100 K’s with fewer than 10 walks
Posted by Andy on August 10, 2009
I was unaware that in 2006 Miguel Olivo became the first player to strike out at least 100 times in a season with no more than 10 walks. In fact he struck out 103 times against just 9 bases on balls.
Cnt Player **SO** BB Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Miguel Olivo 103 9 2006 27 FLA NL 127 452 430 52 113 22 3 16 58 4 7 3 3 9 2 3 .263 .287 .440 .727 *2/3 2 Chris Truby 98 10 2002 28 TOT ML 124 404 382 35 82 18 4 4 22 1 3 4 5 7 2 2 .215 .238 .314 .552 *5/37 3 Ivan Rodriguez 96 9 2007 35 DET AL 129 515 502 50 141 31 3 11 63 1 1 1 2 16 2 2 .281 .294 .420 .714 *2/D 4 Miguel Olivo 93 8 2009 30 KCR AL 83 292 279 31 67 12 3 15 39 0 4 1 0 6 3 1 .240 .271 .466 .737 *2/D 5 Kenny Williams 83 10 1987 23 CHW AL 116 414 391 48 110 18 2 11 50 0 9 3 1 5 21 10 .281 .314 .422 .736 *8/9 6 Miguel Olivo 82 7 2008 29 KCR AL 84 317 306 29 78 22 0 12 41 2 3 0 1 6 7 0 .255 .278 .444 .722 *2D 7 Miguel Olivo 80 8 2005 26 TOT ML 91 281 267 30 58 11 1 9 34 2 3 1 2 7 7 2 .217 .246 .367 .613 *2 8 Tony Pena 78 10 2007 26 KCR AL 152 536 509 58 136 25 7 2 47 0 4 8 5 13 5 6 .267 .284 .356 .640 *6/4 9 Mariano Duncan 77 9 1996 33 NYY AL 109 417 400 62 136 34 3 8 56 1 1 2 5 10 4 3 .340 .352 .500 .852 *4/5D79 10 Shawon Dunston 75 8 1997 34 TOT NL 132 511 490 71 147 22 5 14 57 0 3 5 5 9 32 8 .300 .312 .451 .763 *6/7 11 Shawon Dunston 75 10 1995 32 CHC NL 127 503 477 58 141 30 6 14 69 3 6 7 3 8 10 5 .296 .317 .472 .789 *6 12 Darrin Jackson 75 10 1993 30 TOT ML 77 280 263 19 55 9 0 6 26 0 0 6 1 9 0 2 .209 .237 .312 .549 987 13 Eliezer Alfonzo 74 9 2006 27 SFG NL 87 309 286 27 76 17 2 12 39 7 7 4 3 11 1 0 .266 .302 .465 .767 *2 14 Andujar Cedeno 74 9 1991 21 HOU NL 67 264 251 27 61 13 2 9 36 1 1 1 2 3 4 3 .243 .270 .418 .688 *6 15 Johnny Jeter 74 9 1973 28 CHW AL 89 313 300 38 72 14 4 7 26 0 0 1 3 5 4 3 .240 .260 .383 .643 987/D 16 Darrell Whitmore 72 10 1993 24 FLA NL 76 267 250 24 51 8 2 4 19 0 5 2 0 8 4 2 .204 .249 .300 .549 *9/7 17 John Leary 71 10 1914 23 SLB AL 144 552 533 35 141 28 7 0 45 0 3 6 0 0 9 15 .265 .282 .343 .625 *32 18 Floyd Rayford 69 10 1985 27 BAL AL 105 372 359 55 110 21 1 18 48 0 0 2 1 10 3 1 .306 .324 .521 .845 *52 19 Shawon Dunston 68 10 1987 24 CHC NL 95 359 346 40 85 18 3 5 22 1 1 0 2 6 12 3 .246 .267 .358 .625 *6 20 Jim Fuller 68 8 1974 23 BAL AL 64 202 189 17 42 11 0 7 28 2 3 2 0 4 1 0 .222 .265 .392 .657 *9/37D 21 Delmon Young 67 7 2009 23 MIN AL 66 240 228 25 60 6 1 3 29 0 2 0 3 12 2 3 .263 .288 .338 .626 *7/D 22 Jermaine Dye 67 8 1996 22 ATL NL 98 306 292 32 82 16 0 12 37 0 3 0 3 11 1 4 .281 .304 .459 .763 *97/8 23 Wilbur Wood 65 6 1972 30 CHW AL 49 144 125 8 17 0 0 0 7 0 0 13 0 4 0 0 .136 .176 .136 .312 *1
I stopped at #23 because Wood is the first pitcher on the list.
