Monthly Archives: February 2015

What is a #8 Prospect?

Baseball America last week issued its annual list of top 100 prospects for 2015. At #8 on that list is 22-year-old Joc Pederson, who the Dodgers have penciled in as their starting center fielder this coming season. Pedersen put up very impressive numbers in AAA this past season, and was rewarded with a September call-up, though he started only three games for the big club. A question that occurred to me in considering the Dodgers’ choice, for now at least, of the rookie Pederson as their new starting center fielder is, historically, how have previous eighth-ranked prospects, as designated by Baseball America in its annual pre-season Top 100 prospects list, actually turned out? A history of that #8 spot in the Baseball America ranking is after the jump. Continue reading

COG Round 85 Results: Cronin No Longer a Ronin

A “ronin” in Japanese tradition is a samurai warrior who is homeless, wandering, unaffiliated, as a result of having lost his sponsoring feudal lord. Winning this election (after falling just short in the previous round) brings Joe Cronin out of the cold and into the Circle of Greats, as the 85th inductee into the COG. More on Joe and the voting after the jump. Continue reading

Aramis Ramirez, Centrally Located

The 2015 season will be the NL Central Division’s 22nd year of play, having seen its first season of competition in 1994. 1994 was also the season the Pirates of the brand new NL Central Division signed the 16-year-old Aramis Ramirez to a pro contract. Ramirez has remained with NL Central Division organizations ever since, first with the Pirates, then the Cubs and, since 2012, the Brewers. On September 20th, 2014, Aramis played in his 2,051st career regular season game, breaking Craig Biggio’s record of 2,050 career regular season games played for NL Central Division teams.

Most Regular Season Games Played For NL Central Division Clubs
1. Aramis Ramirez 2,057
2. Craig Biggio 2,050
3. Lance Berkman 1,769
4. Albert Pujols 1,705
5. Jeff Bagwell 1,690
(credit: division-based leaderboards have been generated using the current edition of Lee Sinins’ Complete Baseball Encyclopedia)

More NL Central stats are after the jump. Continue reading

Circle of Greats 1905 Results: Remember the Alomar! (or, We Wuz Rob-bed!)

Roberto Alomar finished fifth in our very first Circle of Greats voting round, back in December, 2012: COG Round 1 and COG Round 1 Results . In this his 63rd round of eligibility Alomar at last, albeit with a runoff victory needed, wins induction into the COG, as our 84th inductee. More on Robbie and the voting after the jump. Continue reading

Even Hotter High Heat Stats

Great news!

I am about to change over the website to a new theme that will run substantially faster and resolve some of the bugs that folks have been seeing. I will be getting rid of advertisements and also using fewer plugins.

Please bear with me on Monday evening as I get these changes in place.