Marquee Matchup: Rockies vs. D-Backs

These two NL West teams seem destined to face each other in the one-game crapshoot known as the wildcard game. The Rockies were division leaders as recently as Jun 20, then lost eight straight to drop down to third where they’ve remained since (aside from a few brief forays into second place, the last on Aug 20). The D-Backs haven’t led since Jun 1 and have mostly held down second place since then. This three game set is the final series between these two, with Arizona holding a 9-6 season edge going in. More after the jump.

Game 1 at Chase Field matched Diamonback ace Zack Greinke against rookie Kyle Freeland for the Rox. This game was a see-saw affair with the home side striking first with a singleton in the second on Greinke’s two-out bases-loaded single, beating out a swinging bunt down the first base line. The Rockies tied it up when DJ LeMahieu cashed Jonathan Lucroy, who had led off the third frame with a triple. Arizona retook the lead on an Adam Rosales sac fly in the fourth but Colorado again tied it with a pair of doubles in the sixth, the scoring shot courtesy of Nolan Arenado. The score remained tied into the eighth when Arenado untied things with a three run blast off Jake Barrett; first year D-Back manager Torey Lovullo may have made one move too many as Barrett was the third pitcher into the game in as many batters, the first two having been retired in order. The D-Backs made it close with a pair in the bottom of the frame, then got the tying and winning runs into scoring position in the 9th before Rockie closer Greg Holland escaped with his league-leading 40th save of the season. Final score: Rockies 5, D-Backs 4

Freeland has been a very pleasant surprise for Colorado, logging a 125 ERA+ through 28 starts, currently the best ERA+ by a Rockie rookie with 25+ starts, eclipsing the 120 mark by Armando Reynoso in Colorado’s maiden 1993 season. The last 17 NL rookies with 25 starts and ERA+ higher than 120 (going back to Fernando Valenzuela in 1981) have all finished no worse than 8th in RoY voting, including 6 RoY award winners; will be interesting to see how Freeland does. Freeland has gone 6+ innings in 16 of his 28 starts, but only three of those have come since July 9 when he flirted with a no-hitter against the White Sox, throwing 126 pitches before Melky Cabrera broke up the no-no with one out in the 9th.

For the second year in a row, Jonathan Lucroy was traded at the deadline to a playoff-contending team. Quiz (this one is really tough): since 1913, what is the only in-season trade involving catchers for two teams that both made the post-season? Hint: one of those catchers played in that year’s post-season against the team for which he played most of his career (but not the team he was traded from)

Game 2 pitted Jon Gray, another promising young arm for the Rockies, against Taijuan Walker for the home side. As was the case the night before, this match went back and forth with singleton runs by the D-Backs in the second and third frames sandwiching a two-run blast by Rockie right-fielder Carlos Gonzalez. The score would remain tied into the 7th when Gonzalez struck again, going yard with a man on off D-Back reliever David Hernandez. Gray went seven innings before handing off to the Colorado bullpen who held serve the rest of the way; Chris Rusin collected the save this night, spelling Holland who had worked in three of the four previous games. Final score: Rockies 4, D-Backs 2

Carlos Gonzalez’s 0.468 WPA was his best since 2015, and 8th best of his career. This was a franchise record third game in Gonzalez’s career with a pair of multi-run home runs both giving the Rockies the lead. Though this has been an off year for Gonzalez, he has quietly put together a nice career in Colorado; in his 9th season as a Rockie, Gonzalez reached 200 home runs this season, moving past Dante Bichette to rank fourth in franchise history, and passed Troy Tulowitzki to rank fifth in Hits and RBI.

With Freeland and Gray, Colorado has a pair of age 25-and-under pitchers on track to record 20 starts and (currently) 120 ERA+; this would be the second such team in Rockie history, and just the sixth with even one such hurler. Taijuan Walker, still only 24, is putting all the pieces together this year (25 starts, 144 ERA+), fulfilling the promise the Mariners saw when drafting him in the first round in 2010; I’m sure Seattle swallowed hard before trading Walker after last season, but that deal has worked well for both clubs with the M’s acquiring two solid everyday players (Mitch Haniger, Jean Segura) who have kept Seattle in the hunt in a season that has seen their pitching staff decimated by injuries.

