Pujols, Prince, and…Scutaro? Yes, Scutaro!
Posted by Andy on August 6, 2009
Check out this list of most games this year getting on base at least once:
Year Games Link to Individual Games +-----------------+----+-----+-------------------------+ Albert Pujols 2009 98 Ind. Games Prince Fielder 2009 94 Ind. Games Adrian Gonzalez 2009 92 Ind. Games Adam Dunn 2009 92 Ind. Games Mark Teixeira 2009 91 Ind. Games Ichiro Suzuki 2009 91 Ind. Games Marco Scutaro 2009 91 Ind. Games Carlos Pena 2009 90 Ind. Games Justin Morneau 2009 90 Ind. Games Nick Markakis 2009 90 Ind. Games Carl Crawford 2009 90 Ind. Games Ryan Zimmerman 2009 89 Ind. Games Michael Young 2009 89 Ind. Games David Wright 2009 89 Ind. Games Chase Utley 2009 89 Ind. Games Mark Reynolds 2009 88 Ind. Games Chone Figgins 2009 88 Ind. Games
There's only one surprising name on here, and that's Marco Scutaro.
Scutaro has been a pretty decent middle infielder for several years now. He doesn't put up huge offensive numbers but his OPS+ has been consistently right around 90. This year, it's way up to 118 and he's already set career highs for walks and SB. In just a few more games, he's very likely to set career highs in runs, 2B, and total bases. Unless he runs into a big slump, he'll finish the year with career highs in BA, OBP, and SLG.
Scutaro hasn't really flown under the radar thanks to a whole bunch of game-winning plate appearances. Can you believe that Scutaro has already been responsible for NINE walk-off wins? That's more than most players get in their entire careers, much less below-average middle infielders. Those walk-off winners include homers off closers B. J. Ryan in 2004 and Mariano Rivera in 2007.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:04 am
How about we call it responsible for eight walk-off wins?
Sorry, but I can't give him credit for the third baseman throwing the ball away on a sac bunt.
August 6th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I meant the pitcher throwing the ball away.
August 6th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Well, I looked up the list for the most games reaching base at least twice, and Scutaro was 2nd to Pujols with 65 such games (Pujols has 68). Then its Jeter (63), Adrian (62), and then 5 players with 60 such games.
The list gets really interesting when you raise the number to 3 times in a game.
Chase Utley 2009 36 Ind. Games
Chone Figgins 2009 34 Ind. Games
Prince Fielder 2009 34 Ind. Games
David Wright 2009 32 Ind. Games
Matt Holliday 2009 30 Ind. Games
Nick Johnson 2009 29 Ind. Games
Shin-Soo Choo 2009 29 Ind. Games
Shane Victorino 2009 28 Ind. Games
Albert Pujols 2009 28 Ind. Games
Bobby Abreu 2009 28 Ind. Games
Nyjer Morgan 2009 27 Ind. Games
Orlando Hudson 2009 27 Ind. Games
Justin Morneau 2009 26 Ind. Games
Adam Dunn 2009 26 Ind. Games
Marco Scutaro 2009 25 Ind. Games
Hanley Ramirez 2009 25 Ind. Games
Dustin Pedroia 2009 25 Ind. Games
Joe Mauer 2009 25 Ind. Games
Derek Jeter 2009 25 Ind. Games
Miguel Cabrera 2009 25 Ind. Games
Jason Bay 2009 25 Ind. Games
How about Choo and Nick Johnson, eh?
August 6th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
According to the Stats blog Scutaro easily leads the majors (min. 25 PA) with a .458 BA with an 0-2 count.
http://blog.stats.com/2009/08/lincecum_dominates_in_twostrik.html
August 7th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I'd like to see this list with most games this year getting at least one hit. It would be great research for people playing Beat the Streak on mlb.com. It's shocking to see Adam Dunn on this on-base list. I always think of him swinging for the fences--not your typical beat the streak guy. And then I look at his numbers. .288 average with 88 walks. Ahhhh. His walks very much pad his numbers to get onto this on-base list. I'm curious if Dunn would make it onto the "most games this year getting at least one hit."
August 8th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
[...] Last week Andy wrote about Marco Scutaro’s large number of walk-off plate appearances.: [...]