Usurped From His Throne
Posted by Raphy on December 23, 2009
Yesterday, the reigning MLB sacrifice hit king was traded to a league in which he will hardly get to bat. In 2009, Vazquez had 20 SH in only 91 PA, the third highest percentage ever for anyone with at least 20 SH. Here are the leaders.
| Rk | Player | PA | SH | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SF | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urban Shocker | 84 | 20 | 1927 | 36 | NYY | AL | 31 | 54 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 0 | .241 | .359 | .259 | .619 | *1 |
| 2 | Roy Oswalt | 90 | 20 | 2006 | 28 | HOU | NL | 35 | 66 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | .152 | .200 | .212 | .412 | *1 |
| 3 | Javier Vazquez | 91 | 20 | 2009 | 32 | ATL | NL | 37 | 68 | 6 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | .176 | .211 | .221 | .432 | *1 |
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Shocker played at a time when sacrifice flies were counted as SH, but given his extra-base hit total, I doubt that this was the case.