Pitchers getting hit (by pitches)
Posted by Andy on August 11, 2009
I was curious to see the seasonal leaders in hit-by-pitch among pitchers, meaning which pitcher got hit the most while batting.
Here are the leaders since 1901:
Cnt Player **HBP** Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Big Jeff Pfeffer 7 1906 24 BSN NL 60 172 158 10 31 3 3 1 11 5 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 .196 .253 .272 .525 *1/978 2 Sam Jones 5 1922 29 NYY AL 45 102 87 14 23 9 0 1 8 6 0 28 4 0 0 1 0 .264 .347 .402 .749 *1 3 Snake Wiltse 5 1902 30 TOT AL 56 206 189 25 49 4 6 2 26 10 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 .259 .314 .376 .690 *13/4 4 Joe Yeager 5 1901 25 DET AL 41 136 125 18 37 7 1 2 17 4 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 .296 .343 .416 .759 *16/4 5 Eddie Plank 5 1901 25 PHA AL 33 111 99 10 18 0 0 0 3 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .182 .257 .182 .439 *1 6 Steve Carlton 4 1970 25 STL NL 34 88 80 4 16 2 0 0 4 1 0 28 3 0 1 1 1 .200 .247 .225 .472 *1 7 Don Wilson 4 1969 24 HOU NL 34 92 81 7 8 2 0 0 5 3 0 36 2 2 0 0 0 .099 .167 .123 .290 *1 8 Eddie Plank 4 1910 34 PHA AL 38 94 86 6 11 2 0 0 8 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .128 .185 .151 .336 *1 9 Bob Ewing 4 1908 35 CIN NL 37 104 94 5 14 3 0 0 5 2 0 0 4 0 0 2 0 .149 .200 .181 .381 *1 10 Christy Mathewson 4 1907 26 NYG NL 41 119 107 8 20 3 1 0 7 5 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 .187 .250 .234 .484 *1 11 Frank Smith 4 1905 25 CHW AL 41 118 106 11 24 6 0 1 11 7 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .226 .299 .311 .610 *1
It clearly used to be a lot more common in the early part of the 20th century. I don't know if this is because players got hit more back then or pitchers specifically were thrown at more. Somebody (gerry?) must know.
Here is the list since 1970. I notice that the majority of the names are better pitchers. I'm not sure if this is because they're getting hit due to pitching well or if they just get enough HBP to make the list because they are pitching more innings.
Here are career leaders among pitchers since 1901:
Cnt Player **HBP** From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+-------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Eddie Plank 24 1901 1917 25-41 630 1778 1607 130 331 39 7 3 122 71 0 72 76 0 0 13 1 .206 .250 .245 .495 *1 PHA-SLM-SLB 2 Sam Jones 22 1914 1935 21-42 713 1489 1243 151 245 44 5 6 99 139 0 346 85 0 0 7 4 .197 .289 .255 .544 *1/79 CLE-BOS-NYY-SLB-WSH-CHW 3 Christy Mathewson 17 1901 1916 20-35 640 1874 1673 150 360 48 12 7 164 115 0 74 69 0 0 20 1 .215 .273 .271 .544 *1/397 NYG-TOT 4 Reb Russell 15 1913 1923 24-34 420 1062 976 142 262 48 25 22 172 42 0 130 29 0 0 9 3 .268 .309 .436 .745 *19/7 CHW-PIT 5 Don Wilson 13 1966 1974 21-29 268 664 597 36 87 18 1 1 35 9 0 230 42 3 12 0 0 .146 .175 .184 .359 *1 HOU 6 Freddie Fitzsimmo 13 1925 1943 23-41 513 1262 1155 112 231 35 7 14 103 36 0 177 58 0 15 0 0 .200 .233 .279 .512 *1 NYG-TOT-BRO 7 Walter Johnson 13 1907 1927 