Wily Mo Pena
Posted by Andy on January 29, 2009
My friend Brian asked for a post about Wily Mo Pena so here it is.
Fewest walks for a player with at least 500 career strikeouts:
Cnt Player **BB** SO From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+--------+----+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Milt Pappas 36 510 1957 1973 18-34 527 1174 1073 72 132 13 3 20 67 0 8 52 5 13 1 0 .123 .157 .197 .354 *1/4 BAL-CIN-TOT-ATL-CHC 2 Miguel Olivo 79 557 2002 2008 23-29 640 2215 2092 239 505 110 13 73 265 12 22 12 10 43 32 17 .241 .275 .411 .686 *2/D3 CHW-TOT-FLA-KCR 3 Bob Feller 100 505 1936 1956 17-37 570 1485 1282 99 193 28 13 8 99 0 3 100 0 15 1 2 .151 .214 .211 .425 *1 CLE 4 Lefty Grove 105 593 1925 1941 25-41 619 1579 1369 119 202 27 5 15 121 0 2 103 0 1 1 1 .148 .209 .207 .416 *1 PHA-BOS 5 Wily Mo Pena 106 520 2002 2008 20-26 560 1725 1590 196 402 67 5 77 225 5 21 1 7 35 12 8 .253 .307 .447 .754 978/D5 CIN-BOS-TOT-WSN 6 Craig Paquette 120 620 1993 2003 24-34 814 2766 2591 304 620 128 10 99 377 6 12 17 26 70 27 13 .239 .274 .411 .685 *573/946D OAK-KCR-NYM-STL-DET 7 Charley Smith 130 565 1960 1969 22-31 771 2686 2484 228 594 83 18 69 281 19 14 38 20 60 7 12 .239 .279 .370 .649 *5/64 LAD-TOT-CHW-NYM-STL-NYY-CHC 8 Kurt Abbott 133 571 1993 2001 24-32 702 2227 2044 273 523 109 23 62 242 11 17 21 12 37 22 11 .256 .305 .423 .728 64/5739D8 OAK-FLA-TOT-COL-NYM-ATL 9 Jerry Kindall 145 535 1956 1965 21-30 742 2261 2057 211 439 83 9 44 198 17 8 36 15 45 17 11 .213 .266 .327 .593 *46/53 CHC-CLE-TOT-MIN 10 Russ Davis 146 503 1994 2001 24-31 612 2176 1980 261 508 108 6 84 276 7 16 18 16 42 16 11 .257 .310 .444 .754 *5/D376 NYY-SEA-SFG
That's right. Of the 4 guys ahead of Pena, three are pitchers and one is a catcher.
If we restrict the above list to just outfielders or DH, Pena looks really bad:
Cnt Player **BB** SO From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+--------+----+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Wily Mo Pena 106 520 2002 2008 20-26 560 1725 1590 196 402 67 5 77 225 5 21 1 7 35 12 8 .253 .307 .447 .754 978/D5 CIN-BOS-TOT-WSN 2 Junior Felix 158 509 1989 1994 21-26 585 2339 2132 309 562 105 24 55 280 10 19 7 23 35 49 40 .264 .317 .413 .730 *98/D7 TOR-CAL-FLA-DET 3 Bobby Darwin 160 577 1962 1977 19-34 646 2436 2224 250 559 76 16 83 328 13 37 3 12 75 15 9 .251 .311 .412 .723 *9/8D71 LAA-LAD-MIN-TOT 4 Corey Patterson 169 768 2000 2008 20-28 991 3728 3466 479 876 161 30 104 363 19 29 43 21 32 182 50 .253 .291 .407 .698 *8/79 CHC-BAL-CIN 5 Gerald Williams 180 530 1992 2005 25-38 1168 3323 3059 474 780 183 18 85 365 8 31 31 22 60 106 57 .255 .301 .410 .711 879/D NYY-TOT-MIL-ATL-TBD-NYY-FLA-NYM 6 Don Demeter 180 658 1956 1967 21-32 1109 3730 3443 467 912 147 17 163 563 31 42 33 32 65 22 25 .265 .307 .459 .766 *857/93 BRO-LAD-TOT-PHI-DET-TOT 7 Craig Monroe 181 567 2001 2008 24-31 780 2837 2612 360 661 144 9 112 417 11 11 3 30 66 19 18 .253 .301 .444 .745 *79/D8 TEX-DET-TOT-MIN 8 John Shelby 182 671 1981 1991 23-33 1036 3326 3090 389 739 128 24 70 313 15 4 32 18 51 98 40 .239 .281 .364 .645 *87/9D4 BAL-TOT-LAD-DET 9 Ruben Rivera 185 510 1995 2003 21-29 662 1818 1586 237 343 67 11 64 203 4 29 6 12 28 50 20 .216 .307 .393 .700 *89/7D NYY-SDP-CIN-TEX-SFG 10 Cito Gaston 185 693 1967 1978 23-34 1024 3339 3120 314 799 106 30 91 387 14 9 10 15 85 13 7 .256 .298 .397 .695 89/73 ATL-SDP-TOT
The next lowest guy had 50% more walks than Pena. Ouch.
