Rebel Season by the Numbers from Baseball, Life, and Other Stuff

Rebel Season by the Numbers

September 11, 2009 - Austin Gisriel

Photo courtesy of Melissa Dodge.

The New Market Rebels put up some interesting numbers on their way to the playoffs this year. Consider the following:

Most interesting irrelevant number: 80 dozen. That's the approximate number of baseballs used in 2009.

Most interesting relevant number: 3. That's the number of pallets of Turface used at Rebel Park this year.

Most telling overall statistic #1: 15, the number of players who left the Rebels, 10 of whom left because of injuries.

Most telling overall statistic #2: The Rebels used 6 catchers--Pierce, Furry, Carroll, Cooper, Gartman, Kivett.

Biggest reason the Rebels won as many games as they did: New Market finished next to last in team batting average at .251, but finished 5th in runs scored at 262, which is over 5 runs a game.

Biggest reason the Rebels lost as many games as they did: They finished next to last in team fielding committing 88 errors or almost 2 per game. Only Luray was worse with 94 errors.

Biggest reason the Rebels finished at .500 for the regular season and 24-25 overall: They scored 262 runs and surrendered 262 runs!

Biggest reason the Rebels didn't score more runs: They amassed a whopping 470 strikeouts in 49 games. That's over 9.5 K's per game. If you attended three Rebels games, then you saw at least two situations where simply putting the ball in play would have likely scored a run. By contrast, a very competitive Rebel pitching staff amassed "only" 360 strikeouts or a little over 7 per game.

Best case for the Rebels MVP: Brian Burgess. With 3 wins and a share of the league lead in saves with 10, Burgess had a hand in over half of the Rebels 24 wins. He gave up only 1 earned run in 28.1 innings covering 19 appearances. If Burgess isn't John Leonard's #1 reliever in his ATVL survey, then . . . well, I don't know, but there couldn't have been anyone better!

Only in baseball does the game continue to reveal itself long after the season is over.

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Used with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. - From Baseball, Life, and Other Stuff by Austin Gisriel