19-39 933 2517 2324 241 547 94 41 24 255 110 0 251 70 0 0 13 4 .235 .274 .342 .616 *1/897 WSH 8 Frank Smith 13 1904 1915 24-35 369 879 766 81 156 41 9 2 85 64 0 34 36 0 0 3 0 .204 .276 .289 .565 *1/7 CHW-TOT-CIN-BAL 9 Phil Niekro 12 1964 1987 25-48 866 1707 1537 80 260 42 1 7 109 17 0 314 129 12 35 0 1 .169 .183 .211 .394 *1 MLN-ATL-NYY-CLE-TOT 10 Lew Burdette 12 1950 1967 23-40 666 1124 1011 101 185 27 4 12 75 32 0 271 63 6 14 2 0 .183 .216 .253 .469 *1 NYY-BSN-MLN-TOT-CAL 11 Dolf Luque 11 1914 1935 23-44 559 1189 1043 96 237 31 10 5 90 70 0 114 65 0 1 7 4 .227 .283 .291 .574 *1/5 BSN-CIN-BRO-NYG 12 Urban Shocker 11 1916 1928 25-37 412 1046 798 89 167 23 3 1 70 139 0 211 98 0 0 1 3 .209 .334 .249 .583 *1 NYY-SLB 13 Steve Carlton 10 1965 1988 20-43 745 1877 1719 123 346 49 6 13 140 41 0 406 94 13 33 2 2 .201 .223 .259 .482 *1 STL-PHI-TOT-MIN 14 Dick Donovan 10 1950 1965 22-37 371 801 694 67 113 14 0 15 64 78 1 292 18 1 13 0 0 .163 .257 .248 .505 *1 BSN-DET-CHW-WSA-CLE 15 Nick Altrock 10 1902 1933 25-56 219 573 521 48 90 9 1 2 25 27 0 0 15 0 0 4 1 .173 .228 .205 .433 *1/379 BOS-TOT-CHW-WSH 16 Chief Bender 10 1903 1925 19-41 507 1274 1147 102 243 40 10 6 116 75 0 48 42 0 0 20 0 .212 .266 .280 .546 *1/38475 PHA-BAL-PHI-CHW 17 Bob Ewing 10 1902 1912 29-39 311 946 872 77 170 27 7 3 58 33 0 16 31 0 0 5 0 .195 .233 .252 .485 *1/789 CIN-PHI-STL 18 Ed Karger 10 1906 1911 23-28 167 432 400 31 88 14 2 6 35 12 0 0 10 0 0 1 0 .220 .261 .310 .571 *1 TOT-STL-BOS
Again, mostly guys from pretty far back. Johnson, Carlton, and Niekro seem to be helped by coming to plate a lot more total times. Then you see a guy like Altrock who got plunked 10 times in just 573 career plate appearances. That's got to be down either to his batting style or deliberate plunking.
Here are the leaders among active pitchers:
Cnt Player **HBP** From To Ages G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams +----+-----------------+-------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+ 1 Mike Hampton 5 1993 2009 20-36 437 843 723 97 176 22 5 16 78 47 0 195 63 5 12 3 4 .243 .292 .354 .646 *1 SEA-HOU-NYM-COL-ATL 2 Scott Elarton 5 1998 2008 22-32 233 203 166 13 23 3 0 0 3 5 0 53 27 0 4 0 0 .139 .188 .157 .345 *1/8 HOU-TOT-COL-CLE-KCR 3 Livan Hernandez 4 1996 2009 21-34 417 955 846 58 193 34 2 9 75 7 0 112 95 3 29 0 0 .228 .237 .305 .542 *1 FLA-TOT-SFG-MON-WSN-ARI-NYM 4 Roy Oswalt 4 2001 2009 23-31 277 654 546 25 88 7 0 1 33 21 0 147 82 1 5 0 0 .161 .198 .179 .377 *1 HOU 5 Matt Clement 4 1998 2006 23-31 239 410 348 22 33 5 1 0 12 14 0 174 43 1 2 0 0 .095 .139 .115 .254 *1 SDP-FLA-CHC-BOS 6 Kyle Lohse 3 2001 2009 22-30 267 215 180 6 28 3 0 0 12 2 0 55 29 1 1 0 1 .156 .177 .172 .349 *1 MIN-TOT-STL 7 Darren Oliver 3 1993 2009 22-38 515 243 217 17 48 11 0 1 20 8 0 74 15 0 5 0 0 .221 .259 .286 .545 *1 TEX-TOT-STL-TEX-BOS-COL-NYM-LAA 8 Jake Peavy 3 2002 2009 21-28 217 473 405 38 73 14 1 2 26 18 0 116 45 2 6 0 2 .180 .220 .235 .455 *1 SDP 9 Brad Penny 3 2000 2009 22-31 272 529 485 25 76 16 2 2 30 3 0 155 38 0 3 0 0 .157 .167 .210 .377 *1 