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Pitchers batting 8th

Posted by Andy on June 13, 2007

I used the PI's Batting Game Finder to get a list of starting pitchers who have had a least once plate appearance batting from the 8th position:

Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
Dontrelle Willis  2005-09-27    FLA  WSN L  1-11  2  1  0  1  0  0  0   0  1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P
Dontrelle Willis  2005-09-17    FLA  PHI L  2-10  3  3  0  0  0  0  0   0  0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P         

Tomokazu Ohka     2004-05-30    MON  CIN W  6-2   3  2  0  0  0  0  0   0  1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P         

Matt Morris       1998-09-27    STL  MON W  6-3   1  1  0  0  0  0  0   0  0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P
Manuel Aybar      1998-09-26    STL  MON L  6-7   2  2  0  0  0  0  0   0  0   0  2   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P
Jose Jimenez      1998-09-25    STL  MON W  6-5   3  2  0  0  0  0  0   0  0   0  1   0  1  0   0   0  0  0 8th P
Donovan Osborne   1998-09-24    STL  MON W  6-3   2  2  0  0  0  0  0   0  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P
Darren Oliver     1998-09-23    STL  HOU L  1-7   1  0  0  0  0  0  0   0  1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 8th P


Most recently, Jack McKeon hit Dontrelle Willis 8th a couple of times, ahead of a no-hit shortstop. Before that, Frank Robinson batted Toma Ohka 8th ahead of 2B Jamey Carroll.


Prior to that, Tona La Russa actually batted his starting pitcher 8th for the entire second half of the 1998 season (I've only shown the last few games.) Usually, it was ahead of catch Eli Marrero. I'm not sure how effective it was, as his starting pitchers batted just over .100 in those games.


There were a few scattered instances of pitchers batting 8th prior to that, and then another long string in 1957.  That year, Lou Boudreau batted his pitcher 8th all the time until he was fired in August.




Related posts:
    

    Pitchers batting 8th 
    

    Pitchers batting 8th 
    

    Slamming pitchers 
    

    AL Pitchers Batting in the Designated Hitter Era 
    

    Grand slams by pitchers 
    




		
				
				

				This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007 at 6:24 pm				and is filed under Game Finders.
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One Response to “Pitchers batting 8th”
 

	
    

		
			
  1. 
				maelstrom Says:
								
    

				June 14th, 2007 at 1:36 pm 

				
    It may very well have been effective for Tony La Russa to use his pitchers in the eighth spot even if they only hit .100. "The Book" says teams batting pitchers, as lousy of hitters as they may be, in the eighth slot will "gain a couple of extra runs per year". The reason is that the leadoff hitter will have more people on base, on average, batting after a more effective number 9 hitter who records less outs. And since the leadoff hitter tends to hit well, more baserunners means more runs when he gets on base, and the same thing resonates through the rest of the top of the order. 
    

    This effect, according to their simulations, far outweighs the penalty of batting a less effective hitter (the pitcher) at a higher slot, which is small because all the hitters at the end of the order tend to be lousy anyway.
    

			
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