What do you Know About Chris Heisey?

Last year, Chris Heisey became more than just a talented young Reds prospect. He became more than just a baseball player. Last year, Chris Heisey became the embodiment of fan discontent. For all intents and purposes, Chris Heisey became the living emblem of fans’ dissent with Reds Manager Dusty Baker. The beaten red-headed step child whose hair is actually brown. The forgotten one. “Free Chris Heisey” became more than a sarcastic chant, it became an anthem. Fans wanted someone, anyone in left besides Jonny Gomes. The increased play of Fred Lewis was only a catalyst for the incendiary skepticism of Cincinnati’s fan base. Well, Heisey fans, you wanted it, you might have gotten it.

Yonder Alonso will be playing first base at PETCO Park. Dave Sappelt will be passing through Erebus where he will play with Hades and the rest of the Chicago Cubs in baseball’s hell. Fred Lewis may be collecting social security. So barring any major trades, Chris Heisey will more than likely be your 2012 starting left fielder.  But what do you really know about him?

Let’s cover the basics. His career numbers aren’t staggering. .254 career batting average, 26 dingers, 71 RBIs, 316 OBP. Yeah, not exactly mind-blowing, but I don’t think he has the overall body of work to consider “career” numbers. So let’s dig a little deeper.

There is a colossal gap between Heisey’s success against RH and LH pitchers. Heisey bats .191 against lefties. .271 against righties. That’s no laughing matter. For any manager, that’s an easy decision of whether or not to bring in the lefty out of the ‘pen. Numbers show that you’re going to thwart any late Reds rally by bringing in a lefty out of the pen to shut down Heisey.

If you’re thinking we’ve found the next Reds lead-off man, think again. Again, we’re only working with a relatively small sample size, but Chris Heisey has led an inning off 84 times. He’s batting .190 when that happens. I wouldn’t necessarily define Chris Heisey as clutch either, at least not yet. Yeah, he’s batting .400 with bases loaded (with only 5 ABs), but with runners in scoring position and 2 outs, he’s hitting .175. That’s after 40 ABs.

By now you’re probably wondering when I’m going to give you the good news about Chris Heisey. Young, athletic, aspiring.  Great off the bench.  But going off his small body of work,  Chris Heisey appears to mimic the bulk of Reds sluggers–love the fast ball, detests anything that moves. Just check out these numbers.

At 0-0, a traditional fastball count, Heisey’s hitting .351. .315 when it’s 1-0. Phenomenal. At 0-1, another fastball-inducing count, he’s batting an absurd .424. But when he’s up against a wall and a strike away from sitting down, his bat mimics Houdini. .115 average with an 0-2 count. .116 with a 1-2 count. .104 with a 2-2 count. Picking up a trend? Whenever this kid is a strike away from sitting down, he’s virtually a lock to do so. So what’s this kid’s deal and why is the lack of production implicit with two strikes?

If you consider the pitches he has the most success against, the aforementioned statistics won’t surprise you all that much. Obviously, he’s hitting .255 against the fastball, and that’s only because of his struggles with lefties–he’s batting .299 against right-handed fastball. But how about your traditional strike-out pitch? Heisey bats .200 against the curve ball. .129 against the change-up.

Chris Heisey’s batting trends should be very familiar in the Reds starting outfield unit. Big, looping swing, loves to turn on the fastball, massive pop, but susceptible to missing often. Big-swinging pull-hitter. Seriously, this kid doesn’t shorten his swing either. He only hits the ball to the right side of the field 8% of the time to the infield and 17% of the time to the outfield. As for left? 20% of his hits go to the left side of the infield, 27% to the outfield. Case and point. Make it a fastball high and tight, where Heisey is batting a whopping .375, or slow it down and keep it low and outside, where he hits .238.

If an average baseball nerd writing on the internet knows all this, you can bet the mortgage that every pitching coach in the MLB will too. Chris Heisey deserves a shot to start, that much is irrefutable. But tailor your expectations. Realize what he’s good at, and where he’s going to struggle. He isn’t going to revitalize this offense with his bat, but it is worth noting that he batted a serviceable .269 hitting in the 5 hole.