Venezuelan Hits Leaders
Posted by Raphy on June 25, 2009
Mlb.com is reporting that with his first inning single tonight, Omar Visquel passed Luis Aparicio as the alltime hits leader among players born in Venezuela. These were the leaders before tonight's game:
Cnt Player **H** From To Ages G PA AB R 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams Birthplace +----+-----------------+--------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+---------------+ 1 Omar Vizquel 2677 1989 2009 22-42 2707 11153 9811 1370 430 73 77 899 968 25 986 47 241 86 192 389 156 .273 .338 .355 .693 *6/549 SEA-CLE-SFG-TEX Caracas, Venezuela 2 Luis Aparicio 2677 1956 1973 22-39 2601 11230 10230 1335 394 92 83 791 736 22 742 27 161 76 184 506 136 .262 .311 .343 .654 *6 BAL-CHW-BOS Maracaibo, Venezuela 3 Andres Galarraga 2333 1985 2004 24-43 2257 8916 8096 1195 444 32 399 1425 583 106 2003 178 1 58 179 128 81 .288 .347 .499 .846 *3/D5 MON-STL-COL-ATL-TOT-MON-SFG-ANA Caracas, Venezuela 4 Dave Concepcion 2326 1970 1988 22-40 2488 9640 8723 993 389 48 101 950 736 93 1186 21 74 86 266 321 109 .267 .322 .357 .679 *645/381 CIN Ocumare de la Costa, Venezuela 5 Bobby Abreu 2016 1996 2009 22-35 1863 8026 6725 1205 468 55 245 1124 1199 101 1448 29 6 67 124 334 105 .300 .404 .495 .899 *9/78D HOU-PHI-TOT-NYY-LAA Maracay, Venezuela 6 Magglio Ordonez 1891 1997 2009 23-35 1600 6751 6083 961 384 18 270 1117 563 34 742 44 3 58 210 90 48 .311 .370 .513 .883 *9/D8 CHW-DET Caracas, Venezuela 7 Ozzie Guillen 1764 1985 2000 21-36 1993 7133 6686 773 275 69 28 619 239 25 511 7 141 60 114 169 108 .264 .287 .338 .625 *6/5347 CHW-TOT-ATL-TBD Ocumare Del Tuy, Venezuela 8 Manny Trillo 1562 1973 1989 22-38 1780 6573 5950 598 239 33 61 571 452 35 742 34 88 49 143 56 57 .263 .316 .345 .661 *45/36 OAK-CHC-PHI-TOT-SFG-CHC-CIN Caripito, Venezuela 9 Cesar Tovar 1546 1965 1976 24-35 1488 6177 5569 834 253 55 46 435 413 23 410 88 73 34 58 226 108 .278 .335 .368 .703 87549/D6321 MIN-PHI-TEX-TOT Caracas, Venezuela 10 Edgardo Alfonzo 1532 1995 2006 21-32 1506 6108 5385 777 282 18 146 744 596 22 617 41 31 55 110 53 17 .284 .357 .425 .782 *54/6D3 NYM-SFG-TOT Santa Teresa, Venezuela
June 25th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Only 2678 to go for Alcides Escobar.
June 26th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I think I've been asleep in Vizquel. I had no idea he had that many hits... Who's better? Aparaichio or Vizquel?
June 26th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
err sorry for the typos...
June 26th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Good question Ollie. I think they're pretty close. Aparicio of course is a HOFer. I don't think Vizquel belongs, but he'll get some support and he might get in eventually. Both considered very good fielders, though some say they're both a bit overrated in that regard. Neither had a big bat, but were solid hitters for shortstops. I think Aparicio was a bit better player. He stole more bases at a better percentage at a time when SB were a little more valuable. He actually probably deserves a lot of the credit Maury Wills gets for reintroducing the SB as a weapon. Also, in Aparicio's time I believe SS were relatively worse hitters than in Vizquel's time, so while their hitting numbers are similar Aparicio was a bit more valuable compared to an average or replacement-level SS.
June 29th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
It's not easy to calculate, I suppose, but I'd like to know the top three players in hits while playing shortstop in the field. Wagner, Appling, Ripken, and Yount are all out of consideration because they played so many games at other positions. I'm guessing it's Aparicio, Vizquel, and Jeter, with Jeter likely to take the lead before the end of 2009. (This is one measure of the offensive value of a shortstop, agreed?)