A Sign Of The Times?
Posted by Steve Lombardi on May 6, 2010
Using Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder, I looked for single seasons since 1901 where a non-pitcher had 50+ PA in a year with a Batting Average of .250+ and where their Slugging Percentage was twice their On Base Percentage. And, this is what I found:
| Rk | Player | HR | PA | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | GDP | SB | CS | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd Greene | 10 | 118 | .268 | .580 | .282 | 2002 | 31 | TEX | AL | 42 | 112 | 15 | 30 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .862 | 32/D7 |
| 2 | Shane Spencer | 10 | 73 | .373 | .910 | .411 | 1998 | 26 | NYY | AL | 27 | 67 | 18 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.321 | *9/7D3 |
| 3 | Taylor Teagarden | 6 | 53 | .319 | .809 | .396 | 2008 | 24 | TEX | AL | 16 | 47 | 10 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.205 | *2/D |
| 4 | Greg Pirkl | 6 | 56 | .264 | .660 | .286 | 1994 | 23 | SEA | AL | 19 | 53 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .946 | /D3 |
| 5 | Jeff Baker | 5 | 58 | .368 | .825 | .379 | 2006 | 25 | COL | NL | 18 | 57 | 13 | 21 | 7 | 2 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1.204 | *9/73 |
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So, from 1901 through 1993, this type of season never happened. But, from 1994 through 2008, it happened five times. And, it's not happened since 2008. Strange stuff, eh?
May 6th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Damn that Greg Pirkl for making a mockery of the sport with his home runs and steroids and refusal to play smallball.
May 6th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Steve, what motivated you to do this particular search? How did you choose these parameters?
May 6th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
im actually a little disappointed that zambrano wasnt on this list. he seemed like a ilkely person, but now that hes in the bullpen, it probably wont happen.
ps- i hope he stays in the pen forever
May 6th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Raphy - as usual, it was just me playing around - starting by looking at SLG >OBA*2, and then taking out the pitchers from that, and then applying a 50 PA min, and then taking out the guys with a really low BA.
That's how I end up with a lot of my lists and game finds...starting with something random, getting results, and then applying some more filters...
May 6th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Of course it hasn't happened since 2008 - can't you see it only happens in even-numbered years?
May 7th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
That Shane Spencer season from 1998 is destined to show up forever on this blog. It's been on at least 5 lists I've posted here.