Grand Slam Command
Posted by Andy on June 20, 2010
Mark Teixeira just hit a grand slam off Johan Santana. It was the Yankees' 7th slam of the year.
Here were the first 6:
| Yr# | Date | Batter | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2010-05-14 | Alex Rodriguez | NYY | MIN | Matt Guerrier | down 3-4 | b 7 | 123 | 1 | 2 (0-1) | 4 | Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF); Cervelli Scores; Jeter Scores; Teixeira Scores |
| 2 | 2010-05-28 | Robinson Cano | NYY | CLE | Tony Sipp | ahead 4-2 | b 7 | 123 | 0 | 1 (0-0) | 4 | Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Jeter Scores; Granderson Scores; Teixeira Scores |
| 3 | 2010-05-31 | Alex Rodriguez | NYY | CLE | Chris Perez | ahead 2-1 | b 7 | 123 | 1 | 5 (3-1) | 4 | Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF); Pena Scores; Granderson Scores; Teixeira Scores |
| 4 | 2010-06-08 | Curtis Granderson | NYY | @BAL | Kevin Millwood | ahead 2-0 | t 3 | 123 | 2 | 5 (2-2) | 4 | Home Run (Line Drive to Deep RF); Teixeira Scores; Cano Scores; Posada Scores |
| 5 | 2010-06-12 | Jorge Posada | NYY | HOU | Wandy Rodriguez | tied 2-2 | b 3 | 123 | 0 | 2 (0-1) | 4 | Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF); Swisher Scores; Teixeira Scores; Cano Scores |
| 6 | 2010-06-13 | Jorge Posada | NYY | HOU | Casey Daigle | ahead 3-1 | b 5 | 123 | 2 | 3 (2-0) | 4 | Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF); Granderson Scores; Cano Scores; Swisher Scores |
All have come at home except Posada's first Granderson's.
Santana leads the majors with 3 slams allowed. Brandon League, Raul Valdes, and Joel Pineiro have allowed 2 each.
Last year, no team in baseball hit more than 8 all season. The Yankees seem likely to pass that total this year.
June 20th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
It seems to me that my Phillies hit eleven grand slams last year. Unless I'm misreading something.
June 20th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Using a hunt and peck search, I've found:
Indians 14 in 2006
Athletics had 14 in 2000
Yankees on pace to beat both those marks. What's the team record for GS's?
June 20th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
@2
Baseball Almanac is saying that the record is indeed 14.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_grsl2.shtml
June 20th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
Texiera was on base for 5 of the 1st 6 grand slams. I wonder if this is some sort of record.
June 20th, 2010 at 4:29 pm
The Yankees grand slam team record is 10 (1987). That's the year Don Mattingly hit 6 of them to set the active individual record.
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/VNqkw
June 20th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
That GS was so a product of Yankee stadium.
As an aside, could a more motley group of players have hit all those slams of Santana. Let's not forget Felix 'an American League Pitcher' Hernandez last year. Awful, just awful. Can we all agree that Santana is done as far as bing an elite pitcher is concerned.
June 20th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Shane Victorino, a light hitting CFer.
Josh Willingham, meh.
Mark Texeira, all of his .399 slugging.
The afore mentioned Felix Hernandez.
With the inclusion of Mike Young in 2003, those are actually all of the GS Johan has alowed in his career. One in his first 6+ years. Four in his last 1+ years. Not a good sign.
June 20th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
The Felix slam off of Santana was in '08, not last year.
Anyway, Johan has always been a homer-prone pitcher. That he's given up three of his five career grand slams this year is probably a fluke as much as it is anything else, though to the extent that it's not, it's because he's allowing more runners to reach base than usual and thus presenting hitters with more grand-slam opportunities to begin with. But I don't think you can read anything into the list of names of the guys that have done it against him.
The real "not good sign" regarding Johan's start today is not that he allowed a home run to a home-run hitter in a home-run friendly park, but that once again he struck out so few batters. Since striking out 86 batters in 66 innings over his first ten starts last year, his K rate has absolutely plummeted. Obviously the elbow injury he pitched through last year had a lot to do with that, and coming off of surgery his velocity is still way down. Whether or not he can be great again will depend on whether or not he gets some of his velocity back. He still has great command and throws a ton of strikes, but he just has a very hard time finishing guys off. It seems like he had everybody in a two-strike count today, but just couldn't finish the deal. That's pretty much been the story of his season. Even in his good games, he's had to rely a lot more than usual on the defense behind him.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
To add to what I wrote in my previous comment about Johan's difficulty finishing batters off, check out these numbers:
* He's thrown 67% of his pitches for strikes, tied for 2nd best in the National League (the league average is 62%).