Game 3 matched D-Back southpaw Patrick Corbin against another impressive Colorado rookie, 22 year-old German Marquez. Arizona was buzzing from the first frame, scoring and leaving men on base in each of the first five innings. Marquez lasted only into the fourth and did well to surrender just 4 runs from an 11 hit D-Back barrage. The game was probably no longer in doubt but J.D. Martinez made sure with a 3-run blast in the seventh. Final score: D-Backs 8, Rockies 2

This was the 33rd start (but the first this season) by a Rockie allowing 10+ hits in less than four innings, but only the eighth to happen on the road. Martinez’s home run was his 22nd since joining the D-Backs, going deep at a Ruthian clip of once every 9.1 PA. For the season Martinez stands at 38 home runs, tying his career high; if he gets to 40 and maintains his current OPS above 1.000, he would join Mark McGwire (1997) as the only players to record those totals in a season playing for two teams.

This was Corbin’s 30th start and 26th decision of the season, both tops in the NL. With 14 wins this season, Corbin has moved past Brian Anderson into second place for career wins by D-Back southpaws; however, it’s a distant second, still another 14 win season away from getting halfway to HOFer Randy Johnson.

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e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

As is often the case, I don’t have anything to question or add to this Marquee installment, but since my eyes had been on other match-ups, I had not followed this one closely and appreciate the review and historical links. It’s great preparation for the wild-card game to come.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

Will-they-make-it department: Any pitcher to 20 wins? Chance: so-so at best. Any team to 100 wins? Cleveland probably. Dodgers? If they don’t play the way they have recently. Remember a month or so ago when it looked like they’d break the 116 mark? Stanton to 60 HRs? I’d say no. Sept 1 I would have said, “Will he make 65?” Trout to a qualifying season? 13 games left, needs 45 PAs. Pujols to 100 RBIs? Looks like it. He must be doing something right, despite the rest of his stats. Yankees to catch BoSox? In the 20th Century, you could… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug, I’m interested in a last-gasp of great player’s post. Albert is at -1.7 WAR, Miguel Cabrera is at -.7, Beltran is a -.9.
Also, former All Stars like Gordon, Bautista, and CarGo are all in negative territory.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Nothing earlier than 1983. That has to say something, I’m just not sure what.

alz9794
alz9794
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Heck, Joe Carter WAS an All-Star in 1996 … Eddie Murray was a full-time DH in 1996. Yaz was primarily a DH in 1983. Dawson was primarily a DH in 1993. So I would guess that the DH is one part of the explanation. The salary structure also changed. I’m guessing at some point Bowa signed a long term contract in the 1980s. There’s no reason for him to retire because he is making more money than he ever has. The Cubs are going to play him because they’re paying him, and their replacements (Dave Owen and Tom Veryzer) aren’t… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Doug’s table only lists leading years for this phenomenon; it’s not inclusive, and you’d expect that in the old 16-team MLB days, you’d have about 60% as many examples to draw from as in these years of 26-30 teams.

Picking a random example, George Sisler finished up in 1930 with a -0.2 WAR year, compiling 468 PAs. (Although contemporaries might have had a hard time picking up that he was a minor league quality player, since BA was a prized stats, and Sisler’s was .309.)

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

Alz has listed a few possible contributing factors to a likely rise in the number of these cases. Another one may be the heightened awareness of the significance of lifetime records, such as the 3000-hit mark, or the push to up one’s ranking on all-time leaderboards as a key to a Hall of Fame invitation. Pete Rose made the list in two different seasons, and we all know what he was looking for. (Alas, Poor Pete!)

