Lowest SLG with 450+ ABs, last 20 years
Posted by Andy on September 22, 2007
Yesterday I was talking to a friend about the trade between Minnesota and Philadelphia that saw them swap Eric Milton for Carlos Silva and Nick Punto. That was a pretty bad trade for Philly, and I added that Punto has been an effective player for the Twins. I might have spoken to soon on that, though. While he had a pretty good season in 2006, his numbers this year are verging on historically terrible.
Here are the seasons with the lowest slugging percentage in the last 20 years for players with at least 450 at bats:
Cnt Player **SLG** AB Year Age Tm Lg G PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP OPS Positions +----+-----------------+---------+---+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Alfredo Griffin .254 461 1990 32 LAD NL 141 502 38 97 11 3 1 35 29 11 65 2 6 4 5 6 3 .210 .258 .512 *6 2 Billy Ripken .258 512 1988 23 BAL AL 150 559 52 106 18 1 2 34 33 0 63 5 6 3 14 8 2 .207 .260 .518 *4/5 3 Felix Fermin .260 484 1989 25 CLE AL 156 562 50 115 9 1 0 21 41 0 27 4 32 1 15 6 4 .238 .302 .562 *6/4 4 Nick Punto .269 450 2007 29 MIN AL 143 512 51 95 17 3 1 23 54 1 81 0 5 3 7 16 6 .211 .294 .563 *564 5 Jose Lind .269 468 1992 28 PIT NL 135 506 38 110 14 1 0 39 26 12 29 1 7 4 14 3 1 .235 .275 .544 *4 6 Gerald Young .276 533 1989 24 HOU NL 146 620 71 124 17 3 0 38 74 4 60 2 6 5 7 34 25 .233 .326 .602 *8 7 Gary Pettis .277 458 1988 30 DET AL 129 512 65 96 14 4 3 36 47 0 85 1 6 0 3 44 10 .210 .285 .562 *8 8 Jose Uribe .280 453 1989 30 SFG NL 151 497 34 100 12 6 1 30 34 12 74 0 6 4 7 6 6 .221 .273 .553 *6 9 Jose Lind .289 578 1989 25 PIT NL 153 637 52 134 21 3 2 48 39 7 64 2 13 5 13 15 1 .232 .280 .569 *4 10 Omar Vizquel .291 491 2007 40 SFG NL 137 551 49 116 17 2 2 41 42 6 48 1 14 3 12 14 6 .236 .296 .587 *6 11 Brad Ausmus .291 450 2003 34 HOU NL 143 509 43 103 12 2 4 47 46 1 66 4 4 5 8 5 3 .229 .303 .594 *2 12 Rafael Santana .294 480 1988 30 NYY AL 148 521 50 115 12 1 4 38 33 0 61 1 5 2 17 1 2 .240 .289 .583 *6 13 Mike Caruso .297 529 1999 22 CHW AL 136 564 60 132 11 4 2 35 20 0 36 3 11 1 6 12 14 .250 .280 .577 *6 14 Jody Reed .297 495 1996 33 SDP NL 146 568 45 121 20 0 2 49 59 8 53 3 5 6 15 2 5 .244 .325 .622 *4 15 Darren Lewis .297 472 1995 27 TOT NL 132 527 66 118 13 3 1 24 34 0 57 8 12 1 9 32 18 .250 .311 .608 *8 16 Eric Yelding .297 511 1990 25 HOU NL 142 559 69 130 9 5 1 28 39 1 87 0 4 5 11 64 25 .254 .305 .602 *8674/95 17 Delino DeShields .298 581 1996 27 LAD NL 154 642 75 130 12 8 5 41 53 7 124 1 2 5 12 48 11 .224 .288 .586 *4 18 Omar Vizquel .298 560 1993 26 SEA AL 158 630 68 143 14 2 2 31 50 2 71 4 13 3 7 12 14 .255 .319 .617 *6 19 Rey Ordonez .299 505 1998 26 NYM NL 153 548 46 124 20 2 1 42 23 7 60 1 15 4 11 3 6 .246 .278 .577 *6 20 Brian Hunter .301 539 1999 28 TOT AL 139 589 79 125 13 6 4 34 37 0 91 2 4 7 8 44 8 .232 .280 .581 *78
Punto comes in at #4, without much chance of moving any higher on this list given how little of the season remains. His .563 OPS is also remarkably low (8th lowest for the same search criteria) and his OPS+ is just 52.
Note that another 2007 season made the list, that of Omar Vizquel. He made #18 in 1993 as well. When Vizquel first came up with Seattle, he had the reputation of being all-field and no-hit, which is proven out by the fact that he posted 4 seasons in his first 5 with an OPS+ under 70. As recently as 2002, he had a league-average OPS, and until this year stayed fairly steady with an average of about 87 OPS+.
Random note of interest: After the 1993 season, Vizquel was traded in part for #3 on this list, Felix Fermin.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:17 am
This is off the topic of batting, though Vizquel might not have a job next year if he can't bat AT ALL in spring training. In fielding, not only does Omar hold the career % record for shortstops; he also is now within 20 of Luis Aparicio's record for playing the most games in the field at shortstop.
These are not quite Hall of Fame credentials; they're somewhere between HofF and Bob Boone.
I love this site and don't mean to be critical, but what would it take to add to the "Leaders" section a "Fielding" subsection that could track how close players like Vizquel, Bonds, and I-Rod are to the career leaders in games played at their positions?
