Switch Hitting Sluggers

I don't want to lose my faithful readers (all 4 of you (-; ), so here's today's entry, focusing on switch-hitting sluggers. Until Mickey Mantle came along, that phrase was an oxymoron. The typical switch-hitter, both in the deadball era (pre-Ruth) and later was a slap, spray, singles and gapper hitter, a get-on-base kind of guy. I gotta do a little more research, but I wouldn't be surprised if the top career HR total for a switch-hitter pre-Mantle was no more than 150. Then the Mick came along and smashed the swith-hitter stereotype, hitting over 50 twice on his way to 536 total (he looked headed for much more until debilitating injuries and the bottle halted things a bit early). Forty years later, Mantle is still the career leader. In the 1970's, 2 ex-Cardinals, Reggie Smith and Ted Simmons, took 2nd and 3rd at the time with 314 and 248. The first one to approach Mantle's total, "Steady" Eddie Murray, did it with constistency and longevity. Today's top switch-hitting sluggers include Chipper Jones, Lance Berkman, Carlos Beltran, and Mark Teixeira. Here's the career Top Ten:
536 Mantle
504 Murray
353 Chipper Jones (passed Davis Aug. 26)
350 Chili Davis
314 R. Smith
306 Ruben Sierra
287 Bobby Bonilla
286 Bernie Williams (about to move into 7th)
248 Ted Simmons
246 Ken Singleton (teamed with Murray several years for better tandem than Smith-Simmons)

At age 34, Jones has a shot at 500 if he can stay healthy. Berkman is coming on strong with 216 in only 7+ years. And Beltran has over 200 at age 29. Look for future entries on the lefty-righty breakdown of these switch-hitters (some's power stats are more equally distributed than others), as well as single season switch-hitting homer records.

Bonds Stands Alone in Career HR/SB Combo

Love him (SF) or hate him (rest of the world), Barry Bonds' stats stand out in numerous ways. One is his career totals in HR and SB. I can remember being impressed to see baseball cards like Lou Brock's listing over 100 of each. Two hundred of each (Frank Robinson, Aaron) was considered an accomplishment a couple of decades ago. Even now, in this age of common 30-30 guys, few have joined the 250-250 club:
Robin Yount, 251 HR, 271 SB
Kirk Gibson, 255, 284
Don Baylor, 338, 285
Vada Pinson, 256, 305
Joe Morgan, 268, 689
Rickey Henderson, 297, 1406

Add in these precious few in the prestigious 300-300 Club:
Reggie Sanders, 303, 304 (just joined this year)
Steve Finley, 303, 320 (likewise)
Andre Dawson, 438, 314
Willie Mays, 660, 338
Bobby Bonds, 332, 461

The 350-350 Club looks like this:

And the 400-400 Club:

450-450?:

500-500--1 member
Barry Bonds, 725 (and may it stay forever under 755!), and 509 SB.

Of course, most of the SB's came in the PRE-roid days. Still, impressive numbers. I wouldn't be surprised if 50 years from now, he is still the only member of the 500-500 club.

How to Explain Gary Bennett's Turnaround?

Gary Bennet, backup catcher of the St. Louis Cardinals and veteran of over 8 years in the majors, has been with the team since opening day, but playing little, and for good reason--his offense was pitiful! Through Aug. 16, in 40 games he had 22 hits in 118 AB's for a sub-Mendoza line .186 average. Even worse, he had all of 5 doubles (the last one June 20), 0 triples and 0 homers for a .229 slugging average, lower than that of dozens of starting pitchers! He had scored 9 runs and driven in 13 in 4 and a half months.

Then something clicked. Now, in his last five games (before tonight) he is 10 for 16 with three home runs and 5 RBI's! His average is up to .239, his slugging pct. now .343! He went from a guy I would imagine on the verge of being released to a guy playing most every day and the most dangerous hitter on the planet! Go figure! I just know if you're a Cardinal fan like me, you pray the hot streak lasts through October!

