse hitter for walks and OBP. After six seasons Crawford has a career .330 OBP. Ricky had a .400 OBP. That's not Rickey Henderson-like at all.

[DoubleX]

That's debatable. Through six seasons Crawford (.295) is slightly ahead of Rickey (.291). And Crawford is a far worse hitter for walks and OBP. After six seasons Crawford has a career .330 OBP. Ricky had a .400 OBP. That's not Rickey Henderson-like at all.

Using the .291 number you posted, gives Rickey an adjusted BA of 113 through is first 6 seasons. Crawford's .295, on the other hand, equates to a 110 adjusted BA. So Rickey would seem to be the better hitter for average through this stage, in addition to everything else he was better at. Crawford is a nice player in his own right, but I'm starting to think he's a little overrated. Career high of 117 OPS+ and a career 102 OPS+ thus far. Through 6 seasons, Henderson had a 130 career OPS+ and a career high of 150. If you remove Henderson's first season, where his OPS+ was just 88, his OPS+ over his next five years was 138. Throw in Henderson's much more prolific basestealing and it's not remotely close, IMO.

[hellborn]

Carl Reynolds was another great athlete with some power, speed, good BAs, and not much patience, and also played OF. Bill Dickey broke Carl's jaw with a cowardly punch (Reynolds wasn't looking) after a hard slide at home, and Reynolds never really got back on track after losing a lot of weight while his jaw was wired.
There's no physical resemblance, but Crawford's game reminds me a little of Puckett's...more speed and less power, though. I suppose you might compare him to Jackie Robinson, but Jackie had much better OBP skills and was more intimidating and disruptive on the bases.

[baseballPAP]

I think that whenever Carl gets in a slump, he should read this thread to pump himself up. He's not in the class of ANY of the guys mentioned here. He is a good, solid exciting player to watch, but the Rick and Jackie Robinson? Not in his best dreams

[Minstrel]

I think that whenever Carl gets in a slump, he should read this thread to pump himself up. He's not in the class of ANY of the guys mentioned here. He is a good, solid exciting player to watch, but the Rick and Jackie Robinson? Not in his best dreams

Well, I quite clearly said he wasn't in Henderson's class. His game and talents are similar to Henderson's in form...he's just worse at every aspect. And patience at the plate, the two are worlds apart.

He's a similar type of player to Henderson. Not a similarly good player.

[hellborn]

I don't think that Reynolds is a bad comp. He had one big year, but otherwise was a player of similar quality to Crawford.
I was trying to think of another highly athletic OFer who had a lot of skills but lacked patience and wasn't really a top notch player...guess most guys like that aren't too memorable. Maybe Sosa before he bulked up? Billy Hatcher?

[Blackout]

i still think Carl has yet to meet his potential

that'll be when hes waering pinstripes i hope

[CTaka]

Crawford may be a similar (although inferior, at least so far) player to Kiki Cuyler. Terrific speed, good (better than average) but not great power, and plays the outfield. Crawford's BA is 10.5% better than league average while Kiki was 10.3% better than league average. In his short career so far, Crawford has led the league in stolen bases in 4 of his 5 full-time seasons, finishing third in the other. Cuyler, in an obviously longer career, led the league in stolen bags 4 times, finished second 3 times, fifth once, and sixth twice.

The differences are that Cuyler had a little better plate patience, with a career OBP 10.3% above league average. Crawford's OBP is two points BELOW league average. And Crawford's slugging percentage is only 3.1% above league average while Cuyler was 14.5% above league average in a much longer career. Cuyler was likely the better fielder as well, with the arm to play right (796 games) and the instincts to play center (700 games) while Crawford, despite the great speed that Cuyler also had, has been primarily a left-fielder.

But if you overlook those differences and consider that it is harder to separate yourself from the league average today than in Cuyler's day, they do seem somewhat similar. I think Cuyler was clearly the better player, but like Blackout, I'm not sure Crawford has hit his peak yet either.

[leecemark]

--He is pretty similar to Lou Brock. He hasn't had a year to match Brock's top seasons yet, but the early years aren't that different.

[Chickazoola]

I love Crawford as a fantasy player, and put him on the Yankees and he would be the most overrated player in baseball(like Ichiro and Eckstein levels).

As for historical comparisons, any player with some pop and great speed is accurate. Lou Brock is pretty close offensively, although Crawford is better defensively than Brock.