Long Beginnings
Posted by Raphy on July 29, 2009
In addition to getting on base, one of the jobs of the lead-off hitter is to make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches. This allows the subsequent batters to get an idea of the opposing pitcher's stuff that game . Here are all the lead-off plate appearance since 1988 that were 13 pitches of longer:
Date Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc. -------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+ 1988-06-07 Brian Downing CAL @TEX Charlie Hough tied 0-0 SO t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Strikeout Swinging 1989-06-07 Howard Johnson NYM @CHC Rick Sutcliffe tied 0-0 2B t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to RF (Line Drive to Deep RF) 1989-06-23 Dave Martinez MON @CHC Mike Bielecki tied 0-0 HR t 1 --- 0 3-2 15 1 *LEADOFF GM*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF) 1990-05-27 Wade Boggs BOS @MIN Kevin Tapani tied 0-0 BB t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Walk 1990-06-30 Dwight Smith CHC @SDP Andy Benes tied 0-0 SO t 1 --- 0 3-2 14 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Strikeout Looking 1991-10-05 Paul Molitor MIL @BOS Tom Bolton tied 0-0 BB t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Walk 1992-09-26 Pat Listach MIL OAK Ron Darling tied 0-0 BB b 1 --- 0 3-2 17 0 Walk 1993-08-23 Wade Boggs NYY @CHW Jason Bere tied 0-0 1B t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Single to CF (Line Drive to Deep SS-2B) 1996-08-25 Wayne Kirby LAD NYM Pete Harnisch tied 0-0 BB b 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 Walk 1998-06-18 Johnny Damon KCR @DET Justin Thompson tied 0-0 SO t 1 --- 0 2-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Strikeout Swinging 1998-06-30 Johnny Damon KCR @STL Manuel Aybar tied 0-0 SO t 1 --- 0 3-2 15 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Strikeout Swinging 2000-08-14 Tony Womack ARI @PHI Kent Bottenfield tied 0-0 Out t 1 --- 0 3-2 14 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Groundout: 3B-1B 2001-06-10 Jose Offerman BOS PHI Robert Person down 0-1 Out b 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 Popfly: 3B 2003-09-25 Scott Podsednik MIL @HOU Tim Redding tied 0-0 SO t 1 --- 0 2-2 14 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Strikeout Looking 2004-04-23 Mark Kotsay OAK ANA Jarrod Washburn down 0-2 BB b 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 Walk 2004-09-02 Aaron Miles COL @SFG Jason Schmidt tied 0-0 SO t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Strikeout Swinging 2005-07-01 Scott Podsednik CHW @OAK Rich Harden tied 0-0 BB t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Walk 2006-04-14 Cory Sullivan COL PHI Ryan Madson down 0-1 Out b 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 Flyball: LF (Deep LF) 2007-08-19 Matt Stairs TOR BAL Jeremy Guthrie tied 0-0 Out b 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 Flyball: CF (Deep CF) 2009-05-20 Chone Figgins LAA @SEA Chris Jakubauska tied 0-0 Out t 1 --- 0 3-2 13 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Groundout: 2B-1B
- Wade Boggs, Johnny Damon and Scott Podsednik each pulled it off twice. Damon's two at-bats accounted for half of the strike-out swingings on the list.
- Pat Listach ran up the highest pitch total with 17, but Dave Martinez , who had the second longest at bat, wins the prize for homering on the 15th pitch.
- Damon(1) and Podsednik(1) didn't even make it to 3 ball counts.
- In total the players went 3-14 with a double, homer, 6 walks and 6 strikeouts.
The information in this post was collected from a series of "team batting event finder" searches.
Selecting 1st inning, 0 out, no runners on base, batting 1st and 7+ pitches and searching for
Plate Appearances for all teams will give you an easy to scan list of long lead-off at bats.
(Selecting "Leading off the Game" will give you a similar list, but will only include visiting players.)
July 29th, 2009 at 9:14 am
That's a pretty good composite batting line. If I calculated correctly, a .450 OBP and a .500 SLG. Leading off the game, a walk truly is as good as a single, so the low BA doesn't really matter. And all the K's are no worse than any other out. Obviously it's a miniscule sampling of PAs, but these long beginnings definitely appear to pay off for the offense.
July 29th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Someone told me not too long ago that she (yes, she) thought that the one thing that sets major leaguers apart from all other levels, even AAA, is the ability to keep fouling off pitches, presumably to tire out the pitcher.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I don't think most major leaguers purposely foul off pitches to tire out the pitcher. I do think some foul off pitches they can't handle, and yes I agree that is a skill which lesser players do not have.