Nice starts for shortstops
Posted by Andy on September 17, 2009
Lots of news around about the great start Ian Desmond's had in his career. Here are a few searches since 1954 for performance by shortstops in their first career game:
Cnt CarGm 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 +----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 1 Ian Desmond 2009-09-10 WSN PHI W 8-7 4 4 1 2 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7th SS 2 1 Kazuo Matsui 2004-04-06 NYM @ATL W 7-2 5 3 1 3 2 0 1 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1st SS 3 1 Roberto Pena 1965-04-12 CHC STL T 10-10 6 6 2 3 1 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 4 1 Bert Campaneris 1964-07-23 KCA @MIN W 4-3 5 4 2 3 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2nd SS 5 1 J.J. Hardy 2005-04-04 MIL @PIT W 9-2 4 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th SS 6 1 Freddy Sanchez 2002-09-10 BOS @TBD W 12-1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th PH SS 2B 7 1 Geoff Blum 1999-08-09 MON SDP W 8-0 4 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th SS 8 1 Chris Woodward 1999-06-07 TOR @NYM L 2-8 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 8th SS 9 1 Craig Wilson 1998-09-05 CHW NYY W 9-5 4 4 3 3 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 10 1 Abraham Nunez 1997-08-27 PIT LAD L 5-9 5 5 1 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1st SS 11 1 Mark Lewis 1991-04-26 CLE @TEX W 5-2 4 3 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th SS 12 1 Rey Quinones 1986-05-17 BOS TEX W 8-2 4 3 2 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th SS 13 1 Johnnie LeMaster 1975-09-02 SFG LAD W 7-3 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6th SS 14 1 Chris Speier 1971-04-07 SFG @SDP W 7-3 5 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 15 1 Don Money 1968-04-10 PHI @LAD W 2-0 3 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7th SS
Here are the only shortstops since 1954 to homer in their first game:
Cnt CarGm 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 +----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 1 Bert Campaneris 1964-07-23 KCA @MIN W 4-3 5 4 2 3 0 0 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2nd SS 2 1 Ian Desmond 2009-09-10 WSN PHI W 8-7 4 4 1 2 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7th SS 3 1 Kazuo Matsui 2004-04-06 NYM @ATL W 7-2 5 3 1 3 2 0 1 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1st SS 4 1 Craig Wilson 1998-09-05 CHW NYY W 9-5 4 4 3 3 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 5 1 Alex Gonzalez 1998-08-25 FLA @STL W 4-3 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 6 1 Jose Offerman 1990-08-19 LAD MON L 1-2 5 5 1 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1st SS 7 1 Johnnie LeMaster 1975-09-02 SFG LAD W 7-3 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6th SS 8 1 Rick Renick 1968-07-11 MIN DET W 5-4 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7th SS 9 1 Roberto Pena 1965-04-12 CHC STL T 10-10 6 6 2 3 1 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS
And here are the most times on base for a shortstop in his first career game:
Cnt CarGm Player Date Tm Opp GmReslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB **TOB** IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions +----+-----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+-------+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+ 1 1 Kazuo Matsui 2004-04-06 NYM @ATL W 7-2 5 3 1 3 2 0 1 3 2 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1st SS 2 1 Bert Campaneris 1964-07-23 KCA @MIN W 4-3 5 4 2 3 0 0 2 3 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2nd SS 3 1 Jimmy Rollins 2000-09-17 PHI FLA W 6-5 5 4 2 2 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2nd SS 4 1 Craig Wilson 1998-09-05 CHW NYY W 9-5 4 4 3 3 2 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 5 1 Orlando Miller 1994-07-08 HOU @CHC L 5-6 5 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th SS 6 1 Jeff Gardner 1991-09-10 NYM MON W 9-0 5 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 7 1 Jose Hernandez 1991-08-09 TEX MIL L 8-10 3 2 2 2 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th SS 8 1 Mark Lewis 1991-04-26 CLE @TEX W 5-2 4 3 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th SS 9 1 Jose Offerman 1990-08-19 LAD MON L 1-2 5 5 1 3 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1st SS 10 1 Rey Quinones 1986-05-17 BOS TEX W 8-2 4 3 2 2 2 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9th SS 11 1 Sam Khalifa 1985-06-25 PIT MON L 2-3 4 4 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th SS 12 1 Jeff Kunkel 1984-07-23 TEX BAL L 5-9 4 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7th SS 13 1 Sergio Ferrer 1974-04-05 MIN @KCR W 6-4 6 5 2 2 0 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1st SS 14 1 Enzo Hernandez 1971-04-17 SDP STL L 0-4 4 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8th SS 15 1 Chris Speier 1971-04-07 SFG @SDP W 7-3 5 4 1 2 1 0 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS 16 1 Roberto Pena 1965-04-12 CHC STL T 10-10 6 6 2 3 1 0 1 3 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2nd SS
These lists are quite varied in terms of the careers the players went on to had. One game is a small sample size and doesn't mean much.