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Albert looks like he will stay ahead of Sierra, unless he completely craters the last few days.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Looks like Albert does break Sierra’s record. I suppose you could blow it off by saying it wouldn’t be relevant if he hadn’t reached 100 RBI.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

Stanton, of course, put one out tonight, so I’ll revise my estimate to 50-50.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

A general question: has anyone noticed that the format for comment replies has been different (and in my opinion, problematic) in the past month? It doesn’t seem to follow a chronological timeline anymore, so it can be quite hard to follow a lengthy conversation. Just a glitch, or can it be changed?

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Also, would it make sense for the default sorting order to be “newest” rather than “oldest”, so that fresher posts get equal exposure?

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

Daniel, I haven’t noticed the particular problem you describe, but it may be a feature of the way comments sort themselves on the fifth level of replies, when there is no sixth level to go to, and comments on the fifth level may be replies to other comments farther up the fifth-level string. I think all of us would agree that there are major changes that could improve the HHS format, which has been better in the past. The problem is that we’ve had several long-term crashes with other formats and there’s a risk to the health of the site… Read more »

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Jose Altuve now has:

38 2B
4 3B
24 HR
31 SB

Only 14 other players have reached those totals, all since 1996, strangely enough.

Number of 40-5-25-35 seasons: four. Any guesses?

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

I was taken aback that Rickey Henderson never had more than 33 doubles (or 7 triples, or 28 home runs, for that matter) — tons of hits and walks and stolen bases (and playing in a different era) will do the trick I guess! I’m curious about these answers though (and the above catcher-for-catcher trade quiz!), so I’ll keep checking back…

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Mark, I was so surprised by your comment about Henderson that I went to check – of course you were right. And of course you’re right about how he got away with it. I had no idea that he had a career-long 162-game [SB – CS] average of 56 (74-18, 80%), and in his prime he was in the 70-90 range. And when it comes to walks, if you discount IBBs, Henderson is ahead of anyone else, probably way ahead (if we had full IBB figures for Ruth & Williams). By the way, on that [SB – CS] figure, Billy… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Rickey didn’t bother hustling for doubles and triples, because he wanted to steal those bases.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

I’ll contribute one, Daniel. I guessed Carlos Beltran and, checking, 2002 gets him there, with a 44-7-29-35 line.

Did you mean four since 1996 or four overall?

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Beltran is correct, epm. I did mean four overall; even Altuve’s numbers weren’t compiled until two decades ago.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago

Well, Mark has blown my guess of Henderson (although, it was probably poor guess considering Rickey was 37 in 1996).

Thought Bonds might have done it, but he missed on 2B in ’91, ’92 and ’97, and on SB in ’98.

Soriano missed on 3B in ’02 and ’06, on 2B in ’03, and on SB in ’07.

Finally got one with Jimmy Rollins in ’06. Rollins was two doubles short of a repeat in ’07.

And, guessed another with Jacoby Ellsbury in ’11 (his only 25 HR season).

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago

Grady Sizemore missed by one double in 2008.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

Well, I tried Kemp, Sheffield (what the heck, why not), Soriano, David Wright, and Brandon Phillips (all had at least one season that was really close), and would have even gone to Beltre and Kinsler, but it looks like we have… Hanley Ramirez(!) as our 4th, with a 2007 of 48-6-29-51! Full disclosure(s): at first I looked at the “Similarity Scores” of the previous 3 correct answers (nothing really doing there, mostly players going too far back), and then the Wikipedia page for the 30-30 Club, just to keep generating “usual suspects” to keep trying. Interestingly, Hanley’s 33-35 was in… Read more »

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Nice work, Mark. All of those near-misses indicate to me just how difficult it is to reach all of those milestones in a single season.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

It’s after midnight: time for annoying existential questions. Is a milestone combination like this “difficult to reach” or “rarely reached?” After all, no one sets out to distribute their XBHs in this particular combination. While there may have been cases of a player stretching a single or double with some stat of two-base or three-base hits in mind, or cases where a player may have stopped a little short to break a record or lead a league in one of those categories, it’s not to fill the straight flush of this stat line. If it were, in fact, a recognized… Read more »

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Perhaps it’s more akin to hitting for the cycle? Power-speed combos seem more newsworthy.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