No pitcher approaches as many as 65 strikeouts anymore because they don't get enough plate appearances to amass such totals. Wood had 144 PAs, but check out the highest strikeout totals by pitchers in recent years:
Cnt Player **SO** Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Doug Davis 43 2004 28 MIL NL 34 71 64 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 1 0 0 .016 .031 .016 .047 *1 2 Aaron Harang 39 2005 27 CIN NL 32 78 74 1 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 .027 .027 .027 .054 *1 3 Randy Johnson 37 2004 40 ARI NL 35 87 80 1 10 3 0 0 6 4 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 .125 .167 .163 .330 *1 4 Paul Wilson 37 2004 31 CIN NL 29 70 60 2 6 2 0 0 2 2 0 1 7 0 0 0 0 .100 .143 .133 .276 *1 5 Chad Billingsley 36 2008 23 LAD NL 35 72 63 1 6 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 .095 .149 .095 .244 *1 6 Cory Lidle 36 2004 32 TOT NL 34 75 62 3 9 4 0 1 6 5 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 .145 .209 .258 .467 *1 7 Brandon Webb 36 2004 25 ARI NL 35 71 64 3 6 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 .094 .134 .094 .228 *1 8 Ricky Nolasco 35 2008 25 FLA NL 34 75 63 1 9 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 10 0 1 0 0 .143 .169 .175 .344 *1 9 Joel Pineiro 35 2008 29 STL NL 31 57 51 3 5 3 0 0 4 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 .098 .148 .157 .305 *1 10 Chris Capuano 35 2006 27 MIL NL 35 75 68 3 8 1 0 0 3 2 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 .118 .143 .132 .275 *1
None of these guys had as many as 90 PAs.
Of course, Wood's season is the highest single-season total for K's for a pitcher. Here are the leaders:
Cnt Player **SO** Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Wilbur Wood 65 1972 30 CHW AL 49 144 125 8 17 0 0 0 7 6 0 0 13 0 4 0 0 .136 .176 .136 .312 *1 2 Vida Blue 63 1971 21 OAK AL 39 121 102 6 12 1 0 0 2 4 0 2 13 0 0 0 1 .118 .167 .127 .294 *1 3 Dean Chance 63 1968 27 MIN AL 43 106 93 0 5 0 0 0 3 3 0 1 9 0 0 0 0 .054 .093 .054 .147 *1 4 Jerry Koosman 62 1968 25 NYM NL 35 97 91 3 7 1 0 1 4 3 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 .077 .106 .121 .227 *1 5 Bill Stoneman 61 1971 27 MON NL 41 111 93 12 12 0 0 0 5 9 0 1 8 0 0 1 0 .129 .214 .129 .343 *1 6 Dean Chance 58 1967 26 MIN AL 41 108 92 2 3 0 0 0 0 7 0 2 7 0 1 0 0 .033 .119 .033 .152 *1 7 Wilbur Wood 57 1971 29 CHW AL 44 124 96 1 5 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 17 0 2 1 0 .052 .150 .052 .202 *1 8 Sandy Koufax 57 1966 30 LAD NL 41 124 118 5 9 3 0 0 5 5 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .076 .113 .102 .215 *1 9 Earl Moseley 57 1914 26 IND FL 43 123 109 9 12 0 1 0 5 7 0 0 7 0 0 5 0 .110 .164 .128 .292 *1 10 Dean Chance 56 1965 24 CAL AL 36 85 75 3 7 1 0 0 5 5 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 .093 .150 .107 .257 *1 11 Bob Purkey 56 1962 32 CIN NL 37 119 107 9 11 2 0 2 3 4 0 0 7 1 0 0 0 .103 .134 .178 .312 *1
Nobody from recent seasons due, again, to the lack of plate appearances. (Fewer starts and shorter starts limits the total amount of plate appearances and therefore the total number of strikeouts.)
August 10th, 2009 at 10:55 am
I wonder if Olivo will break his record this year:
He has 93 Ks and 8 BBs...
Which does he reach first?
The drama is killing me!
August 10th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Wow...and notice that 4 Olivo's 9 walks in his 2006 103K-9BB season were intentional! Improbably, two of his five unintentional walks actually came in the same game. Just for fun I checked out his career splits on three-ball counts and, amazingly, he has walked on only 29% of them (87 of 302). That's got to be an all-time low. Will those stats ever be searchable? Dude must be a damn good catcher to get away with a career .275 OBP, which, BTW, is now one of the bottom 10 career marks for a player with 2500 PA since 1920.
Funny...a lot of those guys hit into more double plays than walks. Not good.
Regarding the pitchers, since 1990 a pitcher has surpassed 100 PA only 6 times. It's only been done once this decade, by Dontrelle, and that was only because he pinch-hit 6 times. The Big Unit was the last to do it solely as a pitcher in 1999 despite two AL-rules interleague starts (7.2 IP/start will do that for you). Greg Maddux accounts for 3 of the 6 times. Darryl Kile has the most since 1986 with 105 PA in 1997.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:18 am
The odd thing is, when Olivo was trying to establish himself as Seattle's catcher, I remember hearing that he was _not_ considered good defensively at all. It's possible he's improved, or maybe he just benefits by the old saw that he "must" be a good catcher if he stays employed.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Well, we're not exactly in a golden age of catching, and, he's had as many as 16 homers, which gives a club the excuse to play him for his "pop" despite other glaring weaknesses. I guess that's also why he's been with 5 teams in only 7 full seasons.