A Look at Allen Craig's 2013 Power Outage

If the 2011 postseason was Allen Craig's coming out party, 2012 was the after-party. Filling in for the injured Lance Berkman (who himself was the replacement for the departed Albert Pujols), Craig had an excellent season. He posted a .307 batting average (BA), .354 on-base percentage (OBP), and .522 slugging percentage (SLG). These slash stats worked out to a .374 wOBA, which equalled a 138 wRC+. Craig also drove in an impressive 92 runs in just 119 games played.

As the calendar turns from May to June this 2013 season, Craig's hitting line has been a bit underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, Craig is still hitting for average and driving in runs. He has posted a .317 BA and has notched 38 RBI in 52 games. Where the outfielder/first baseman has underwhelmed is with his relative lack of power.

The following chart compares Craig's 2012 and 2013 hitting lines through play on Sunday.

ALLEN CRAIG BATTING STATS (2012 vs. 2013)

As the chart shows, Craig is hitting with a lot less pop this season. Craig's SLG is 73 points lower in 2013 than it was in 2012. His Isolated Power (ISO) has dropped by 80 points. This power outage has resulted in Craig's OPS being 67 points lower this year despite his OBP being six points higher. Craig's lack of pop is also reflected in his wOBA, which sits 18 points lower in 2013 than it did at 2012's end.

Extra-base hit percentage (XBH%) is calculated by dividing a player's extra-base hit total by his total number of plate appearances. Craig's XBH% was 11.1% in 2012; this year, it sits at 8.89% after play on Sunday. Last year, 39.58% of Craig's hits went for extra bases. Just 30.77% of Craig's 2013 hits have been doubles, triples, and homers.

The following chart looks at the percentage share of Craig's overall hits for singles, doubles, triples, and home runs individually for 2012 and 2013.

ALLEN CRAIG HIT PROFILE BY TYPE (2012 vs. 2013)

The chart shows that the share of Craig's 2013 hits that have resulted in a double is essentially the same as it was last season. Somehow he has managed two triples already this 2013 season after not hitting any in 2012. Craig is hitting homers at a much lower rate this year while hitting a much larger share of singles.

If we look at Craig's batted-ball profile, we see that he is hitting more line drives this season while hitting about the same number of grounders and slightly fewer fly balls. The biggest difference in Craig's batted-ball profile is HR/FB. Fewer of Craig's fly balls are carrying out of the yard.

ALLEN CRAIG BATTED BALL PROFILE (2012 vs. 2013)

So far this season, Craig has been less productive than he was a year ago because he isn't hitting for as much power. Craig has hit for more triples already this season than he did last year while also essentially maintaining his doubles rate. The big drop-off in Craig's power-hitting this season can be attributed to his lack of home runs. It will be interesting to see if Craig's HR/FB begins to bend towards his 2012 rate as the weather heats up. If it does, the Cardinals will be that much more potent on offense.