Alex Guerrero has had a grand total of 138 major league plate appearances in a grand total of 59 major league games since his September 1, 2014 major league call-up. So when Dodgers manager Don Mattingly announced his starting lineup for Monday’s interleague game against the Texas Rangers, you could almost understand why he opted to go with 10-year MLB veteran Alberto Callaspo over Guerrero. After all, Guerrero has has faced Rangers right-hander and nine-year MLB veteran Yovani Gallardo exactly zero times – not even once.

On the season, the 28-year-old Guerrero is hitting .282 with 10 home runs, seven doubles, one triple and 28 RBIs.

On the season, the 32-year-old Callaspo is hitting .225 with one home run, five doubles, zero triples and nine RBIs.

But according to Mattingly, Callaspo matches up better against Yovani Gallardo because he has faced him a total of (wait for it) exactly zero times – not even once.

Guerrero has more pinch-hit home runs this season than Callaspo has total home runs.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

This is not a typo, folks. I checked it on Baseball_Reference.com and then re-checked it two more times because I simply could not believe it.

“It came down to Adrian (Gonzalez) or (Guerrero) [being the designated hitter],” Mattingly told the media in his pre-game briefing. “Really, once JT (Justin Turner) plays first, then it’s a match-up between Callaspo and Alex. If Alex, I felt, was a better match-up, I probably would have played him at third.”

Ummm… Don – Alex is a better match-up.

On the season Callaspo is hitting .250 with one home run against right-handers and Guerrero .286 with eight home runs against righties – and neither has ever faced Gallardo before. So all things being equal, Guerrero is unquestionably the better match-up. In fact, it isn’t even close.

Although I haven’t a clue as to the real reason why Guerrero is sitting and Callaspo is starting at third base, there is definitely a lot more to this than match-ups.

Stay tuned…