Helton Tops in AB per Double

I bet you didn't know that Todd Helson is currently the ALL-TIME best in frequency of doubles, breaking the record held for a long, long time by career doubles champ Tris Speaker. Of course, this is one of those records that can be yours for a time, then lost if future years cause the frequency to go down. As of now, here is the top 10 in At Bats per Double:

1. 12.366, Helton, 4971 AB, 402 2B
2. 12.872, Speaker, 10195, 792
3. 13.563, Chick Hafey, 4625, 341
4. 13.702, Hank Greenberg, 5193, 379
5. 14.033, Edgar Martinez, 7213, 514
6. 14.035, Bobby Abreu, 5165, 368
7. 14.043, Babe Herman, 5603, 399
8. 14.044, Riggs Stephenson, 4508, 321
9. 14.139, Joe Medwick, 7635, 540
10. 14.324, Nomar Garciaparra, 4727, 330

We are in the midst of the 2nd great age of doubles hitting. No one on the list from the 1940's through the 1970's. Martinez led the way that active players Helton, Abreu and Garciaparra have followed in. And Helton has a good lead on Speaker, with the two of them WAY ahead of everyone else in the history of baseball!

Manny Ramirez among best ever in games per RBI

Manny Ramirez is not even the most celebrated player on his own team, but he is one of the all-time best at driving in runs. Here are the top 10 all-time in RBI's per game (a better measure than per AB, since RBI's earned thru sacrifice flies and walks don't count as AB's):

10. Cap Anson 2523 g, 2076 RBI, 1.215 g/RBI
9. Al Simmons 2215 g, 1827 RBI, 1.212
8. Jimmy Foxx 2317, 1922, 1.206
7. Juan Gonzalez 1689, 1404, 1.203
6.Manny Ramirez, 1809, 1514, 1.195
5. Babe Ruth, 2503, 2213, 1.131
4. Joe DiMaggio, 1736, 1537, 1.129
3. Hank Greenberg, 1394, 1276, 1.092
2. Lou Gehrig, 2164, 1995, 1.085
and # 1 is (any guesses?) how about ...
1. Sam Thompson, 1407, 1299, 1.083

Ramirez had an unbelievable 165 in 147 games in 1999. I was surprised to find Juan Gonzalez ranked right behind Manny--Gonzalez's career petered out a little early recently. Thompson, btw, is a hall-of-famer from the 19th century, playing principally from 1885-1896, who led the league in RBI's in 1887 with 166 in 127 g, and in 1895 with 165 in only 119 g!

Franscisco's Turnaround

Talk about your dramatic reversal! It's a long-known adage that when a veteran player is struggling, often a change of scenery will turn him around. Boy, has it ever with Francisco Cordero! The closer had saved 86 games the previous two years for the Rangers. But he lost his closer's role after a horrific April (3 saves, 5 blown saves, 11.45 ERA) He continued to struggle in the occasional save opportunities afforded him over the next 3 months (3 saves, 4 blown saves) while lowering his ERA to an almost respectable 4.81. Then came the trade to Milwaukee in the last week of July. With only 6 saves in 15 opportunities, he seemed a poor bet for closer. But with Turnbow making a mess of things (ERA over 6, 4 blown saves in a row) the Brewers were desperate. And Cordero has responded unbelievably! He has yet to give up a run in 13 games, 12 2/3 innings, with 10 saves and a win in his last 11 appearances. Opponents are batting an anemic .163 against him. Go, Francisco! You're an inspiration to us all that we can turn things around!

HR Leaders Breakdown by Mo.

