2012 Streaker Awards for Batters

No, not that kind of streaking. But, now that I have your attention, here are the 2012 gold, silver and bronze medal awards for streaks for various batting categories.

For each category, I’ve indicated both the hottest and coldest streaks. I’ll leave it for you to decide whether these streaks indicate that a player is prone to streaky play, or is just consistently good … or bad.

Some preliminaries. First, pitchers are arbitrarily excluded from all streak queries. Second, for an apples-to-apples comparison, I am counting streaks only for games in which a player was in the starting lineup and had at least one PA. Counting starting games only avoids streaks being broken when a player appears in a substitute role with possibly limited PA opportunities (or none) to extend a streak. This means that games as a substitute may be interspersed within these streaks without affecting them, regardless of what a player did or didn’t accomplish in those substitute appearances.

Further to the treatment of substitute appearances within a streak:

  • players effectively get a “mulligan” if they, in fact, break a streak in a substitute game
  • OTOH, players are not rewarded if they extend a streak in such games

On the whole, I think this is a fair and balanced approach, but feel free to differ.

So, here are the 2012 Streaker Awards.

Rk RUNS Strk Start End Games Tm Rk NO RUNS Strk Start End Games Tm
1 Mike Trout 2012-07-05 2012-07-23 15 LAA 1 Jose Lopez 2012-05-18 2012-06-23 22 CLE
2 Austin Jackson 2012-06-30 2012-07-16 13 DET 2 Clint Barmes 2012-04-25 2012-05-20 21 PIT
3 Miguel Cabrera 2012-09-11 2012-09-23 11 DET 3 Brandon Crawford 2012-04-13 2012-05-11 20 SFG
HITS NO HITS 
1 Jose Reyes 2012-07-13 2012-08-08 26 MIA 1 Omar Quintanilla 2012-08-15 2012-09-05 10 BAL
2 Robinson Cano 2012-06-24 2012-07-20 23 NYY 1 Luke Scott 2012-06-02 2012-07-05  10 TBR
3 Michael Brantley 2012-05-20 2012-06-15 22 CLE 3 A.J. Ellis 2012-09-11 2012-09-22  9 LAD
3 Josh Thole 2012-08-15 2012-08-31 9 NYM
 3 Cliff Pennington 2012-05-23 2012-06-03  9 OAK
XB HITS NO XB HITS
1 Freddie Freeman 2012-07-08 2012-07-20 8 ATL  1 John Baker 2012-05-18 2012-08-16  32 SDP
2 Chris Davis 2012-09-25 2012-10-02 7 BAL  2 Drew Stubbs 2012-08-18 2012-10-03  30 CIN
2 A.J. Pierzynski 2012-07-23 2012-08-06 7 CHW  2 Emilio Bonifacio 2012-04-04 2012-05-08  30 MIA
2 Albert Pujols 2012-07-30 2012-08-05 7 LAA
2 Paul Goldschmidt 2012-05-30 2012-06-08 7 ARI
HOME RUNS NO HOME RUNS 
1 Chris Davis 2012-09-26 2012-10-02 6 BAL 1 Ben Revere 2012-04-07 2012-10-03  118 MIN
2 A.J. Pierzynski 2012-07-30 2012-08-05 5 CHW 2 Jamey Carroll 2012-04-06 2012-09-02  115 MIN
2 Mike Napoli 2012-04-15 2012-04-21 5 TEX 3 Jemile Weeks 2012-04-14 2012-09-13  104 OAK
WALKS NO WALKS 
1 Alberto Callaspo 2012-08-01 2012-08-11 10 LAA 1 Miguel Olivo 2012-07-02 2012-09-16  32 SEA
1 David Ortiz 2012-07-03 2012-07-16 10 BOS 2 Cesar Izturis 2012-05-12 2012-08-04  31 MIL
3 Kevin Youkilis 2012-07-04 2012-07-15 8 CHW 2 Humberto Quintero 2012-04-24 2012-06-23  31 KCR
3 Chris Young 2012-05-29 2012-06-08 8 ARI
3 Curtis Granderson 2012-05-19 2012-05-27 8 NYY
3 Dan Uggla 2012-05-20 2012-05-27 8 ATL
3 Chase Headley 2012-04-07 2012-04-15 8 SDP
RBI NO RBI 
1 Ryan Zimmerman 2012-09-03 2012-09-12 9 WSN  1 Nyjer Morgan 2012-04-07 2012-05-31 29 MIL
1 Robinson Cano 2012-06-27 2012-07-06 9 NYY 2 Ramon Santiago 2012-06-26 2012-10-02  28 DET
1 Carlos Beltran 2012-06-22 2012-07-02 9 STL 3 Danny Espinosa 2012-04-09 2012-05-10  26 WSN
STRIKEOUTS NO STRIKEOUTS 
1 Adam Dunn 2012-04-06 2012-05-09 31 CHW  1 Chris Getz 2012-06-14 2012-08-01 15 KCR
2 Kirk Nieuwenhuis 2012-04-24 2012-06-02 29 NYM  1 Carlos Lee 2012-05-14 2012-05-28  15 HOU
3 Rick Ankiel 2012-05-06 2012-07-01 23 WSN 3 Dustin Pedroia 2012-07-01 2012-07-30  14 BOS
 3 Juan Pierre 2012-05-25 2012-06-13 14 PHI
 3 Ryan Theriot 2012-04-29 2012-06-03 14 SFG
 3 Jeff Keppinger 2012-04-12 2012-05-08 14 TBR
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2012.

