A Look Back at 2012: Alberto Callaspo

After a very brief experiment with Mark Trumbo at third-base, the hot corner was quickly handed over (mostly) to Alberto Callaspo for the remainder of 2012. What resulted was the type of quiet consistency, both defensively and with the bat, that you could expect from Callaspo. He put up a solid on-base percentage, struck-out less than any other player on the Angels this season while walking more than anyone not named Mike Trout. He also posted a 3.2 WAR (according the Baseball-Reference), good for fifth on the squad. In addition, Callaspo continued to be difficult to strikeout and excellent at making contact. In fact, he topped all third basemen in the league with a contact rate over 90% on all pitches swung at while only striking out 59 times ( both stats good for 10th overall amongst all hitters).

Best game of 2012

The thing about Callaspo is that he is quietly solid and as a result, rarely grabs the headlines. However, on May 26th, Callaspo smacked a pinch-hit grand-slam against Felix Hernandez to put the Angels ahead for good. Not what you would expect from a light hitting third-basemen.

2013 Outlook

Alberto Callaspo isn’t going anywhere. There’s nothing that would indicate Alberto won’t continue to be who he always has been: a solid, cheap infielder who plays good defense and puts the ball in play. For the casual baseball fan, Callaspo may not be the most exciting player on the field. However, when looking past the basic counting stats, Callaspo proves to be a bit of a sabermetric gem that is exactly what the Angels need with their bloated payroll.