10 Things I Didn’t Know about Rick Aguilera
Posted by Chris J. on August 15, 2007
Why him? Why not. Besides, Gleeman finally, after years of waiting, got back to his Top 40 Twins thingee today, and Aguilera is #18.
1) Batter he faced the most often (by far): Tim Raines. Almost 25% more than anyone else. Ohh-kay. Makes sense. Both came up in the NL in the East at the same time, and switched to the AL West around the same time.
2) Gary DiSarcina was the man who faced him the most times without a hit. And please note the list (ordered first by PA against and then fewest hits against) indicates he owned Lou Whitaker, and Jay Buhner
3) Look at that link in #2 and scroll down to the guys who only had one hit. He had Pete Rose's number. Only 1 hit in 14 AB. He also owned Trammell, Gwynn, Julio Franco (Gawd he's old), and Joe Carter
4) Scroll all the way to the bottom. Tim Wallach mocked Rick and all his puny Aguileras.
5) Most homers allowed: Mark McGwire. Sure, he's tied with Damion Easley (?) and Darren Bragg (?!?), but McGwire's up on top.
6) He only allowed one Grand Slam. B. J. Surhoff hit it. Added bonus: it was a walk-off grand slam. Aguilera came into the game with a 5-4 in the ninth and blew it badly. He'd already let the tying run in when Surhoff went deep.
7) That was one of seven Walk off homers he allowed. Of course as a closer you will get stuck for some of those.
8) Three times he ended the game with a bases loaded strike out. It was never in really dramatic fashion with only a one run lead. Twice the lead was five runs.
9) However, four times he got the last out with the bases loaded and only a one-run lead. Never got 'em with a K, but got 'em nonetheless.
10) Looking at his career splits, his H/R splits look odd. He had nearly identical Home & Road ERAs despit striking out more men at home, allowing fewer walks, & having a much lower BABIP. Huh? Well, he allowed more UER on the road. His road RA was 4.05 and his home 3.87. He also allowed slightly more homers at home.
If B-ref's PI can let you learn that about Rick Aguilera - imagine what it can do for a player you actually care about!