The Best Careers by Utility Infielders

A recent SweetSpot post by David Schoenfield informally named Jeff Reboulet as “The best utility infielder of all time!” I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be a scientific choice, but since I questioned part of the premise, I set out to waste a little time on it myself.

 

David had two requirements: no season with 500 PAs, and 200 career games at shortstop. I don’t like the first part of that standard. First, I don’t think a year or two of full-time play should be a bar to this prestigious honor. Lots of guys got a full shot or two before settling into utility careers. Second, it still lets in some guys who mainly have been regulars, like Maicer Izturis (one of Schoenfield’s finalists). In the past 8 years, Izturis averaged 99 games and 373 PAs, with at least half-time play all but one of those years. That’s not my idea of a utility man.

So, I started off by seeking those with the most years as utility infielders. I defined a utility season as one with (a) 50 to 299 PAs, and (b) at least 5 games at short or second. I took the 62 players with at least seven such seasons, and applied two more criteria:

  • No more than 2 years qualified for the batting crown; and
  • 100+ career games at both SS and 2B.

That cut the pool to 42 players, from which I chose nine finalists, who all had:

  • 5.0 career WAR
  • 1.0 WAR per 162 games
  • Positive defensive WAR

And here’s my list of candidates, ranked by career WAR, and then a stats table:

  1. Tony Graffanino
  2. Jerry Hairston, Jr.
  3. Craig Grebeck
  4. Jeff Reboulet
  5. Dick Schofield, Sr.
  6. Bob Johnson (not Indian Bob)
  7. Ramon Santiago
  8. John McDonald
  9. Mike Benjamin

The following table shows their WAR total, and rank among the pool of 42; WAR per 162 games, and rank; defensive WAR per 162 G; Plate Appearances per year; OPS+; Rfield (or WAR runs from fielding); and their defensive innings at shortstop, second and third base.

[table id=219 /]

Just two of these nine had more than 350 innings at a position other than 2B, SS and 3B: Hairston had 2,458 outfield innings, and Johnson 758 innings at first base.

Five of the nine had any qualified seasons, and only one had two: Schofield 2 of 19 years played, Johnson 1/11, Graffanino & Santiago 1/13, Hairston 1/16, Reboulet 0/12 (high 299 PAs), Grebeck 0/12 (high 344), Benjamin 0/13 (high 404), McDonald 0/16 (high 353).

 

The Rundown

Tony Graffanino leads easily on pure value, bringing a balance of offense and defense. The only catch: Although he began his pro career at short, Tony really was a second baseman in the majors. He’s the only contender here who barely met the 100 G minimum at short.

Jerry Hairston‘s versatility includes outfield, and some speed. His 147 steals are almost three times the next-best, and that all-around package helped him last 16 years in this age of short benches. But does he really fit in this debate? His average playing time is similar to that of Maicer Izturis. Hairston did have the required 7 utility seasons, but also 5 years with 430+ PAs; his career average of 310 PAs is 27% more than any other candidate.

Craig Grebeck is the one contender with an OBP above league average (park-adjusted). With better luck, he might have had a real career. He wasn’t drafted out of college, and came up with the ChiSox when SS Ozzie Guillen and 2B Scott Fletcher were entrenched. Grebeck was about as good as either one — his career rates look like Fletcher 2.0 — but he didn’t hit in his first trial. Then Fletcher slumped, while Grebeck played great in the utility role, so they let Fletcher walk. Again Grebeck played well, now as the regular 2B, but he got hurt and missed the last two months. Those two seasons add up to one year’s full play, with a 119 OPS+ and 5.4 WAR. But coming back the year after the injury, he started slowly, and Joey Cora got his job; soon they came up with Ray Durham, and Grebeck didn’t get another regular shot until he was 33.

Jeff Reboulet fits the classic utility profile, starting with 7 years in the minors before his debut at 28. He’s the only guy here with 2,000 innings at both SS/2B and 1,000 more at third. Jeff hit OK his first few years, but then just stopped; he winds up in the middle ground between Grebeck (better bat) and Benjamin/McDonald (ace gloves).

Dick “Ducky” Schofield had an odd career pattern, with 3 years as a regular evenly splitting his dozen utility seasons with 50-270 PAs. (Three of the other four qualified seasons in this group came within the player’s first four years.) Schofield debuted at 18 (bonus baby), but didn’t bat 100 times in a year until he was 23, and had just 807 PAs after 10 years. Then Pittsburgh dealt Dick Groat, and for 3 years Schofield held the job; hit OK the first two, then fell apart, and spent his last 6 years back in a reserve role, bouncing among six teams. By far the most SS innings here, but enough at 2B/3B to be viewed as a utility man. Defensive metrics lower than his reputation, but a better bat than his .227 BA would suggest; his 73 OPS+ is the median here.

