His hitting fell off somewhat in May and he's currently sitting at .339 but has one of the highest walk rates on the farm. As we look at his numbers in a more in-depth way, I hope to see just how good a leadoff hitter Cusick's been. Without further ado...
Here is the table showing Cusick's hitting chart for the past two months:
Total Outs Hits AVG 1B 2B 3B HR Ground Balls to Left 13 9 4 0.308 3 1 0 0 Ground Balls to Center 11 5 6 0.545 6 0 0 0 Ground Balls to Right 55 42 13 0.236 12 1 0 0 Line Drives to Left 7 2 5 0.714 3 2 0 0 Line Drives to Center 3 0 3 1.000 1 2 0 0 Line Drives to Right 14 5 9 0.643 4 2 2 1 Fly Balls to Left 20 16 4 0.200 1 3 0 0 Fly Balls to Center 17 14 3 0.176 1 1 0 1 Fly Balls to Right 14 6 8 0.571 2 2 1 3 Total on Ground Balls 79 56 23 0.291 21 2 0 0 Total on Line Drives 24 7 17 0.708 8 6 2 1 Total on Fly Balls 51 36 15 0.294 4 6 1 4 Total Hit to Left 40 27 13 0.325 7 6 0 0 Total Hit to Center 31 19 12 0.387 8 3 0 1 Total Hit to Right 83 53 30 0.361 18 5 3 4 All Balls in Play 154 99 55 0.357 33 14 3 5
Without knowing anything about him or his vital statistics, you can easily tell Cusick is a left-handed hitter by the number of ground balls he's hit to the right side of the infield. On the other hand, Cusick shows a good batting makeup in using all fields and not just focusing on one area. In the early parts of April, he was hitting a lot of balls to left, but I can't tell whether this was a conscious effort or not. While I expected to see him hitting more line drives in April than in May to explain his fall in average, I was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn't the case. The main difference in his performance between April and May came in two categories:
| Total | Outs | Hits | AVG | 1B | 2B | 3B | HR | |
| Ground Balls to Right-May | 28 | 23 | 5 | 0.179 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ground Balls to Right-April | 27 | 19 | 8 | 0.296 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total on Fly Balls-May | 19 | 13 | 6 | 0.316 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Total on Fly Balls-April | 32 | 23 | 9 | 0.281 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Cusick was just a little more unlucky in May, with more of those ground balls to second and first base finding a fielder's glove instead of the outfield grass. Another possibility for this shift is THE shift; teams may have gotten a better scouting report on him after the first month and opponents may have started playing him with a shift to the right. I have no proof of this, of course, because I have no eyewitness accounts of the games in this manner. Still, it's a good possibility to explain the data we're seeing.
The other striking statistic were just number of flyballs. Cusick hit a ton more in the air in April, many finding holes in the defense or dropping in front of the outfielders. In May, he stopped hitting fly balls to left and hit the majority of his flies (12 in all) to center field. I'm not sure what this means, but the sample size is small enough that this is probably just a random statistical blip. Still, it's worth noting in case pitchers have started approaching Cusick's at-bats differently.
Another interesting look is seeing what he did at home and on the road. Here are his season splits:
AB H BB K R RBI 2B 3B HR HBP SF TB AVG OBP SLG OPS Home Games 78 30 9 5 17 10 9 3 2 0 0 51 .385 .448 .654 1.102 Road Games 87 26 16 6 16 12 5 0 3 1 1 40 .299 .410 .460 .869
The friendly confines of Applebee Field have been kind to Cusick, yet the park factor for Lexington is right around 1 for singles, doubles and home runs, meaning he's not getting the "Coors Effect." Maybe he's just got a Serta Pillowtop mattress at home...While he has hit for a substantially higher average at home, his splits in May have been more normal:
AB H BB K R RBI 2B 3B HR HBP SF TB AVG OBP SLG OPS Home Games 28 8 5 3 5 1 4 1 0 0 0 14 .286 .394 .500 .894 Road Games 50 15 11 4 9 7 3 0 1 1 0 21 .300 .435 .420 .855
This is probably just too small a sample size to talk about real trends yet, but we can also surmise that a lack of home games in May have led to his batting average drops.
Okay, so we've looked at the data and have a handle on two things: Cusick pulls the ball in the infield but stays pretty disciplined when hitting the ball well and Cusick hits well in Lexington. How does he hit in the order? (It's important to remember Cusick has just recently been dropped to third in the batting order by his manager.) By spot in batting order:
Hitting by Batting Order AB H BB K R RBI 2B 3B HR HBP SF TB AVG OBP SLG OPS 1st 137 49 19 8 28 20 13 3 4 1 1 80 .358 .437 .584 1.021 2nd 3 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 .333 .500 1.333 1.833 3rd 25 6 5 3 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 7 .240 .367 .280 .647
Again, we get into sample sizes. But, coupled with this next look at team performance based on where Cusick bats in the inning, we see batting him third may not be the best idea ever.
Impact by Position in Inning Innings Runs Runs/ Inning R RBI Leading Off 71 41 0.58 18 5 Batting Second 40 22 0.55 5 0 Batting Third 39 10 0.26 3 4 Batting Fourth 23 19 0.83 2 5 Batting 5th or later 20 44 2.20 5 8 Totals 193 136 0.70 33 22
Clearly, Cusick is not cut out to hit in the middle of the order. I'm not sure if this is an attempt by Ed Wade to make Cusick into a power-hitting, run-producing middle-of-the-order bat (hyphenate much?), or if he just hasn't gotten time enough to feel comfortable hitting down in the order. It's telling that the Legends have scored the fewest runs when Cusick bats third in an inning. With his on-base percentage and speed, it would seem Cusick is tailor made to lead off or bat second. Whether he does, though, is anyone's guess. I hope the Legends and the Astros player development people can look at the same numbers I do and see Cusick is much more valuable hitting 1 or 2.
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