Lead-Off Catchers
Posted by Sky on August 13, 2007
Motivated by a discussion forum question, here's a list of most games in a season (since 1957) by a player who started the game batting lead-off and played catcher at some point.
Jason Kendall 2004 119 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2006 90 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2005 75 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2001 52 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2002 51 Ind. Games Paul Lo Duca 2001 32 Ind. Games Butch Wynegar 1980 29 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2003 19 Ind. Games Johnny Oates 1973 17 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2000 17 Ind. Games Craig Biggio 1989 17 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 1999 15 Ind. Games Butch Wynegar 1979 14 Ind. Games Craig Biggio 1991 14 Ind. Games Ivan Rodriguez 2007 12 Ind. Games Charlie Moore 1980 10 Ind. Games Charlie Moore 1981 9 Ind. Games Tim McCarver 1972 9 Ind. Games Jason Kendall 2007 8 Ind. Games Brad Ausmus 1999 8 Ind. Games
I posted the list 20 spots deep so I could point out that Brad Ausmus was at one point a productive hitter. During 1999, when Larry Parrish batted him at the top of the order, Ausmus posted a .365 OBP. (That was also the last year he slugged higher than .365.)
Click on More for a list of 3B and DH lead-off hitters.
Pete Rose 1977 159 Ind. Games Pete Rose 1976 156 Ind. Games Pete Rose 1978 156 Ind. Games Paul Molitor 1982 150 Ind. Games Eddie Yost 1959 144 Ind. Games Eddie Yost 1960 138 Ind. Games Pete Rose 1975 137 Ind. Games Paul Molitor 1983 135 Ind. Games Jim Gilliam 1959 130 Ind. Games Wade Boggs 1984 125 Ind. Games
Paul Molitor 1991 109 Ind. Games Brian Downing 1991 89 Ind. Games Brian Downing 1987 80 Ind. Games Cesar Tovar 1975 61 Ind. Games Pat Kelly 1974 58 Ind. Games Brian Downing 1992 56 Ind. Games David Dellucci 2005 55 Ind. Games Paul Molitor 1987 53 Ind. Games Brian Downing 1989 51 Ind. Games Paul Molitor 1988 49 Ind. Games Luis Polonia 1992 46 Ind. Games
Johnny Damon and Shannon Stewart are the two most recent players to DH lead-off more than 25 games.
August 13th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
[...] also a Stat of the Day Blog with a handful contributors highlighting the power of the tool. I just posted an entry listing the most games in a season batting lead-off by unusual positions — catcher, third [...]
August 13th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I checked the lead-off split for Tim McCarver. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=mccarti01&year=c He fit into the leadoff role quite nicely. In 75 career PAs in the #1 spot in the order (including not just starts at that spot but also PH appearances in which he slotted into the #1 spot), his OBP was .387 and his BA was .343. That's compared to his overall career BA of .271 and OBP of .337. Maybe the guy should've been a leadoff man all along!