Here are the guys (pitchers excluded) who have struck out the most with no more than 2000 career PA's (for the uninitiated...that's plate appearances...)
Cnt Player **SO** PA From To Ages G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+--------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Dave Nicholson 573 1661 1960 1967 20-27 538 1419 184 301 32 12 61 179 219 7 7 4 12 13 6 10 .212 .318 .381 .699 *79/8 BAL-CHW-HOU-ATL 2 Wily Mo Pena 520 1725 2002 2008 20-26 560 1590 196 402 67 5 77 225 106 5 21 1 7 35 12 8 .253 .307 .447 .754 978/D5 CIN-BOS-TOT-WSN 3 Shane Andrews 515 1924 1995 2002 23-30 569 1704 196 375 76 4 86 263 191 17 7 3 19 35 7 10 .220 .298 .421 .719 *5/3D7 MON-TOT-CHC-BOS 4 Ruben Rivera 510 1818 1995 2003 21-29 662 1586 237 343 67 11 64 203 185 4 29 6 12 28 50 20 .216 .307 .393 .700 *89/7D NYY-SDP-CIN-TEX-SFG 5 Melvin Nieves 483 1392 1992 1998 20-26 458 1228 163 284 53 6 63 187 136 9 17 1 10 25 4 12 .231 .314 .438 .752 *9/7D83 ATL-SDP-DET-CIN 6 Todd Pratt 454 1869 1992 2006 25-39 662 1612 194 404 84 3 49 224 208 16 28 7 14 39 6 2 .251 .344 .398 .742 *2/3D7 PHI-CHC-NYM-TOT-PHI-ATL 7 Benji Gil 448 1767 1993 2003 20-30 604 1610 158 381 75 12 32 171 102 1 7 34 14 26 24 21 .237 .283 .358 .641 *6/43D58 TEX-ANA 8 John Buck 445 1914 2004 2008 23-27 525 1727 202 404 92 3 62 223 138 6 26 9 14 46 3 9 .234 .298 .398 .696 *2/D KCR 9 Rickie Weeks 425 1907 2003 2008 20-25 445 1615 306 395 72 18 51 158 215 8 59 8 10 25 78 14 .245 .352 .406 .758 *4/D MIL 10 Jayson Werth 424 1611 2002 2008 23-29 460 1394 229 367 66 12 57 222 188 4 16 4 9 17 44 5 .263 .355 .451 .806 *97/8D3 TOR-LAD-PHI
Wily Mo is saved by Dave Nicholson. This comparison doesn't look to good for Pena, or for #10 Jayson Werth either.
There ya go, Brian.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I am certainly not a supporter of Willy Mo Pena but I will say this. There has been a LOT of animosity towards Pena throughout his career from all sides. But lets not forget the fact that he is only 26 years old and can still improve his game. And his lifetime OPS of 94, while not anything legendary is not as terrible as this post would make him sound.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I think it goes without saying that there is upside to Pena's game. If not, he never would have gotten this many ABs.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I think Pena may have screwed himself when he first signed. If I remember correctly, he was 17 years old and got a major league contract, so he had to go on the 40-man roster. A few later when he was traded to the Reds, he was out of options and had to be placed on the major league roster, or they would risk losing him on waivers. He wasn't major league ready, however, and he lost out on valuable development time sitting on the bench. Now there's no guarantee he would have become a star if he had gotten to spend some more time in AA and AAA, but it looks pretty obvious now that he's not going to become one.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Pena's always been one of my favorites to watch. Not that he's put up great numbers or that I believe he'll be a star--there's just something about seeing this guy play. I figured he was about done, but when you look at those similarity scores on his B-R page, it makes you wonder. Bob Allison? Dave Henderson? George Foster? Who wouldn't take one of those guys at age 26? Only three guys out of the 10 were just about done, Kokos, Plantier and Clinton. The other seven had lengthy, productive careers after that point. If you do a career projection using his stats and those of the 10 similar, it comes out to 14 seasons, 214 HR, 700 RBI, .255. Great? No. But not Dave Nicholson, either. Similarity scores might not mean much, but they usually aren't this good for a guy this criticized.