I'm not exactly sure why, but for some odd reason I feel compelled to further discuss Bobby Crosby's value as a baseball player as it relates to his future success or failure with the A's. Recently Crosby has been lambasted and derided unmercilessly by another member of AN and it is for that reason that I would like to examine whether or not the criticism that has befallen Crosby over the past few seasons is merited.

I must admit that I have been frustrated and disappointed by Crosby's production over the past few season's as have most A's fans I have talked to.  I can only presume that this disappointment stems from the fact that BC was a highly touted prospect whom we were led to believe had as much, if not more, talent and promise as his predecessor at the shorstop position. A player who we were fortunate enough to see blossom into an MVP in green and gold only to be allowed to leave for greener pastures.  I mention Tejada and his departure because I think he will always be linked to Crosby and the expectations that come along with filling the enormous shoes left by the former face of our franchise.

When Crosby was thrust into the limelight as a raw 24 year old rookie he earned rookie of the year honors and, in many respects, lived up to the lofty expectations that were bestowed upon him as a result of Tejada's defection to the hapless Baltimore Orioles.  I readily admit that Crosby's numbers his rookie year do not look extraordinary at first glance.  However, when put into context, and compared to Tejada in his first year or two with the A's they certainly suggest that Crosby could indeed be the special type of player we hoped he could be.  

Comparing these two A's shortstops as rookie's is fairly difficult as Crosby had nearly 200 more AB's in his first season with the big club.  In addition Crosby broke into the bigs as a 24 year old and Tejada had his first appreciable stint with the A's at 22.  That is of course if we can be certain  that Tejada's age is correct.  If we assume that Tejada's age is correct, due to the discrepancy in AB's I would argue that the most important stats in comparing the two shortsops would be their batting average, and OPS (which is simply composed of the player's OBP plus his slugging percentage).  

In Crosby's rookie season his batting average was .239, he had an OBP of .319 and a slugging percentage of .426 which would equate to an OPS of .745.  In contrast Tejada amassed a BA of .233, an OBP of .298 and a Slugging percentage of .384 for an OPS of .682 in his rookie campaign.  Based on these statistics alone Crosby's numbers were clearly better than Tejada's in their first big league season, as well they should be.  Crosby was both older, and therefore should be more polished, and he had the benefit of playing a full season while Tejada did not.  For this reason I would submit that we should take a look at Tejada's first full year numbers to get a better idea about how the two shortstops compare statistically.

In Miggy's first full season in the show, at the ripe old age of 23, he had a BA of .251, an OBP of .325 and a slugging percentage of .427 for an OPS of .752.  In looking at these figures I was astonished to see how similar they were to Crosby's rookie numbers.  In addition, BC had the 12th best OPS out of all shortstops in MLB who had at least 300 AB's on his way to earning ROY honors.  In my opinion this debate truly gets interesting when we take a look at Crosby's 2005 numbers.

In 2005 Bobby Crosby improved upon his rookie season by becoming more consistent and more efficient at the plate.  His BA improved by a healthy margin to a very respectable .276, his OBP increased significantly to .346 and his slugging percentage also increased dramatically to .456.  This would equate to an OPS of .802 which would mean that Crosby, in only his second season, rather than endure the proverbial sophomore slump, would actually have the 8th best OPS among all shortstops in MLB in 2005 with at least 300 AB's.  Bobby did so while hitting in the heart of the order, for much of the season, while in the midst of a pennant race, all the while manning one of the most difficult and most important defensive positions in the game.  The lone caveat?  Crosby was injured for a significant portion of the season and finished with more than 200 fewer at bats than he had in his rookie campaign.  In each season since he has been oft injured and much maligned by fans as his skills seem to have diminished, eroded or eluded him in what seems to be one cruel twist of fate after another.

In the interest of full disclosure I will say that I have resigned myself to the fact that I may never see the day that Crosby lives up to his full potential.  I can't count the number of times I have awakened from a nightmare in a cold sweat muttering some combination of the words "fragile, high socks and someone tell him to move closer to the plate before i have a freakin stroke".  I have questioned his heart, and I am not thoroughly convinced that he is anything more than a head case.  At times I even have a sneaking suspicion that he has somehow fallen under the curse of the GS Warrior.  Which, for the uninitiated, means that he will play uninspired baseball well below his ability level until he leaves the A's organization.  At which time he will become a perennial All-Star and torment the A's every time we face him.  

That being said Crosby has been wildly unlucky over the past few years, and it stands to reason that over the course of his career his luck should even out to some extent.  While his injuries have certainly stunted his development as a player, he is still relatively young, and if given the opportunity has plenty of time to recapture the form, and refine the approach that earned him ROY honors.  It was not too long ago that at least one prominent national television personality predicted that Crosby would win the AL MVP award in leading his team to a division championship.  At this stage in BC's career it may be far too ambitious to expect that prediction to come to fruition, but I don't think anyone can argue in good conscience that Crosby doesn't have the talent to be a force in this league at his position as long as a few things go his way for a change.  I think I might even have read a quote from Bobby this offseason explaining how he has been working on hitting much closer to the plate.  If you ask me that is the best thing I've read in years......but I think I'll wait a couple of months before I get my hopes up.