I see your point, Mike, and it captures why Daniel’s combo is an interesting one. But, again, would you trade Henderson’s 1986 line, 31-5-28-87, for this one just because there’s something about the next 9 doubles that indicates more about power/speed than an added 3 HR and 52 SBs? It’s morning now, and hard to recapture the brilliant insights of midnight posts, but I guess my point is that while these combinations involving mixes of category minima that we devise for quiz questions are interesting and fun, they shouldn’t be confused with measures of excellence that actually motivate players or… Read more »

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Your midnight existential query was valid, epm. 🙂 I mistakenly used “difficult” when “unusual” or “rare” would definitely have been a better adjective.

Although it is difficult for a player to have that combination of speed and overall extra-base power, you are correct that no one specifically aspires to those numbers, especially in that combination. I’ve always been drawn to the obscure “accomplishments” that a player can achieve, sometimes unknowingly and often against their best interests. This site is a good source for that kind of ephemera, so I’m happy to have found it many years ago.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

Thanks, Daniel. I enjoy that aspect of HHS too. I also enjoy spotting little cul de sacs ideas that can complicate issues everyone would prefer to keep simple. I appreciate your good natured tolerance of that.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Epm, I appreciate the way you often decide on an amusing theme for your comments, and then commit to it 100 percent. I read the entire “prosecution vs. defense” thread with a smile on my face.

HHS is a rare oasis of civility and reason-based discussion in the wasteland that we call the Internet, and I hope that it continues for as long as possible!

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

Doug, thanks in advance for allowing me to be your “quiz pest” these past couple weeks, but who were those catchers?!?!? I can think of a handful of catcher-for-catcher trades off the top of my head, but none that fit your quiz’s criteria.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

Mark: While you’re waiting, as I am, for the answer to the catcher quiz, here’s a puzzle I posted on another thread that probably no one noticed—unless it’s not interesting enough or beneath contempt for being so easy— but it was the final post on the thread, so I’m thinking it got overlooked. I’d posted earlier on Babe Dahlgren, Gehrig’s replacement and the weak link in the great 1939 Yankees team, who, it seems was not so weak that he didn’t set a record for RBIs (89) batting in the eight hole. Now, to quote myself: Another thing about those… Read more »

alz9794
alz9794
6 years ago

It’s the 1951 Dodgers. Campy, Hodges, Jackie, Pee Wee, Snider, and Furillo. I don’t think there have been any others since the 1990s. The Rockies scored a lot of runs in the 1990s, but the runs and RBI were usually concentrated to 3 or 4 hitters.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  alz9794

alz9794: Actually, it isn’t. You’ve found another that I knew about but forgot: Hate to admit this, but I was going from memory, a memory that’s failing, evidently. Those Dodgers actually had a seventh player with 80 or more, Andy Pafko, but his came for two teams. The other team was the Cubs, from whom he was acquired mid-season. And it was a Cubs team I had in mind when I posed the question, the 1984 squad, who unlike the 1951 Dodgers, had no players with 100 RBIs or more: Davis 94, Durham 96, Cey 97, Sandburg 84, Matthews 82,… Read more »

alz9794
alz9794
6 years ago

I thought you were asking for a team with 6 players with both 80 runs & 80 RBI. The 1951 Dodgers fit both those criteria (with the same 6 players). I’m not sure why I guessed a Snider-era Dodgers team might have done that, but I started with the 1949 Dodgers and just looked in order until I got to 1951. Cheating (using the Play Index), the 1969 Reds also had 6 players with 80 RBI (Bench, Alex Johnson, Lee May, Perez, Rose, and Tolan). Those 6 players also had 80+ runs scored. The 1894 Orioles did have 8 players… Read more »

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

The answer to the quiz question is Jim Leyritz and Mandy Romero. They were traded for each other in a 1998 deal between the Red Sox and Padres, with both catching for those two clubs in that season. Both of those teams made the post-season that year with Leyritz appearing for the Padres in the WS against the Yankees, the team Leyritz played with for most of his career.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Doug, you rock (and that *was* really tough)!