Note the last entry in the above table, of games with and without strikeouts. I was curious when strikeout streaks started getting longer than no-strikeout streaks. Adam Dunn’s 31-game strikeout streak in 2012 is the longest in-season streak of this century, and part of a 35 game streak begun at the end of the 2011 season. Here are the longest in-season streaks of earlier decades.

Decade Strk Start End Games Tm
1990s Shane Andrews 1999-08-27 1999-09-30 22 MON-CHC
Tony Clark 1996-08-23 1996-09-14 22 DET
1980s Jeff Kunkel 1989-06-24 1989-07-21 21 TEX
Pete Incaviglia 1988-06-15 1988-07-23 21 TEX
1970s Bernie Carbo 1976-07-15 1976-09-08 25 MIL-BOS Part of a 27 game streak ending 1977-04-10
1960s Ken Hunt 1963-04-16 1963-08-08 25 LAA Dave Nicholson had a 37 game streak
spanning 1964 (17 games) and 1965 (20)
1950s Bob Speake 1955-07-17 1955-09-19 24 CHC
1940s Oscar Grimes 1944-09-04 1944-09-21 12 NYY
1930s Vince DiMaggio 1937-06-05 1937-06-22 14 BSN
1920s Babe Ruth 1922-08-20 1922-09-05 12 NYY
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2012.

So, a pretty sudden shift from the 1940s to the 1950s, but relatively stable since then. That is, until we get to Big Donkey.

A rather different story when we look at streaks of not striking out. In 1929, Joe Sewell went 115 starting games without whiffing (see below), a mere 100 games longer than the top such streak of 2012.

Decade Strk Start End Games Tm
2000-12 Juan Pierre 2004-08-16 2004-09-19 31 FLA
1990s Tony Gwynn 1995-06-03 1995-07-17 39 SDP
1980s Bob Bailor 1984-05-10 1984-09-30 35 LAD Part of a 56 game streak from 1983-10-01 to 1985-08-20
1970s Dave Cash 1976-05-28 1976-07-17 47 PHI
1960s Nellie Fox 1962-07-22 1962-09-03 39 CHW
1950s Nellie Fox 1958-05-17 1958-08-22 98 CHW
1940s Emil Verban 1949-04-21 1949-06-17 53 CHC Dale Mitchell (73 games) and Lloyd Waner (69)
Debs Garms 1940-06-16 1940-09-13 53 PIT had longer streaks spanning multiple seasons
1930s Carey Selph 1932-05-20 1932-09-11 66 CHW Joe Sewell had an 81 game streak spanning
Joe Sewell 1930-05-27 1930-08-27 66 CLE 1931 (17 games) and 1932 (64)
1920s Joe Sewell 1929-05-19 1929-09-19 115 CLE
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/3/2012.

So, the big change here occurred in the 1960s. It’s now been over 50 years since a player has had an in-season streak of 50 games or more without striking out.

However, a more recent trend to fewer and shorter streaks is evident. Juan Pierre has had two 30+ game streaks since 2000, the only player to have even one such streak. In the past five seasons, Jeff Keppinger has two 20+ game streaks, again the only player with even one. Thus, since 2008, strikeout streaks have become longer and more common than no-strikeout streaks, a first in MLB history.

I will follow up with a similar post on pitchers.

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Chad
Chad
11 years ago

Ironic seeing Dale Mitchell on the longest streaks without a strikeout list, as he has one of the more famous strikeouts of all-time.

Brent
Brent
11 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Of course it was looking, IIRC? So the Larsen K doesn’t exactly prove he was a free swinger.

nightfly
11 years ago
Reply to  Brent

And many Dodgers (Mitchell among them) swear that the pitch was actually high.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

During Sewell’s streak in 1929 all games were consecutive, establishing records for most consecutive games (115) and most consecutive PA (at least 517) without a strikeout.

In 1941 Lloyd Waner set records for most games played (77) and most PA (234) in a season without a strikeout. He started only 47 of those games.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

Sewell’s streak should read “(at least 516)”.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago

Johnny Sain holds the record for most PA by a pitcher with no strikeouts with 104 PA in 1946. It’s hard to believe a pitcher would accumulate that many PA without striking out. Career-wise he had 856 PA with just 20 SO, 7th best ratio for players with more than 800 PA.

