Best OPS+ with no homers
Posted by Andy on April 2, 2009
Let's take a look at the best OPS+ numbers posted in a qualified season where the batter hit no homers. (For noobs, "qualified" means having enough plate appearances to qualify as champion for rate-based statistics such as batting average.)
Going back to 1901, here are the top such seasons:
Cnt Player **OPS+** HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+--------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Nap Lajoie 169 0 1906 31 CLE AL 152 655 602 88 214 48 9 91 30 0 0 6 17 0 0 20 0 .355 .392 .465 .857 *45/6 2 Eddie Collins 156 0 1912 25 PHA AL 153 673 543 137 189 25 11 64 101 0 0 0 29 0 0 63 0 .348 .450 .435 .885 *4 3 Tris Speaker 151 0 1915 27 BOS AL 150 652 547 108 176 25 12 69 81 0 14 7 17 0 0 29 25 .322 .416 .411 .827 *8 4 Ginger Beaumont 149 0 1902 25 PIT NL 130 599 541 100 193 21 6 67 39 0 0 4 15 0 0 33 0 .357 .404 .418 .822 *8 5 Matty McIntyre 148 0 1908 28 DET AL 151 672 569 105 168 24 13 28 83 0 0 7 13 0 0 20 0 .295 .392 .383 .775 *7 6 Nap Lajoie 147 0 1912 37 CLE AL 117 500 448 66 165 34 4 90 28 0 0 7 17 0 0 18 0 .368 .414 .462 .876 *43 7 Tris Speaker 144 0 1918 30 CLE AL 127 549 471 73 150 33 11 61 64 0 9 3 11 0 0 27 0 .318 .403 .435 .838 *8 8 Johnny Evers 144 0 1908 26 CHC NL 126 509 416 83 125 19 6 37 66 0 0 5 22 0 0 36 0 .300 .402 .375 .777 *4/9 9 Eddie Collins 140 0 1916 29 CHW AL 155 673 545 87 168 14 17 52 86 0 36 3 39 0 0 40 21 .308 .405 .396 .801 *4 10 Roger Bresnahan 140 0 1906 27 NYG NL 124 506 405 69 114 22 4 43 81 0 0 15 5 0 0 25 0 .281 .419 .356 .775 *28/9
It's not surprising that all the leading seasons are from before 1920, as most players didn't hit any homers back then.
Out of the top 31 slots on the above search, all are from before 1927 except for Matty Alou in 1968.
So let's list the top 10 from 1968 onward:
Cnt Player **OPS+** HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+--------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Matty Alou 130 0 1968 29 PIT NL 146 598 558 59 185 28 4 52 27 6 26 2 7 4 10 18 10 .332 .362 .396 .758 2 Willie Randolph 126 0 1991 36 MIL AL 124 512 431 60 141 14 3 54 75 3 38 0 3 3 14 4 2 .327 .424 .374 .798 *4/D 3 Greg Gross 121 0 1974 21 HOU NL 156 676 589 78 185 21 8 36 76 4 39 1 9 1 13 12 20 .314 .393 .377 .770 *97 4 Miguel Dilone 120 0 1980 25 CLE AL 132 566 528 82 180 30 9 40 28 1 45 2 6 2 7 61 18 .341 .375 .432 .807 *789/D 5 Pete Rose 119 0 1981 40 PHI NL 107 484 431 73 140 18 5 33 46 5 26 3 1 3 8 4 4 .325 .391 .390 .781 *3 6 Rod Carew 119 0 1972 26 MIN AL 142 591 535 61 170 21 6 51 43 9 60 2 9 2 11 12 6 .318 .369 .379 .748 *4 7 Greg Gross 112 0 1975 22 HOU NL 132 558 483 67 142 14 10 41 63 1 37 0 9 3 11 2 2 .294 .373 .364 .737 79 8 Ozzie Smith 105 0 1992 37 STL NL 132 590 518 73 153 20 2 31 59 4 34 0 12 1 11 43 9 .295 .367 .342 .709 *6 9 Ozzie Smith 105 0 1987 32 STL NL 158 706 600 104 182 40 4 75 89 3 36 1 12 4 9 43 9 .303 .392 .383 .775 *6 10 Lance Johnson 104 0 1993 29 CHW AL 147 579 540 75 168 18 14 47 36 1 33 0 3 0 10 35 7 .311 .354 .396 .750 *8 11 Harold Reynolds 104 0 1989 28 SEA AL 153 677 613 87 184 24 9 43 55 1 45 3 3 3 4 25 18 .300 .359 .369 .728 *4/D 12 Jerry Remy 100 0 1981 28 BOS AL 88 410 358 55 110 9 1 31 36 2 30 0 13 3 6 9 2 .307 .368 .338 .706 *4
These 12 seasons are, in fact, the only ones at 100 or better. That's really quite surprising to me as there are tons of productive players who aren't home run hitters. I guess the real issue is that even non-homer-hitters still often hit a few these days, and therefore wouldn't qualify for this list. If, for example, I relax the homer requirement to 3 or fewer, then 107 guys make it with an OPS+ of at least 100.
Here's more proof. In the last 10 seasons, only the below players have had a qualified season where they hit zero homers. Amazing!
Cnt Player **OPS+** HR Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+--------+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Luis Castillo 98 0 1999 23 FLA NL 128 563 487 76 147 23 4 28 67 0 85 0 6 3 3 50 17 .302 .384 .366 .750 *4 2 Reggie Willits 96 0 2007 26 LAA AL 136 518 430 74 126 20 1 34 69 2 83 3 11 5 7 27 8 .293 .391 .344 .735 798D 3 Scott Podsednik 86 0 2005 29 CHW AL 129 568 507 80 147 28 1 25 47 0 75 3 6 5 7 59 23 .290 .351 .349 .700 *7/8 4 Jason Kendall 79 0 2005 31 OAK AL 150 676 601 70 163 28 1 53 50 0 39 20 0 5 27 8 3 .271 .345 .321 .666 *2/D 5 Juan Pierre 75 0 2007 29 LAD NL 162 729 668 96 196 24 8 41 33 0 37 6 20 2 10 64 15 .293 .331 .353 .684 *8 6 Rey Sanchez 63 0 2001 33 TOT ML 149 579 544 56 153 18 6 37 15 1 49 2 13 5 20 11 1 .281 .300 .336 .636 *6
That's truly staggering to me, but I guess it makes a lot of sense.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I notice that every single player you listed hit at least 1 triple.
Since 1901 there have been 43 players who have qualified for the batting title (as defined at the time) without hitting a home run or a triple. Only 4 players have done it since 1946; Ron Hunt (in '72 and '74), Frank Taveras in 1980 and Mike Squires in 1981. Of the 43 players only 3 posted an OPS+ over 100; Miller Huggins in 1913(118), Jimmy Collins in 1907(111) and Johnny Bassler in 1922(108).
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
interesting also is how low their run totals are. hit 20 HRs a year, add 20 runs.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
On the first list, Nap Lajoie stands out. No. 2, Eddie Collins, drew 101 walks that year, which obviously helps his OPS. Lajoie had barely half that in his two seasons on the list combined. But with so many hits and so many doubles, he makes up for it.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:25 am
These type of players are from a completely different era. The only player nowadays I could see making this list is Emmanuel Burriss, an I'm not even trying to be biased.