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

The Diamondbacks currently have all five starters with an ERA+ of 115 or above; three are above 150 innings, while Zack Godley and Taijuan Walker are only 1.0 and 1.2 innings short, respectively.

I can’t see the top 9 teams in the Play Index search results, but there have been no more than that number of clubs with 5 hurlers at 150+ IP and an ERA+ >=115. Perhaps someone here could list them? I’m guessing that the 90s Braves would be somewhere on there.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Daniel, just a hunch, but I’d say those Braves probably didn’t have one year like that. I remember them have three dominant starters, and then filling in 4 and, especially, 5.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

The following teams had 6 such pitchers;
1942 Tigers
1905 Cubs

The following teams had 5 such pitchers:
1947 Cards
1944 Pirates
1930 Dodgers
1927 Yankees
1924 Reds
1919 Reds
1916 Dodgers
19047 Cubs

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

Should be 1907 Cubs, not 19047.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

I thought for a minute there that you had time-travelling abilities, Richard. 🙂 Thanks for the list.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago

Interesting that only three of those teams won the pennant (they also won the WS). 1907 Cubs, 1919 Reds, and the 1927 Yankees. It’s good the ’27 Yankees had that type of pitching-they couldn’t hit a lick.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Mike L: Sorry to nitpick, but the 1916 Dodgers were pennant winners who lost the Series to the AL Bostons with Babe Ruth at the height of his pitching prowess. Here’s an odd thing: Casey Stengel was in three Series including this one, and the Babe was on the opposing team each time. Stengel out-hit the Babe in all three. In ’16 he was 4 for 11 while Ruth was 0 for 5; in 1922 he was 2 for 5 and Ruth was a miserable 2 for 17; and in 1923 he was 5 for 12 with 2 HRs (including… Read more »

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago

Never noticed that, nsb. Thanks for pointing it out.

Daniel Longmire
Daniel Longmire
6 years ago

Ryan Goins’ batting averages in different situations:

.183 – Bases Empty
.288 – Men On Base
.337 – Runners In Scoring Position
.353 – RISP, 2 Out
.714 – Bases Loaded (10 for 14, 2 grand slams)

On the season, he is batting .228 with 8 homers and 59 RBI.

Number of player-seasons with a batting average below .230 and fewer than 10 dingers, but 60 or more RBI: thirteen, with only one since 1948 (Randy Hundley – 1968 Cubs).

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Most HR in a season with fewer than 502 PA:

44 … JD Martinez (current)
43 … Matt Williams (’94)
43 … Javy Lopez
40 … Henry Aaron
40 … Griffey Jr. (’94)
39 … Bagwell (’94)
39 … McGwire (’95)
38 … Joe Adcock

Fewest PA in a season with at least 44 HR:

475 … JD Martinez (current)
548 … McGwire
550 … Bonds Jr
573 … Aaron
587 … G.H. Ruth
587 … Juan Gone
589 … Kingman
592 … Juan Gone
596 … Harmon Killer

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Make that 45 HR’s…en fuego

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

WAR leaders in 188+ strikeout seasons: 7.7 … Aaron Judge (current) 6.5 … Chris Davis 5.9 … Kris Bryant 5.2 … Bobby Bonds 5.2 … Chris Davis 4.7 … Adam Dunn 4.5 … Jose Hernandez 3.3 … Mark Reynolds 3.2 … Joey Gallo (current) 3.0 … Chris Davis 3.0 … Curtis Granderson 2.9 … Ryan Howard 2.7 … Jack Cust 2.5 … Danny Espinoza 2.4 … Adam Dunn 2.1 … Trevor Story (current) 2.0 … Khris Davis (current) 1.8 … Ryan Howard 1.8 … Drew Stubbs 1.4 … Adam Dunn 1.0 … Mike Napoli 0.9 … Chris Carter 0.6 …… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Here is a quiz…

What list is populated by the following players?