Jim Bouldin
11 years ago

Doug I was very disappointed not to see any actual stats regarding streakers. Baseball has not been the same ever since you could go to Tiger Stadium and see Fidrych pitch and a couple of folks test the odds of whether they could make it from the left to right field corners in their birthday suits after a few 3.2% beers.

I’m deeply disappointed in this post.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Jim Bouldin

Jim, I owe you one. 🙂

deal
11 years ago

Oddity – Drew Stubbs NO-XBH streak is still ongoing across seasons as it was active at the end of 2012. However he did have 2 XBH in the NLDS after not having one for a month and a half during the regular season.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  deal

Of the 24 players who have fanned in at least 25% of their career PAs (with 2000+ PAs), Stubbs has easily the worst rate of XBH, whether measured as a percentage of hits, a percentage of PAs, or Isolated Power.

mosc
mosc
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I wouldn’t have believed Stubbs had 2000 PA without looking. Amazing they didn’t send him down earlier. I don’t think a 26 year old player would have led the league in strikeouts in the old days like Stubbs did in 2011, he would be in the minors before that.

Did he sign an MLB contract out of the draft or something? Was he on the 40 man roster burning up option years? The new rules make it hard to keep high draft picks in the minors for very long, maybe to their own detriment.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  mosc

The 2009 Reds were playing Willy Taveras in CF (48 OPS+) before they brought up Stubbs, so I think desperation was a factor. Stubbs performed well enough in 42 games to earn the job for 2010. That year was going poorly through Sept. 6 — .237 BA, .307 OBP, .708 OPS, with a ton of strikeouts. But the Reds still had the Central flag pretty well in hand. And then Stubbs went on a season-ending tear: Starting with a 6-for-11 run in Colorado, he hit .350/1.117 in his last 24 games, with 7 HRs. That tear was fueled by a… Read more »

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
11 years ago
Reply to  deal

Counting all games in which he appeared, Stubbs has gone through 121 consecutive AB without an XBH through the end of the season. As far as I could determine from the PI the record (1918-2012) for such a streak, for position players, is at least 252 AB by A’s 3B Eddie Mayo in 1943. Including pitchers the record is 698 AB by Bob Buhl.

JDV
JDV
11 years ago

Bob Bailor did strike out once in 1984 in a pinch-hitting appearance (which was excepted by your criteria), but still pretty impressive.

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago

Re: Brantley’s 22-game hitting streak — I remember noticing the streak during the season and remarking on how relatively unproductive it was: .337 BA, .367 OBP (4 walks), .442 SLG (6 XBH), .809 OPS, 12 Runs. In the past 5 years, among 38 hitting streaks of 20+ games, Brantley’s ranks: — 33rd in BA — 34th in OBP — 35th in SLG — 36th in OPS Two further points: 1) In 2010, Brantley had a 19-game hitting streak that was even paler: .286 BA (26 for 91), .309 OBP (3 walks), .319 SLG (1 double, 1 triple, no HRs), .627… Read more »

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John – Thanks for the extended analysis re: Brantley. As an Indian’s fan, I’ve been quite puzzled by Branley’s minor to major’s transition. Part of it is the BB/SO rate that you cite. Part of it is his batting average which has been a lot lower in the majors. And then there’s his stolen bases. He has an 80% success rate in the minors with as many as 46 steals. But in the majors he’s only at 66% with a high of 13. Still, as you said, he does seem to be improving and there’s hope that he’ll eventually turn… Read more »

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago
Reply to  Ed

Ed — Do you think Brantley’s broad-based minors-to-majors struggle could be 90% mental? Is there any sense that he expects too much of himself, possibly as the “last hope” from the CC deal?

Hartvig
Hartvig
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

“Ninety percent of this game is half-mental.” Yogi

Sorry.

It had to be done.

Ed
Ed
11 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

John – I can’t really say but I haven’t heard anything of that sort. One problem in 2011 was that he simply wasn’t swinging at enough pitches and was taking too many called strikes. He seems to have corrected that in 2012.

http://www.letsgotribe.com/2012/10/25/3554180/2012-in-review-michael-brantley

And based on this fangraphs interview, Brantley sounds like he’s definitely a student of the game so I wouldn’t be surprised if he continues to improve.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/michael-brantley-a-studious-4-for-5-night/

John Autin
Editor
11 years ago

“Who the heck was Carey Selph?”, I wondered as I scanned Doug’s list of each decade’s longest no-strikeout streaks. Turns out, that streak of 66 starts without whiffing also marked the end of his MLB career. After a brief trial with the ’29 Cardinals, second baseman Selph went back to the Texas League for two more years, hitting a combined .332 with about 200 hits a year, but little power. The White Sox snagged him in the rule 5 draft (he was almost 30) and made him a regular in 1932, mostly at 3B. Selph hit .283 with no HRs,… Read more »