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Less than 5% of PAs are extra-base hits

Posted by Andy on January 5, 2010

Here are the players in 2009 to have less than 5% of their plate appearances result in extra-base hits (minimum 400 PAs):

Rk XBH PA Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Ryan Theriot 32 677 2009 29 CHC NL 154 602 81 171 20 5 7 54 51 1 93 6 13 5 13 21 10 .284 .343 .369 .712 *6
2 Willy Taveras 14 437 2009 27 CIN NL 102 404 56 97 11 2 1 15 18 0 58 2 11 2 2 25 6 .240 .275 .285 .559 *8
3 Edgar Renteria 25 510 2009 33 SFG NL 124 460 50 115 19 1 5 48 39 5 69 1 5 5 17 7 2 .250 .307 .328 .635 *6
4 Alexei Ramirez 30 606 2009 27 CHW AL 148 542 71 150 14 1 15 68 49 3 66 1 6 8 15 14 5 .277 .333 .389 .723 *6
5 Nick Punto 17 440 2009 31 MIN AL 125 359 56 82 15 1 1 38 61 1 70 1 13 6 7 16 3 .228 .337 .284 .621 *46/5
6 Nyjer Morgan 25 533 2009 28 TOT NL 120 469 74 144 15 7 3 39 40 2 74 9 10 5 9 42 17 .307 .369 .388 .757 *78
7 Russell Martin 26 588 2009 26 LAD NL 143 505 63 126 19 0 7 53 69 9 80 11 2 1 18 11 6 .250 .352 .329 .680 *2/D5
8 Jason Kendall 23 526 2009 35 MIL NL 134 452 48 109 19 2 2 43 46 6 58 17 6 5 11 7 2 .241 .331 .305 .636 *2
9 Cesar Izturis 20 412 2009 29 BAL AL 114 387 34 99 14 4 2 30 18 0 38 3 4 0 11 12 4 .256 .294 .328 .622 *6
10 Tony Gwynn 19 451 2009 26 SDP NL 119 393 59 106 11 6 2 21 48 2 65 2 5 3 2 11 7 .270 .350 .344 .693 *89
11 Luis Castillo 16 580 2009 33 NYM NL 142 486 77 147 12 3 1 40 69 3 58 1 19 5 15 20 6 .302 .387 .346 .732 *4
12 Emilio Bonifacio 18 509 2009 24 FLA NL 127 461 72 116 11 6 1 27 34 0 95 2 8 4 5 21 9 .252 .303 .308 .611 *568/47
13 Willie Bloomquist 23 468 2009 31 KCR AL 125 434 52 115 11 8 4 29 27 1 73 1 4 2 7 25 6 .265 .308 .355 .663 9684/735D
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/2/2010.

These are among the least productive players at the plate, at least in terms of slugging. Many of them still had good OBP, although it's beyond me why any team would let certain players play a full season. (Hello Willy Tavarez, Edgar Renteria, Cesar Izturis, and Emilio Bonifacio.)

To give you an idea, here are guys who finished their career with less than 5% of their PAs going for XBHs.

Rk Player PA XBH From To Age
1 Ozzie Smith 10778 499 1978 1996 23-41
2 Nellie Fox 10349 502 1947 1965 19-37
3 Richie Ashburn 9736 455 1948 1962 21-35
4 Bert Campaneris 9625 478 1964 1983 22-41
5 Willie Keeler 9594 419 1892 1910 20-38
6 Brett Butler 9545 462 1981 1997 24-40
7 Willie Randolph 9462 435 1975 1992 20-37
8 Larry Bowa 9103 376 1970 1985 24-39
9 Fred Tenney 8807 369 1894 1911 22-39
10 Donie Bush 8734 269 1908 1923 20-35
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/2/2010.

There are lots of good players on there, but they generally were leadoff batters who played middle infield positions during eras in baseball when those positions tended to produce little offense. In other words, these guys were never expected to produce lots of extra-base hits, and these are among the best such players since they amassed the most plate appearances.

Following are the active leaders for the same calculation (less than 5% of PAs are XBHs.)

Rk Player PA XBH From To Age
1 Luis Castillo 7172 275 1996 2009 20-33
2 Juan Pierre 6064 291 2000 2009 22-31
3 Abraham Nunez 2804 125 1997 2008 21-32
4 Willy Taveras 2607 94 2004 2009 22-27
5 Nick Punto 2530 125 2001 2009 23-31
6 Jamey Carroll 2515 123 2002 2009 28-35
7 Aaron Miles 2423 119 2003 2009 26-32
8 Willie Bloomquist 1857 81 2002 2009 24-31
9 Tom Glavine 1645 28 1987 2008 21-42
10 Jason Tyner 1467 53 2000 2008 23-31
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/2/2010.

Same deal with this list, in the sense that most of these guys are leadoff hitters and not expected to hit for a high SLG. But when a pitcher sneaks onto a list like this (see #9), it's telling you that the rest of the guys are in trouble.

3 Responses to “Less than 5% of PAs are extra-base hits”

  1. JohnnyTwisto Says:

    If you saw the pile of crap Baltimore was using at SS in 2008, a season of Cesar Izturis might not seem so bad.

  2. JDV Says:

    I had to laugh...I was going to make the same comment that JohnnyTwisto already posted.

    Passing thoughts...I was surprised to see Russell Martin on this list. He had a very down year. Nagging injury??? Also, I'm guessing that Alexei Ramirez will not show up on this list again. I think he will develop into a much greater offensive force.

    Re. some of the other low OBPs / SLGs, I'll still take the defense that comes with most of them. I would just have them bunt a hell of a lot more.

  3. DavidRF Says:

    Luis Castillo is a bit of a poster boy for this type of stat. In 2000, he had 101 runs but just 17 RBI. He batted .334/.418/.388... a SLG of .388 is not *that* low. But most of his PA were with the bases empty (444 vs 182 with men on) and his splits were quite extreme.

    Bases empty: .380/.459/.447 (2 HR, 3 3B, 14 2B)
    Men On: .217/.312/.237 (0 HR, 0 3B, 3 2B, 0 SF)