Eddie Collins
Jack Barry
Stuffy McInnis
Dal Maxvill

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

This isn’t what you were looking for but Barry, Collins and McInnis all managed, Maxville became a GM.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

Hint: The accomplishment is a good thing.

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Managers and GM’s all over America would be hurt by that comment.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike L

I will give one more hint, and then reveal tomorrow if nobody gets it:

This is a personal accomplishment that is built into a team accomplishment.

CursedClevelander
CursedClevelander
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Something to do with WS rings? That’s what I immediately thought of when seeing 3/4th’s of the $100,000 Infield, but I wasn’t sure what narrowed them down besides that.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

This has nothing to do with the quiz but Maxvill’s .217 career BA is the second lowest of all players with 3500+ PA.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

The answer:

The only players to appear on the rosters of 5 world series winners… none of them being the Yankees.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Nice one, Voomo.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

So does that mean being on a Yankees WS winning team isn’t a good thing? 🙂

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

I can only get Maxvill up to four rings, Voomo: 1964 and 1967 Cardinals, 1972 and 1974 A’s. Am I missing one?

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  Kahuna Tuna

Voomo probably retrieved his data from a misleading BR chart entitled “Most Times on a WS Winning Team”. It indicates whether or not a player was on the roster of the WS winning at any point of the season for any length of time and not necessarily during the WS. In 1973 Maxvill was on the A’s roster from season start to mid-July when he was traded to the Pirates. The A’s went on to win the WS but obviously Maxvill did not receive a ring because he was no longer on the team but it does appear on that… Read more »

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago

Now that is knowing the source material. Thanks, Richard.

Kahuna Tuna
Kahuna Tuna
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

And the converse: Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle—the only players to appear on the rosters of five World Series losers, all of them being the Yankees. (-:þ

(Elston Howard played on the same five Series-losing Yankees teams plus the 1967 Red Sox. Bobby Richardson and Johnny Blanchard appeared on the regular-season roster of the 1955, 1957, 1960, 1963, and 1964 Yankees, but Richardson didn’t play in the ’55 Series and Blanchard didn’t play in ’55 or ’57.)

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Carlos Correa is the 16th player to record a 6-WAR season with fewer than 502 PA. The 8th to do it in a season not shortened by strike or war. The 4th to do it (in a full season) since 1961. And only the 2nd non-catcher to do it (in a full season) since ’61. 7.7 … Schmidt (’81) 7.4 … Dawson (’81) 6.9 … Griffey (’94) 6.9 … Ted Willliams 6.8 … Javy Lopez 6.7 … Rajah 6.6 … Tyrus (’18) 6.6 … Rickey (’81) 6.6 … Rick Wilkins 6.3 … G.H. Ruth 6.3 … Mize 6.2 … Trout… Read more »

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

I’d believe it.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

What about Bagwell in ’94? 8.2 WAR in only 479 PA.

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago

A non-sabermetric assessment of the teams that made the post season: AMERICAN LEAGUE Red Sox—better second half than first, 16-4 inter-league record, astonishing inversion of the normal, i.e., mediocre hitting with little power and strong pitching. A stretch. Yankees—strong September, 15-5 inter-league record, pythagorean underachievers (but that is an illusion built upon blowouts: at least sixteen wins of an 8+ margin; 0 losses), pitching to me is suspect despite stats. Erratic and unpredictable. Indians—incredible August-September drive, only 6-14 inter-league; solid offense, incredible pitching 2nd half. Will they run out of steam just at the wrong moment? Astros—slump in August followed… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

With his doubles last night, Jose Ramirez sets the record for extra base hits by a third baseman:

90 … J Ramirez (current)
89 … Nolan Arenado
87 … Arenado (current)
87 … Larry Jones
86 … Eddie Mathews
85 … Brett
85 … Glaus
85 … Alex Rod

84 … Miguel Cabrera
84 … Josh Donaldson
82 … Arenado
81 … Schmidt
81 … Longoria
81 … Vinny Castilla
81 … Glaus
_______________________

Nolan Arenado has topped 350 Total Bases for the 3rd consecutive year.
He is the first 3rd baseman to do that thrice, consecutively or otherwise.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Arenado is also the first 3rd baseman with three season (2015-17) of 80 XBH, consecutively or otherwise. The Rockies are the 11th team with a pair of players recording 85 XBH, 6 of them up to 1940 and 5 since 1996.