FLA-TOT-LAD-BOS 10 John Smoltz 3 1988 2009 21-42 728 1153 935 76 150 26 2 5 61 78 0 360 136 1 15 3 2 .160 .227 .209 .436 *1 ATL-BOS 11 Jeff Suppan 3 1995 2009 20-34 406 480 393 26 70 6 0 1 21 21 0 83 63 0 3 1 1 .178 .225 .201 .426 *1 BOS-TOT-KCR-STL-MIL 12 Adam Eaton 3 2000 2008 22-30 225 402 341 29 66 16 1 3 25 32 0 113 26 0 4 5 1 .194 .269 .273 .542 *1 SDP-TEX-PHI 13 Shawn Estes 3 1995 2008 22-35 311 596 498 50 79 15 2 4 28 15 0 166 78 2 7 1 1 .159 .187 .221 .408 *1 SFG-TOT-CHC-COL-ARI-SDP 14 Pedro Martinez 3 1992 2008 20-36 468 502 420 22 42 6 2 0 17 14 0 184 62 3 5 0 0 .100 .134 .124 .258 *1/5 LAD-MON-BOS-NYM
For the most part, these are guys who pitched a lot of innings. Elarton and Lohse stick out as guys who haven't pitched much by comparison and have many fewer plate appearances, but with such low overall HBP totals it's tough to know why it happened--could just be random chance.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Hit by pitch rates generally were much higher way back when than they have been since. Sorry, I don't have the time right now to back that up with actual evidence, but it's something I remember from having looked into it once.
Also, the days of pitchers getting 200 plate appearances are well and truly over.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
I see a few guys who were or are known as good hitting pitchers on the various lists. Perhaps some HBP's were in response to something done in one of their earlier plate appearances.
In particular:
Steve Carlton
Mike Hampton
Livan Hernandez
August 11th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
HBP peaked during the wild and woolly 1890s, but lately they are as high as they've ever been since. The rates were a little lower in the 1900s, when most of the guys on the first list played, than they are now.
August 12th, 2009 at 12:01 am
So let's look at a few numbers. In 1906, when Big Jeff Pfeffer got plunked 7 times, there were 378 HBP in 615 NL games; let's write it as 61.5 HBP per 100 games played. Last year, there were 856 HBP in 1294 NL games, which is 66.2 HBP per 100 games. So JohnnyTwisto is absolutely right (or at least as right as two data points can support), HBP rates are actually higher now than they were back then. But BJP had 172 plate appearances in 1906; last year, Cole Hamels led all pitchers with 85. So at least part of what's going on is that pitchers don't bat as much now as they used to.
I wonder whether HBP tend to happen in the later innings. If that were the case, it would go some way toward explaining things, since nowadays the pitchers who get the most PA, the starting pitchers, are generally not around in the later innings.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:10 am
There might be more hit by pitches to pitchers in the early 20th century due to the fact that back then the game was much more physical. The stereotype of a baseball player was a drunken grade school dropout who was unruly. Thus, the concept of "eye for an eye" might have been bigger and fights more common.