Sorry I missed two days, faithful readers (and if you ARE one of those, would you do me the favor of a reply? Thanks!) Today we look at the monthly HR breakdown of 2006's leading HR hitters.
----------April----May----June----July----Aug. (thru 24th)
Ortiz------10-------5-------8-------14-------9----46 total
Howard---5------13-------9---------8-------9----44
Soriano----7------12------5---------8-------9-----41
Hafner-----7-------7-------7--------8-------10----39
Dunn------9-------8-------9---------5--------7-----38
Pujols-----14-----11------1 (inj.)----7--------5-----38

You can see that Ortiz had a monster July, Howard (and Soriano) a huge May, and Pujols a hot 1st 2 months. Hafner gets the consistency award, and is turning it up now. An average of just over 8 a month would result in 50 for the year; 10 a month would bring a 60 total; 12 a month would be 72, one off Bonds' record. It looks like we're headed for 2 or 3 players in the 50's this year, with a possible high of about 58. It's also worth noting that all 4 in the top four are having very good and equal Augusts, so there is little change among them from where those 4 stood a month ago. The only change is Dunn and Pujols have dropped off the pace.

Hispanics in the Hall

I was just noticing the symmetry, the even distribution of Hispanic players in the Hall of Fame. There is one Puerto Rican (Clemente), one Dominican (Juan Marichal), one Venezuelan (Luis Aparicio), one Panamanian (Rod Carew), and one Cuban (Tony Perez). Too bad no Mexicans or U.S.-born Hispanics!

Lee Smith for Hall of Fame!

As Trevor Hoffman is now within 10 saves of Lee Smith's career record (he could break it before the season is over), I gotta wonder, how come Lee Smith hasn't already been elected to the Hall of Fame? Hoyt Wilhelm, the 1st reliever to get in, held the career saves record for many years until Rollie Finger broke it. Fingers, too, was elected upon eligibility. Then Lee Smith came along and broke the old record by over 100, to 478. Percentage-wise, that would have been like Aaron surpassing Ruth's 714 by over 200, to 900-something HR's, or Rose passing Cobb's hits record with over 5,000. Still, Smith gets passed over year after year, while first Eckersley and last year, Sutter (only 300 career saves) double the number of relievers in Cooperstown. And I hear more lobbying lately for Goose Gossage (310 career saves) than for Smith. What's the deal? I once read that voters were holding Smith's losing Won-Loss record (71-91) against him. I'm not buying that--since when does a reliever's winning percentage count for squat? Closers get most of their wins on blown saves! Put him in now--what are you guys waiting for?

Highest Leading ERA this Year?

I was surprised to find that 2006 may set a new record for highest ERA to lead the majors! Currently, Josh Johnson of Fla. Marlins is the lowest qualifier (1+ innings per game played by team), and his ERA is a not-so-impressive 2.84 (Liriano of Minn. was listed as leader for awhile, and currently stands at 2.19, but with only 119 IP and on the DL right now, it's not likely he'll pitch enough innings to qualify.) The highest ERA to ever lead the majors for the year was Lefty Grove's 2.81 in 1929, baseball's first "juiced ball" era. THe highest since then was Saul Rogorin's (who's?) 2.78 in 1951, and the highest ERA to lead the majors in recent years is Jimmy Key's 2.76 in 1987.

High Homers, Low Strike Outs

Sluggers tend to have high strikeout totals. Casey at the Bat explains why--the harder you swing, the better chance the ball will be knocked out if you hit it flush, but also the greater the chance you'll miss contact altogether! So rare is the player whose HR total is anywhere near as high as his K's. More typical is Adam Dunn (37 HR, 148 K so far in '06) or Wily Mo Pena(10 HR,62 K).

The all-time career leader in Homers to Strikeouts is Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, with 361 HR and just 369 K, for a .978 ratio. Second best (I would have NEVER guessed) is Yogi Berra, with 358 HR and 414 K (.865). There was much more to Yogi than just memorably stupid sayings! Third: Teddy Ballgame (Williams): 521 HR, 709 K (.735).

The only player I know of in recent times to have more dingers than whiffs in any given year is Barry Bonds, who, after barely missing in '02 (46 HR, 47 K) two years later, in 2004 hit 45 out while striking out only 41 times. Albert Pujols came close that same year with 46 HR and 52 K (.885). Pujols just might pull it off this year. He had 36 HR with 34 K before 3 strikeouts in the last two, homerless games put him just behind the pace. It would be quite an incredible feat--most sluggers are happy if they only strike out 2 1/2 or 3 times for every homer!