Bob Johnson could hit a bit, as befits his name; his 95 OPS+ is the best of these contenders. (Only Felix Mantilla had a higher OPS+ in the pool of 42, and he flunked out on dWAR.) Johnson got his shot with the expansion Senators when their first SS, Coot Veal, didn’t hit a lick; Johnson came up in July and hit .290 with a 106 OPS+ over the rest of that year and the next, starting first at SS, then 3B. His D wasn’t great. Dealt to the Orioles when they had a Hall of Fame left side, Johnson formed sort of an offense/defense platoon at 2B with Jerry Adair, and hit very well for that job. Bat was inconsistent the rest of his career; sold to the Mets in ’67 and hit .348 playing half-time all over the infield, which was a Mets record for 200+ PAs until John Olerud topped it in ’98.

Ramon SantiagoumGood bunter, like most of these guys: In 103 career sac attempts, he has 77 sacs and 12 hits, also 24 hits in 74 non-sac bunts. Debuted with Detroit in 2002 and was a regular the next year at 23, splitting time at SS and 2B, hitting just .225 for that 43-119 team. Went to Seattle in the Carlos Guillen trade, but was in the minors most of his 2 years there; then released, reclaimed by Tigers, and 2 more years in minors or as strict defensive sub. He’s stayed in the bigs since 2008, averaging 61 starts and 268 PAs. Plus defender at either MI spot, but started just 10 games elsewhere.

John McDonald and Mike Benjamin, almost interchangeable, are the best glove men out of the 42 — truly outstanding defensive players, but their bats were just too weak to play regularly. McDonald’s 60 OPS+ is 9th-worst of all moderns with 1,000 games. But his dWAR is 4th-best of those with less than 3,000 PAs, and Benjamin is 6th on that list. Benjamin had better WAR per game; McDonald lasted longer, and is still going with the Dodgers at age 39.

 

Tough Choices

Whittling down the list … Schofield and Santiago are easily eliminated: They can’t hang with the leaders in WAR rates, and they have no bonus factors to overcome that.

But to make a clear choice from the rest, I think, would first require a difficult consensus on assumptions. Are we picking for a team of this era, with 3 to 5 bench players, or for some all-eras composite? Does our team have the DH all the time, just a little, or never? What kind of starting players do we have?

And even if we settled on the purpose of this selection, each of us still gives different weights to defense, offense, and all-around versatility, so any of the seven would please some constituency.

If forced to choose, I’ll narrow it to two: Hairston, for maximum versatility; and Grebeck, best all-around of the pure utility-IF candidates. And I’ll take Craig Grebeck. He didn’t get to play quite as much as Reboulet, but put up the same total value. And as a bonus, both his name and 5′ 8″ stature just seem to fit the utility mold.

So, who’s your pick? Any dark-horse candidates not discussed?

 

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max
max
9 years ago

I am certain he didn’t play 100 games at SS and he goes way over 500 PA for many years, but pound for pound, my favorite “utility” player of all time is Tony Phillips.

Luis Gomez
Luis Gomez
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Ben Zobrist, not on the same planet as those guys, but a very good (and valuable) utility player.

David Horwich
David Horwich
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

I suppose Gregg Jefferies could make the team – he had more than 250 GP at 4 different positions (1B, 2B, 3B, LF).

The Mets badly mishandled him at the start of his career, and he never fulfilled the potential he showed in the minors, but despite that he put up 19.4 WAR over his career and made a couple of All-Star teams.

Other possibles: Michael Young, Randy Velarde, Craig Counsell, perhaps Mark Loretta.

