Will Aaron Rowand have a strong 2nd half?

[ChoneJohn]

He's been riding the pine on my first place team for the entire season, outside of a couple of weeks early on. I know that he's traditionally a 2nd half kind of guy, but he's produced1 below his totals from last year so far, I was curious what you guys thought about his 2nd half. Can we hope to see 40+ RBI/10-12HR?

[dkakridas]

I don't see why not. He had 15 HR and 48 RBI after the break last year and a hit for a much higher average. About double the amount the SB's he has now can be expected. I think he is a fine 2nd half performer unless there is a major trade and he is shipped out of that lineup. Of course if he goes to the Yankees, that would be a different story

The Chi Sox have some great young OF's just about ready in Anderson, Sweeney and Young in that order. It's just a matter of time before one of them or Rowand is sent packing for pitching.

[nuggets]

It think 30 RBI and 10 HR is realistic. Last year he got 32 (46%) of his RBI from the leadoff spot. This year he is batting 3rd, 5th and 6th. It looks like he will bat 5th for the rest of the year. Will that lead to more RBI opportunity or will Thomas and Konerko "steal" his RBIs? Hard to predict.

Interesting note: Rowand is drastically a better hitter with RISP this year and for his career and may be a good case for a "clutch" player.

[Half Massed]

i like rowand for a 2nd half surge this year. his numbers at the break last year and this year were more or less comparable. (lower avg. less hrs, more sbs, same OBP this year than last year) i expect him to perform similar to last year's 2nd half. he's a good buy low candidate since people don't value him highly and his name value isn't so high.

[BobbyRoberto]

Aaron Rowand, month-by-month OPS:
April, 2004--.721
May, 2004--.821
June, 2004--1.061
July, 2004--.934
August, 2004--1.131
September, 2004--.706

April, 2005--.620
May, 2005--.858
June, 2005--.730
July, 2005--.442

Rowand started hitting better last year in June, then it carried over into July and August. I realize it's arbitrary to use each month as a cut-off point, but that's the easiest way to do it.

This year, his June wasn't all that good and he's been crap in July so far (small sample size, but still--crap).

For his career, Rowand has these year-by-year OPS numbers:
2001--.816 (in 123 at-bats)
2002--.692
2003--.779
2004--.905
2005--.719

Last season looks like an outlier.

Also, last season, Rowand's ground ball to fly ball ratio (G/F) was 1.33, which was the lowest of his career and helps explain his good slugging numbers. This year, he's at 2.23. He's hitting a lot more ground balls than last year.

To quote the Magic 8 Ball: Outlook Not Good.

[bigh0rt]

Rowand doesn't really excite me at all for the rest of this year.