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:59 am
Your request is not at all critical and you shouldn't be shy about making suggestions. You should, however, submit your suggestions through the website's feedback mechanism, as there is no guarantee that Sean reads all these comments and posts...I gather he's pretty busy running the main part of the site 🙂
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
My first thought is: Griffin was given 11 IBBs?!?!
September 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Interesting. Griffin had 37 IBB in his career. Here are the 11 from 1990:
Car# Yr# G# Date Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc.
+-----+----+---+-------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+
22 1 1 1990-04-19 LAD HOU Mike Scott tied 1-1 b 2 --3 2 3-0 4 0 Intentional Walk
23 2 1 1990-04-28 LAD CHC Steve Wilson ahead 4-1 b 3 -23 2 3-0 4 0 Intentional Walk
24 3 1 1990-05-19 LAD PHI Roger McDowell tied 12-12 b 9 --3 0 3-0 4 0 Intentional Walk
25 4 1 1990-05-24 LAD @CHC Les Lancaster ahead 4-0 t 3 -23 1 - 0 Intentional Walk
26 5 1 1990-05-31 LAD CIN Jack Armstrong ahead 1-0 b 2 -2- 2 3-0 4 0 Intentional Walk
27 6 1 1990-06-25 LAD @ATL Charlie Leibrand ahead 5-1 t 3 -23 2 3-0 4 0 Intentional Walk
28 7 1 1990-07-18 LAD @STL Jose DeLeon ahead 1-0 t 4 -2- 2 3-0 2 0 Intentional Walk
29 8 1 1990-08-03 LAD @SFG Randy O'Neal ahead 10-2 t 6 -23 2 - 0 Intentional Walk
30 9 1 1990-08-25 LAD NYM Sid Fernandez ahead 2-0 b 4 -23 2 3-0 4 0 Intentional Walk
31 10 1 1990-08-29 LAD @PHI Dennis Cook ahead 3-2 t 6 -23 1 - 0 Intentional Walk
32 11 1 1990-09-02 LAD @MON Mark Gardner ahead 3-0 t 1 -23 2 - 0 Intentional Walk
Once you start looking at the box scores, it makes sense. Since Griffin was a poor batter, he batted mainly 8th, and most of the IBBs came with two outs early in the game to get to the pitcher. #3 on that list was in the bottom of the 9th, when the Phillies needed to load the bases to set up for a double play.
Here's one case where the IBB really didn't work out too well:
Top of the 6th, Dodgers Batting, Ahead 3-2, Dennis Cook facing 5-6-7
--- H Brooks Single to CF
1-- M Scioscia Walk; Brooks to 2B
O 12- M Sharperson Bunt Groundout: C-2B/Sacrifice; Brooks to 3B; Scioscia to 2B
-23 A Griffin Intentional Walk
Mickey Hatcher pinch hits for Fernando Valenzuela batting 9th
R 123 M Hatcher Single to LF (Ground Ball thru SS-3B Hole); Brooks Scores; Scioscia to 3B; Griffin to 2B
Darrel Akerfelds replaces Dennis Cook pitching and batting 9th; Juan Samuel pinch hits for Lenny Harris batting 1st
R 123 J Samuel Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Scioscia Scores; Griffin to 3B; Hatcher to 2B; Samuel to 1B
RRRR 123 C Gwynn Home Run (CF-RF); Griffin Scores; Hatcher Scores; Samuel Scores/unER
--- K Gibson Double (CF-RF)
Don Carman replaces Darrel Akerfelds pitching and batting 9th
O -2- E Murray Groundout: 2B-1B; Gibson to 3B
R --3 H Brooks Double (LF-CF); Gibson Scores/unER
-2- M Scioscia Hit By Pitch
R 12- M Sharperson Single to 3B; Brooks Scores/Adv on E5 (throw)/unER; Scioscia to 3B; Sharperson to 2B
O -23 A Griffin Lineout: CF
Top of the 6th, Dodgers Batting, Ahead 3-2, Dennis Cook facing 5-6-7
--- H Brooks Single to CF
1-- M Scioscia Walk; Brooks to 2B
O 12- M Sharperson Bunt Groundout: C-2B/Sacrifice; Brooks to 3B; Scioscia to 2B
-23 A Griffin Intentional Walk
Mickey Hatcher pinch hits for Fernando Valenzuela batting 9th
R 123 M Hatcher Single to LF (Ground Ball thru SS-3B Hole); Brooks Scores; Scioscia to 3B; Griffin to 2B
Darrel Akerfelds replaces Dennis Cook pitching and batting 9th; Juan Samuel pinch hits for Lenny Harris batting 1st
R 123 J Samuel Reached on E5 (Ground Ball); Scioscia Scores; Griffin to 3B; Hatcher to 2B; Samuel to 1B
RRRR 123 C Gwynn Home Run (CF-RF); Griffin Scores; Hatcher Scores; Samuel Scores/unER
--- K Gibson Double (CF-RF)
Don Carman replaces Darrel Akerfelds pitching and batting 9th
O -2- E Murray Groundout: 2B-1B; Gibson to 3B
R --3 H Brooks Double (LF-CF); Gibson Scores/unER
-2- M Scioscia Hit By Pitch
R 12- M Sharperson Single to 3B; Brooks Scores/Adv on E5 (throw)/unER; Scioscia to 3B; Sharperson to 2B
O -23 A Griffin Lineout: CF
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Most of those guys got intentionally walked semi-regularly because they were all 8-hole hitters in the NL.