David Horwich
David Horwich
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

The short answer is, the Mets never fully committed to him at one position and kept farting around, shifting him between 2B and 3B, neither of which he played particularly well; also, I don’t think the organization did much to protect him from the pressures of playing in NY, and the expectations that accompanied his arrival in the majors as a full-time player. To go into a little more detail (warning: understatement)…first, let’s acknowledge that breaking into the majors with the Mets in the late ’80s was a daunting prospect: as always, media scrutiny in NY was intense, and expectations… Read more »

David Horwich
David Horwich
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

When Jefferies came up in ’88 there was no room in the outfield, but they traded away both halves of their Dykstra/Wilson CF platoon during the course of 1989, replacing him with Juan Samuel, as mentioned above. When Samuel didn’t work out, in 1990 they could’ve/should’ve either put Jefferies in CF, or put him in LF with McReynolds shifting to CF (where he’d played with the Padres before coming to the Mets). Instead they went with a platoon of Daryl Boston/light-hitting utilityman Keith Miller/backup-outfielder-type Mark Carreon. The next season, they signed Vince Coleman as a free agent. Of course it’s… Read more »

Hartvig
Hartvig
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Junior Gilliam- didn’t play any short but 1000+ games at second, 750+ at third and over a season and a half in the outfield and a decent defensive player at all. Cesar Tovar- 200+ games at all 3 outfield positions plus 2nd & 3rd base and about a half a season at short. Plus both these guys regularly played a significant number of games at multiple positions in multiple seasons.

MikeD
MikeD
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

Tony Phillips was the first player I thought of when I saw Schoenfield’s article, but it quickly became clear he was not a utility player, but an everyday player who could play many positions, different ones by seasons, or many different ones in season. That got me to thinking. With the rise of the number of relief pitchers on teams today, wouldn’t you have thought that there would be more Tony Phillips-like players today, driven by need? Maybe there is and it’s just not registering on me. Perhaps that’s why someone like Solarte was able to make the Yankees roster… Read more »

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
9 years ago
Reply to  MikeD

@21;

He was mentioned in #3, but Ben Zobrist would seem to fit your description – every year for a while now he rotates between second and RF, with some games at SS and other OF positions thrown in.

Cesar Tovar had a similar role for the Twins in the late 60s/early 70s. In 1967 he played 164 games at every position except catcher, and even got a 1st-place MVP vote, depriving Yaz of a unanimous MVP award.

Dan
Dan
9 years ago

Hmmm, not doing any research but I thought Willie Bloomquist would have a shot. Career .271 hitter but only 2.2 WAR

David P
David P
9 years ago

Wait, Dick Schofield Sr. is the grandfather of Jayson Werth??? I had no idea. I knew his son (Dick Jr. – who is not Jayson`s father) played in the majors. But my brain is struggling to connect Dick Sr. with Jayson.

Steven
Steven
9 years ago
Reply to  David P

Dick’s daughter, Kim, is Jayson’s mother. She’s married to former Yankee, Dennis Werth.

Artie Z.
Artie Z.
9 years ago

Poor Jose Oquendo – 18 PAs in 1988 cost him a chance at vying for the title.

Wine Curmudgeon
9 years ago

Where would Mark McLemore fit in this?

Jimbo
Jimbo
9 years ago

Wow John McDonald played for 4 teams last year, 2i each league, totalling just 51 games and an OPS* of 6.

He´s tearing it up this year though, 5-13

And Craig Grebeck was not 5´8¨ He was tiny. 5´6´ at most. Loved the way he played when he was with the Jays.

Artie Z.
Artie Z.
9 years ago
Reply to  Jimbo

Maybe they measured Grebeck with his spikes on and to the tip of the button on the top of his cap.

BryanM
BryanM
9 years ago

If there were bonus points for playing at least 100 games at THREE infield positions , Augie Ojeda might have deserved some consideration – plus he never qualified for the batting title and pitched an inning.

BryanM
BryanM
9 years ago
Reply to  John Autin

speaking of great names (OT) i see Josh Outman came in to get exactly one of them for the Tribe yesterday and picked up the win. Faced two batters- the Blue Jays catcher got the Thole base hit off him, but in short order Goins was gone.

Doug
Editor
9 years ago

  Here’s a shout-out for Specs Toporcer. He ran afoul of you 299 PA cutoff, but meets your other criteria, having only one qualifying season in 8 years for the Cardinals and never recording 400 PA. He had a four-year run of .293/.363/.399, good for 5.9 WAR. As mentioned, Felix Mantilla meets your criteria other than for dWAR, but provided additional versatility with 143 games at 3B and 156 in the outfield. Alas, part of Mantilla’s odyssey around the ball field may have been in the vain search for a place to hide him – he posted negative career Rtot… Read more »

Joe
Joe
9 years ago
Reply to  Doug

I recently read The Glory of Their Times for the first time and the description of the eye operations Specs underwent to save his eyesight (unsuccessfully) just makes me cringe. He had to lie on his back with bandages over his eyes for a month straight, just to see if the surgery had worked or not. And he did this procedure at least 3 times, if I recall.