Author Archives: Doug

Quiz – Catchers and Infielders (solved)

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The players in this quiz share the distinction of posting the only qualified seasons since 1961 with a certain batting accomplishment. What is it?

Rk Player
1 Brad Ausmus
2 Royce Clayton
3 Tony Pena
4 Ted Simmons
5 John Wathan
6 Marty Perez
7 John Bateman
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/17/2016.

 

Hint #1: only one of these players posted such a season before age 30
Hint #2: no outfielder since 1871 has posted such a season

Congratulations to Richard Chester! He correctly identified that only these players have a qualified season since 1961 with times grounded into double plays exceeding 15% of their total bases. Ouch! More on these forgettable seasons after the jump.

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Chicago Cubs: Confident Contenders

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The Cubs were probably last season’s biggest surprise with 97 wins from a lineup heavy on young position players and experienced pitching. Looking to win 90 games again (a repeat Chicago last accomplished when Al Capone was the city’s most prominent citizen), Chicago has made some nice off-season moves that augur well for keeping the Northsiders at or near the top of the NL Central.

More after the jump.

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Quiz: Free Swingers (stumped)

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2015 NL RoY Kris Bryant makes this list of modern batters who were not shy about taking their cuts. What is the unusual seasonal batting feat that only these players have achieved since 1901?

Rk Player
1 Jose Hernandez
2 Austin Jackson
3 Kris Bryant
4 Rick Monday
5 Mike Napoli
6 Mark Bellhorn
7 Jack Cust
8 Gary Pettis
9 Ben Grieve
10 Anthony Gose
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/6/2016.

Our readers zeroed in on BABIP as part of the quiz answer, but didn’t get that only these players had a qualified season since 1901 with a .350 BABIP that was one-third higher than their overall batting average. Those seasons are after the jump.
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Circle of Greats Round 121 Balloting

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This post is for voting and discussion in the 121st round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This is the second of two rounds of balloting that will bring the Circle of Greats membership to a total of 121, matching the current members of the Hall of Fame elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) in regular (116) or run-off (3) elections, plus the two members (Lou Gehrig, Roberto Clemente) enshrined by special election. This will be the final round of COG balloting until the next Hall of Fame members are elected by the BBWAA. Rules and lists are after the jump.

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Ruth’s Chris: Best and Worst First Ball Hitters

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Or maybe it’s Chris is Ruth. In fact, if your name is (or sounds like) Chris, you can put up some Ruthian OPS scores when you put the first pitch in play, as shown by this list.

Rk Player OPS ▾ OPStot Diff PA PAtot AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BA OBP SLG TB GDP
1 Chris Davis 1.554 .923 .631 74 670 74 36 10 0 11 23 .486 .486 1.068 79 1
2 Khris Davis 1.504 .828 .676 46 440 44 18 3 0 9 23 .409 .413 1.091 48 3
3 Kris Bryant 1.466 .858 .608 75 650 72 36 7 3 7 26 .500 .493 .972 70 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/2/2016.

Those are the top 3 OPS scores from 2015 when putting the first pitch in play, based on a minimum 400 total PA and 40 first pitches put in play.

More after the jump.

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Circle of Greats Round 120 Balloting

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This post is for voting and discussion in the 120th round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG).  This is the first of two rounds of balloting that will bring the Circle of Greats membership to a total of 121, matching the current members of the Hall of Fame elected by the Baseball Writers of America in regular (116) or run-off (3) elections, plus the two members (Lou Gehrig, Roberto Clemente) enshrined by special election. Rules and lists are after the jump.

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200 Game Batteries UPDATED

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This post was first published early in 2016 to identify batteries (pitcher and catcher) with 200 or more regular season starts together. It is based on the Defensive Lineups pages for each team and season on Baseball-Reference.com. At that time (early 2016), those seasons only went back to 1914, whereas now (in early 2021) there are data for the entire modern era, back to 1901.

As I’ve received several queries about this article, I decided to update it to include the 1901-13 seasons and also, of course, the 2016-20 seasons as well. Doing so has increased the number of qualifying batteries from the original 26 up to 35 for the entire modern era. More on these long-term batteries is after the jump.

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Circle of Greats Supplemental Redemption Round

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This Circle of Greats (COG) vote is not to induct anyone into the Circle, but only to select three players who will be restored back to the main ballot after having been previously dropped from eligibility. As with earlier redemption rounds, this is an opportunity for voters to reconsider past candidates who have previously fallen off the regular induction ballots. This “supplemental” redemption round is being conducted prior to the final two rounds of COG balloting that will consider only holdover candidates already on the COG ballot. 

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