Last Thoughts on Jeff Mathis

I am going to choose to remember him tearing it up in the playoffs and at the beginning of the season a couple of years ago before he got hurt. I fully expect he will do well somewhere else. just the way it seems to go… no I am not lyle spencer

And you could do that for every low-WAR Major Leaguer drafted in the first 10 rounds or so.

Another way of getting at the question of whether Jeff Mathis was a good draft pick is comparing him to the 33rd pick in the modern era of drafts, measuring not just by WAR but also by playing time. There you get a different story.

1998 3187 ABs 10.3 WAR Brad Wilkerson
2000 374 IP 1.6 WAR Dustin McGowan
2001 1201 ABs 2.5 WAR Jeff Mathis
2006 584 ABs -1.3 WAR Emmanuel Burriss
2003 522 ABs -0.4 WAR Omar Quintanilla
1996 Matt McLendon - never played
1997 Kyle Kane — never played
1999 Jeff Heaverlo — never played
2002 Matthew Whitney — never played
2004 Justin Orenduff — never played
2005 John Drennen — hit .240 in AA last year at age 24
2007 Jon Gilmore — hit .283/.351/.417 in AA last year at 22
2008 Bradley Holt — 8-8, 4.71 ERA at AA last year at 24
2009 Steven Baron — .197/.266/.323 in A ball at 20
2010 Mike Kvasnicka — .260/.328/.368 in A ball at 22
2011 Kevin Matthews — 28.2 IP of 2.20 ERA in low minors at 18

So Jeff Mathis has been one of the most successful 33rd picks in recent history.

I am sure I’d like him lots. I just don’t think he should play Major League Baseball, at least not for a team that fancies itself a contender.

Considering how he’s regarded higher than any combination of numbers, new or old, can possibly rate him, Mathis will probably be around this game a long time. I expect he’ll be managing somewhere by the time he’s 35.

he signed my hat once after a game in the Angels parking lot. Always liked him for that.

That hat is now torn to shit and his autograph is fading. Nevermind that it was of the winged-A, periwinkle blue Disney days anyway.

Anyway, my point is, that hat is worth more than Jeff Mathis should have been in a trade.

6 Josh Karp (topped out at AAA, 163 IP, 5.91 ERA)
7 Chris Smith (A, 26 IP)
9 Colt Griffin (AA, 87 IP)
11 Kenny Baugh (AAA, 299 IP, 5.21 ERA)
12 Mike Jones (AAA, 33 IP)
14 Jake Gautreau (AAA, 1182 PA, .238/.299/.415, second base)
16 Kris Honel (AA, 175 IP)
17 Dan Denham (AA, 445 IP)
27 Alan Horne (AA, 175 IP)
28 Justin Pope (AAA, 36 IP)
29 Josh Burrus (AAA, 22 PA, LF)
31 Bryan Bass (AA, 640 PA, 3B)
32 Michael Woods (AA, 515 PA, 2B)

As a reminder, Jeff Mathis in AAA hit a comparatively respectable .273/.328/.445 across 1203 plate appearances. What’s more — if you can believe it — there were two players drafted ahead of him who made the big leagues but put up an even more negative WAR — Dewon Brazelton (3rd pick overall, minus 4.0 WAR in 271 innings pitched), and the marvelously named John Wesley Van Benschoten (negatory 4.9 in just 90 IP, thanks to a stupefying 9.20 ERA).

So basically Jeff Mathis has been a clearly better baseball player than nearly half (15) of the 32 dudes drafted ahead of him in 2001.

Good luck in Canada.

One way or another, he will make his mark in the record books.