Colby Rasmus has decided to simply let his bat do the talking while Cardinals Nation divides itself into “Team Colby” and “Team TLR” over his well-publicized beef with manager Tony La Russa.
Rasmus went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and four RBIs in a blowout win over the Braves last night and is now 11-for-24 (.458) with five extra-base hits in eight games this month.
It’s tough to imagine even La Russa benching someone playing that well while the Cardinals cling to their playoff lives, but then again it’s tough to imagine anyone benching a 23-year-old center fielder hitting .276/.360/.514 on the season and TLR has managed to do that plenty.
La Russa has been managing in the majors since 1979. During that time, here’s a list of the best adjusted OPS+ totals posted by 23-year-old center fielders:
YEAR OPS+ Ken Griffey Jr. 1993 171 Lloyd Moseby 1983 134 COLBY RASMUS 2010 133 Grady Sizemore 2006 133 Ellis Burks 1988 131 Andruw Jones 2000 125 Andrew McCutchen 2009 112
In other words, during La Russa’s three-plus decades as a manager the only center fielder to clearly out-hit Rasmus at age 23 is Ken Griffey Jr.