* He's gotten on 0-2 count on 30% of the batters he's faced, tied for third best in the National League (the league average is 22%).
So clearly he's still one of the most proficient strike-throwers out there. Yet:
* He's only struck out 29% of the batters he's gotten 0-2 counts on--well below the league average of 43%.
* He's only struck out 30% of the batter's he gotten in any 2-strike count--well below the league average of 38%.
The fact that he's getting fewer and fewer swinging strikes--a career low 15%--probably has a lot to do with that, but even that decline in swinging-strike percentage only brings him down to the league average (also 15%). It doesn't seem to fully explain why he's striking batters out at a rate as far below the league average as he has been (only 15.6% of batters faced, compared to the league average of 18.4%).
At any rate, it's been a very un-Santana-like year for him. The trends are definitely not good.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Writing Santana off completely at this point would be sheer folly {and this is from the original New York-o-phobe}. I won't deny that he's having some rough times this year; but at 31, he has plenty of time left to redeem himself.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Is it possible to chart the before and after productivity of players who've signed say 50 mil+ contracts? It seems a lot of players, Martinez and Manny and A-Rod (so far) being exceptions, fall poff pretty hard...
June 20th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
well A-Rod did win a World Series so it's hard to say he's fallen off expectations hard.
June 20th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
sorry, i read that post incorrectly and didn't realize you were saying he was one of the expectations.....
June 20th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
The chart seems to imply it was Granderson's slam that was on the road, not Posada's.
June 20th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Re: Santana
I haven't scouted him or look at the advanced stat data on him, but I wonder if he's had a slight loss in velocity, negating the effect of his best pitch, the change-up. If he lost a few MPH on his fastball, then his change-up, which had been his swing-and-miss pitch, would be a whole lot less impactful. Just a thought.
June 21st, 2010 at 12:34 am
BSK,
Yes, he has lost velocity on his fastball this year. After peaking in'06, his average velocity has gone down a bit each year:
2006: 93.1
2007: 91.7
2008: 91.2
2009: 90.5
2010: 89.2
So he's lost 2 MPH on it in just the last two years. His changeup has come down a bit along with it, so he still has a decent difference between the two, but regardless, it's tough to strike guys out in the majors when you're not consistently hitting 90. He is just coming off of elbow surgery, so maybe it will just take him some time to get it back. Historically he's been a stronger pitcher in the second half of the season, so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised if he gets stronger as the season goes along.
June 21st, 2010 at 8:12 am
Any one remember when Chan Ho Park gave up 2 grand slams in the same inning, to the same player?!? I believe it was Fernando Tatis. There is just so much wrong with that scenario that I'm pretty sure it is a feat that will never be equalled.
June 21st, 2010 at 8:17 am
#1 Derek--you are right. No team GAVE UP more than 8 last year. The Phillies did indeed hit 11 last year and amazingly did not surrender a single grand slam. The Phils led MLB with those 11 slams, followed by St Louis and Washington with 8 each.
June 21st, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Yep, Johan is so done as an elite pitcher, because he gave up an excuse me infield single and a misplayed sac bunt, immediately followed by a wall scraper (literally) home run to one of the best power hitters in baseball in a homer friendly ballpark in a June game.
Never mind the fact that those were the only runs he gave up in the game, but the Mets offense couldn't score at all to back him up. Or the fact that he recently completed a 5-start stretch during which he had a 0.74 ERA and a .191 BAA but only had 1 win to show for it because of anemic run support. Or the fact that he's coming off offseason elbow surgery and still working his way back to full strength. Or the fact that throughout his career, he's always been a second half pitcher (3.42 / 2.73 career first-half / second-half ERA split).
June 21st, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Lot of good points Joe. My comment re: Santana may have been a bit pre-mature/dramatic. But as a Met fan I'm worried. It's not just the velocity or the lack of K's. It's also about the high early pitch counts (a product of the lack of K's maybe), the uptick in BB/9 (growing in 5 straight seasons), his recent injury history, his rising WHIP...these are all bad signs, especially at 31 with his body type. This is not to say Santana is done, but can he be one of the five best pitchers over the course of a season like he was for the early part of his career? They sure pay him to be. I don't pretend to know anything, I was just wondering if there are any signs, that anyone can think of - hyperbole or otherwise - that can help me feel positive going forward.