Irrational Fears
Posted by Raphy on February 5, 2009
In Andy's post Bad OBP in 1990 and the related comments it is mentioned that in 1990 Alfredo Griffin was walked intentionally 11 times despite having a .258 OBP. Griffen's IBB were rare in that they were tied for the most by anyone ever with and OPS under .530. However, Griffen's accomplishment pales in comparison to the man he tied. In 1967 John Bateman drew 11 intentional walks. Not only was Bateman's OPS less than .530, it was less that .500. Bateman also managed his feat in only 273 PA compared to Griffen's 502. In fact, in that season Bateman almost had as many IBB (11) as Runs Created (14). Here are Bateman's IBBs and here is Batemans line:
Cnt Player **IBB** RC Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 John Bateman 11 14 1967 26 HOU NL 76 273 252 16 48 9 0 2 17 17 53 2 0 2 9 0 0 .190 .245 .250 .495 *2
While Bateman managed to have more RC than IBB, other players haven't even been that good.
As far as I can tell the record for most IBB in a season in which a player had as many IBB as RC is by Jim Gosger in 1968.
Cnt Player **IBB** RC Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Jim Gosger 8 8 1968 25 OAK AL 88 169 150 7 27 1 1 0 5 17 21 0 1 1 5 4 0 .180 .262 .200 .462 78/9
In 1970 J.C. Martin had the most IBB (7) for a player who drew more intentional walks than runs created.
Cnt Player **IBB** RC Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 J.C. Martin 7 6 1970 33 CHC NL 40 100 77 11 12 1 0 1 4 20 11 1 1 1 2 0 0 .156 .333 .208 .541 *2/3
Here the players with 15 or less RC in a season sorted by IBB. Please note that #20 Rick Miller played in a league with a DH. Miller was intentionally walked 6 times that year including twice (both with successful results) in one game by Goose Gossage.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Bateman was hitting 8th for all but one of those intentional walks. The '67 Astros had 21 IBBs from their 8th place hitters. That doesn't seem to be an especially high number. Their 9th place hitters were pretty normal (98 sOPS+). It should be noted that Bateman had a really good year in 1966, so maybe they were going off that scouting report.