Blackmon is the new record holder for RBI from the leadoff spot, at 102 and counting.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Something for Yankees to consider if they get to a divisional round of the playoffs:

Masa Tanaka, home/road splits:

9-5 … 3.22 … 1.011
4-7 … 6.48 … 1.500

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago

AS of right now, 9-30-2017, 3:22 PM EDT, Aaron Judge now has 387 BB + SO + HR which ties Mark McGwire’s ML record

Doug
Doug
6 years ago

With the Sox clinching, it would seem Judge will sit tomorrow and not get the chance to break the record.

Richard Chester
Richard Chester
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

So Doug was right.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Lowest OPS+ in a season with 30+ home runs:

65 … Rougned Odor
81 … Tony Batista
87 … Vinny Castilla
85 … Tony Armas
88 … Chris Young (2007)
89 … Cory Snyder
90 … Dave Kingman

Was anybody else blown away by Cory Snyder’s college statistics on the back of that 1985 Topps Olympic card, and certain that he was the next-big-thing?

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago

Highest ERA in a season with at least 150 IP and a WHIP lower than 1.15:

4.42 … Jeff Samardjia (2017)
4.41 … Dave Bush
4.27 … Warren Hacker
4.25 … Josh Tomlin
4.18 … Dave Bush
3.92 … Phil Ortega

The Shark also led the league in IP!
I cannot figure it out. Is he good or not?

Mike L
Mike L
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

He’s mediocre with a high per-game ceiling he finds unsustainable over extended periods of time. At some point, the results speak for themselves, and a guy with 1402 Innings Pitched is clearly at that point. He’s averaged 1 BWAR per 113 IP. This past season is typical. He had several excellent starts…Game Scores of 85, 80, 71, 86 and 76. And he had six starts in which he gave up six runs or more. The ultimate tease.

e pluribus munu
e pluribus munu
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

An interesting question, Voomo. In a post on the last string, I criticized overuse of FIP (referring to Fangraphs’ use of FIP as the basis of pitching WAR), but my first instinct was to look at Samardzija’s: it was 3.61 this year — far below his ERA, although the two stats are normally expected to track pretty closely. Samardzija also surrendered a very small number of unearned runs (5 in 32 starts), so his ERA exposes his pitching weaknesses a bit more than normal. Looking at Samardzija’s game logs and splits, there is an interesting pattern. Samardzija made six starts… Read more »

Paul E
Paul E
6 years ago

So oddities this year:
Rougned “Stink” Odor 30 HRs/65 OPS+ (lowest OPS+ ever by a 30 Homer guy – by a significant margin))
Kyle Schwarber 30 HRs/59RBI (tying Gyorko and Granderson for fewest RBI in a season – 30 or more Homers)
Joey “Not Crazy Joe” Gallo 41 Hrs/80 RBI (fewest RBI ever – by a good margin – by a 40 homer guy)

no statistician but
no statistician but
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

I don’t find any of these things odd, given the climate of today’s game. Home run or nothing as a batting approach leads to a lot of bases empty home runs and a lot of nothing when runners are on. When your batting average is hovering around .210 and your BAbip isn’t much better, you’re not going to drive in many runs in the clutch. Odor is the worst of this trio, and it’s hard to believe that his -0.5 WAR isn’t an illusion or the result of an oversight in the sabermetricians’ calculations. It should be far more to… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul E

Doug, I posted the list of Odor’s ‘accomplishment’ a coupla days ago, but it went to moderation because I included a link.

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
6 years ago
Reply to  Doug

Interesting. The link to the baseball card posted as an image. And with lower resolution than it was in the original link. Can barely read the stats.

Doug
Doug
6 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

The link was broken. I replaced it with another one, I’ll photo-shop it.