Worst Hitting Sluggers of All Time

Here we go with the HR hitters (175+ in career) with the lowest career batting averages, in descending order:
10. .242 355 HR Greg Vaughn (only black on the list)
T-8..241 245 HR Mickey Tettleton(S-H)
T-8..241 201 HR Gene Tenace(C)
7. .240 179 HR Woodie Held (who?!)
6. .239 176 HR Ron Kittle(Don't tell any more stories on poor Barry!)
5. .236 442 HR the immortal Dave King(Kong)man
4. .234 202 HR Todd Hundley(2nd catcher, 2nd switch-hitter on the list)
3. .229 181 HR Steve Balboni (those avgs are REALLY gettin' ugly now!)
2. .225 268 HR "Stormin'" Gorman Thomas (stormin' backto a seat in the dugout all too often!)
and (drum roll) the all time worst hitting slugger is...
1. .220 230 HR Rob Deer (in the headlights!)
For what it's worth, notice the preponderance of 1970's-early 80's guys. And that's all I have to say about that.

Duncan Rookie of Year?

Chris Duncan, son of Cardinal pitching coach (and former major league catcher) Dave Duncan, already hit a HR in his 3rd straight game today for the Cards. Before today's game he was batting .345 with an incredible .648 slugging percentage, helped by 13 HR in just 165 AB. I'm wondering if he made the bigs too late to win Rookie of the year. Jeff Francoeur was talked up for rookie of year for his partial year in 2005, until he faded down the stretch (that dude still hasn't learned how to take a walk!). Instead, Ryan Howard won with just 312 AB in 88 games, just over half a year (He had 22 HR and batted .288 with a .567 slugging avg. numbers Duncan should surpass easily). The precedent everyone always points to is Willie McCovey, who had just 192 AB when he won it in 1959. Duncan just surpassed McCovey's rookie total of 13 HR's today, and is right near McCovey's avg. (.354) and slugging (.656) for that year. Besides, Duncan will have closer to half a year by the time the season is over, as opposed to McCovey's 1/3 year.

BTW, Duncan is currently on a 5 game streak of 2 or more hits, and is 22 for 42 in the 11 games before today! That's why I just added him to my fantasy team (don't go cold on me now!)

My Pic (don't let it scare you off!)

First Go at It: Pujols, etc.

I've been a stats nut since as long as I remember, with a special affinity for baseball numbers. I can lose myself for hours compiling and analyzing obscure stats like most doubles per 100 at bats, or brother records, single year or career. But I always scribbled this stuff on notebook paper, never compiled it in any organized fashion, and never shared it with other stats freaks (I'm told there are lots of you out there!) So this blog is my attempt to share with the world the fruits of my compulsive labor of love. Here goes with the first one:

Alfonzo Soriano (member of my Yahoo fantasy baseball team, btw), just became the first player not named Bonds to have 4+ 30-30 seasons (30+ homers and 30+ stolen bases). Though 30-30 has become much more common in recent years, it looks like Soriano of the Washington Nationals will be the only player to achieve the feat in 2006.

My hero Albert Pujols of recently struggling St Louis Cardinals can't quite shake the effects of an early June injury that had him out for a little over 2 weeks. Prior to the injury, on June 2, he hit 25 dingers in 185 AB's, for an incredible rate of one every 7.4 AB (he was threatening Bonds' single season record of 73 at that point). Since then, although he has raised his average from .308 to .326, he has only hit 11 HR in 201 AB, a rate of one every 18.3 AB. He may not even break his personal best of 46. Even so, what he has done in his first 6 seasons is incredible: at age 26, his career numbers are .332 avg. with 237 HR, 719 RBI, 19 runs, 253 doubles, and a .628 slugging average, currently 4th best all-time, behind some guys named Ruth, Gehrig, and Ted Williams and AHEAD of Barry Bonds. All this, and no steroid alegations!