All things Caleb Durbin

[homer]

1 hour ago, wallus said:

Looking at Savants page for Durbin and Frelick. They seem to have pretty close data there. 

Durbin trending in the right direction. Steady improvement the last 100 PAs

[markedman5]

2 full months now

 

[sveumrules]

On 6/27/2025 at 5:58 PM, sveumrules said:

Since they reach base at around the same clip, then it comes down to if Bohm's not that great power (96 ISO+ is below MLB average) and extra $7M in salary is more valuable than Durbin's speed and defense.

Came across Alec Bohm while working on the team depth project today and remembered there had been some discussion about him versus Durbin earlier in the season, so thought I'd bump now that the season is over and see how things shook out for the pair.

Bohm 2025 (504 PA)
287/331/409 (105 wRC+)
5.8 BB% | 16.3 K% | .123 ISO
-2.8 BSR | -3 FRV | 1.7 WAR

Durbs 2025 (506 PA)
256/334/387 (105 wRC+)
5.9 BB% | 9.9 K% | .130 ISO
+2.3 BSR | +1 FRV | 2.6 WAR 

6'5" 218 lbs Alec Bohm hit 11 HR and drove in 59 runs.
5'7" 193 lbs Caleb Durbin hit 11 HR and drove in 53 runs.

For the 2025 season anyway it looks like Bohm's only real advantage on Caleb was hitting singles, physical stature, and W-2. 

[wallus]

We just have to hope that Caleb keeps getting hit at a really high rate :)

[sveumrules]

6 minutes ago, wallus said:

We just have to hope that Caleb keeps getting hit at a really high rate :)

He might not have the most surface area for HBPs, but he's got the right mindset!!

After Turang pulled his best Mikhail Baryshnikov to get out of the way of that Sasaki pitch in the NLCS, I checked and Bryce has 5 HBP in three years and 1,726 PA which is the third fewest HBP among 103 players with at least 1,500 PA over that stretch.

Conversely, Durbin got hit with five pitches over his final 13 games and 55 PA of the season.

[nate82]

I am still skeptical of his defense at 3B and still see him as a 2B.

[TURBO]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

He might not have the most surface area for HBPs, but he's got the right mindset!!

After Turang pulled his best Mikhail Baryshnikov to get out of the way of that Sasaki pitch in the NLCS, I checked and Bryce has 5 HBP in three years and 1,726 PA which is the third fewest HBP among 103 players with at least 1,500 PA over that stretch.

Conversely, Durbin got hit with five pitches over his final 13 games and 55 PA of the season.

That is fascinating to me...

[sveumrules]

1 hour ago, TURBO said:

That is fascinating to me...

Obviously Turang & Durbin are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, but I think they (& guys like Luke Adams or Darrien Miller) do a pretty good job illustrating how much getting HBP’ed comes down to each batter’s willingness to wear one.

[Playing Catch]

On 12/11/2025 at 2:27 PM, sveumrules said:

Obviously Turang & Durbin are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, but I think they (& guys like Luke Adams or Darrien Miller) do a pretty good job illustrating how much getting HBP’ed comes down to each batter’s willingness to wear one.

I agree with that. I would also say, though, that Durbin's short levers*, and lefties' desire to pitch him in with sliders/sweepers, make him a different hitter than 2025 Bryce, who's power is out over the plate. Bryce should be taking inside fastballs. Durbin knows that his power is on pitches up and in. If he's gunna make it as a big leaguer, he MUST have that in his toolkit, and therefore be aggressive in that part of the zone.

These are just my impressions, mind you. I haven't looked into any of the data to back it up.

*no armor!

Edit to add... That K% comparison between Bohm and Durbin is also more significant than it looks. Durbin fouls off tough pitches away.

[Scooterfletcher]

Durbin helped us a lot this year.   And should for at least a good player for us for five more years.   But I don’t get why he is such a locked in starter to the brewerfanatic base so much more so than Joey Ortiz.   With an infield addition, I’d rather Durbin play the Counsell-as-player role (with a better bat) as I feel Ortiz is the flat out better player both defensively and will be offensively this coming season. 

[Outlander]

It's not that complex, Durbin is a 3 WAR players, the Brewers should start 3 WAR players. Even better if they are cheap like Durbin 

[TURBO]

14 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

Durbin helped us a lot this year.   And should for at least a good player for us for five more years.   But I don’t get why he is such a locked in starter to the brewerfanatic base so much more so than Joey Ortiz.   With an infield addition, I’d rather Durbin play the Counsell-as-player role (with a better bat) as I feel Ortiz is the flat out better player both defensively and will be offensively this coming season. 

Because Durbin hit, Joey didn't.  It's that simple.

Joey played great defense, but didn't hit....at all.

Durbin played good defense, and hit way better than Joey.