When Counting & Rate Stats Collide
Posted by Steve Lombardi on January 8, 2010
Via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder, players since 1901 who have reached based 200+ times in a season while posting an OBP of .299 or less:
| Rk | Player | TOB | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | GDP | SB | CS | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Rollins | 214 | .296 | 2009 | 30 | PHI | NL | 155 | 725 | 672 | 100 | 168 | 43 | 5 | 21 | 77 | 44 | 1 | 70 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 8 | .250 | .423 | .719 | *6 |
| 2 | Frank Taveras | 213 | .298 | 1979 | 29 | TOT | NL | 164 | 725 | 680 | 93 | 178 | 29 | 9 | 1 | 34 | 33 | 1 | 74 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 44 | 20 | .262 | .335 | .633 | *6 |
| 3 | Ken Hubbs | 210 | .299 | 1962 | 20 | CHC | NL | 160 | 715 | 661 | 90 | 172 | 24 | 9 | 5 | 49 | 35 | 0 | 129 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 20 | 3 | 7 | .260 | .346 | .646 | *4 |
| 4 | Horace Clarke | 209 | .286 | 1970 | 30 | NYY | AL | 158 | 732 | 686 | 81 | 172 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 46 | 35 | 5 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 23 | 7 | .251 | .309 | .595 | *4 |
| 5 | Bobby Richardson | 209 | .294 | 1964 | 28 | NYY | AL | 159 | 728 | 679 | 90 | 181 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 28 | 1 | 36 | 0 | 16 | 5 | 15 | 11 | 2 | .267 | .333 | .626 | *4/6 |
| 6 | Larry Bowa | 208 | .298 | 1974 | 28 | PHI | NL | 162 | 717 | 669 | 97 | 184 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 36 | 23 | 0 | 52 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 11 | 39 | 11 | .275 | .338 | .636 | *6 |
| 7 | Joe Carter | 205 | .292 | 1989 | 29 | CLE | AL | 162 | 705 | 651 | 84 | 158 | 32 | 4 | 35 | 105 | 39 | 8 | 112 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 13 | 5 | .243 | .465 | .757 | *873/D9 |
| 8 | Bobby Richardson | 205 | .295 | 1961 | 25 | NYY | AL | 162 | 706 | 662 | 80 | 173 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 49 | 30 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 15 | 9 | 7 | .261 | .316 | .610 | *4 |
| 9 | Cristian Guzman | 204 | .299 | 2000 | 22 | MIN | AL | 156 | 690 | 631 | 89 | 156 | 25 | 20 | 8 | 54 | 46 | 1 | 101 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 28 | 10 | .247 | .388 | .687 | *6 |
| 10 | Juan Samuel | 204 | .298 | 1988 | 27 | PHI | NL | 157 | 685 | 629 | 68 | 153 | 32 | 9 | 12 | 67 | 39 | 6 | 151 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 33 | 10 | .243 | .380 | .678 | *4/895 |
| 11 | Omar Moreno | 203 | .292 | 1982 | 29 | PIT | NL | 158 | 706 | 645 | 82 | 158 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 44 | 44 | 2 | 121 | 1 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 60 | 26 | .245 | .315 | .606 | *8 |
| 12 | Dave Cash | 203 | .291 | 1978 | 30 | MON | NL | 159 | 703 | 658 | 66 | 166 | 26 | 3 | 3 | 43 | 37 | 2 | 29 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 6 | .252 | .315 | .605 | *4 |
| 13 | Roger Metzger | 203 | .288 | 1972 | 24 | HOU | NL | 153 | 715 | 641 | 84 | 142 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 38 | 60 | 1 | 71 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 9 | .222 | .259 | .547 | *6 |
| 14 | Larry Bowa | 203 | .293 | 1971 | 25 | PHI | NL | 159 | 696 | 650 | 74 | 162 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 36 | 2 | 61 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 28 | 11 | .249 | .292 | .586 | *6 |
| 15 | Woody Williams | 203 | .290 | 1944 | 31 | CIN | NL | 155 | 707 | 653 | 73 | 157 | 23 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 44 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 0 | .240 | .289 | .580 | *4 |
| 16 | Joe Carter | 202 | .290 | 1990 | 30 | SDP | NL | 162 | 697 | 634 | 79 | 147 | 27 | 1 | 24 | 115 | 48 | 18 | 93 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 22 | 6 | .232 | .391 | .681 | *873 |
| 17 | Bobby Richardson | 202 | .287 | 1965 | 29 | NYY | AL | 160 | 713 | 664 | 76 | 164 | 28 | 2 | 6 | 47 | 37 | 4 | 39 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 5 | .247 | .322 | .609 | *4 |
| 18 | Hughie Critz | 202 | .292 | 1930 | 29 | TOT | NL | 152 | 707 | 662 | 108 | 172 | 20 | 13 | 4 | 61 | 30 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | .260 | .347 | .639 | *4 |
| 19 | Jeff Francoeur | 201 | .293 | 2006 | 22 | ATL | NL | 162 | 686 | 651 | 83 | 169 | 24 | 6 | 29 | 103 | 23 | 6 | 132 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 6 | .260 | .449 | .742 | *9/8 |
| 20 | Bill Virdon | 201 | .286 | 1962 | 31 | PIT | NL | 156 | 705 | 663 | 82 | 164 | 27 | 10 | 6 | 47 | 36 | 0 | 65 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 13 | .247 | .345 | .631 | *8 |
| 21 | Kevin Kouzmanoff | 200 | .299 | 2008 | 26 | SDP | NL | 154 | 668 | 624 | 71 | 162 | 31 | 4 | 23 | 84 | 23 | 3 | 139 | 15 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | .260 | .433 | .732 | *5 |
| 22 | Todd Benzinger | 200 | .293 | 1989 | 26 | CIN | NL | 161 | 686 | 628 | 79 | 154 | 28 | 3 | 17 | 76 | 44 | 13 | 120 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 7 | .245 | .381 | .674 | *3 |
| 23 | Del Ennis | 200 | .299 | 1956 | 31 | PHI | NL | 153 | 672 | 630 | 80 | 164 | 23 | 3 | 26 | 95 | 33 | 8 | 62 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 3 | .260 | .430 | .729 | *7 |
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It's been done 23 times - 5 times by a Phillie and 4 times by a Yankee. Most of that was thanks to Larry Bowa and Bobby Richardson. So, does that make them the poster children for reaching base a lot, but, not doing it often?
January 8th, 2010 at 1:03 am
I think the phrase is 'not doing it often enough to justify the high number of PAs he received'.
January 8th, 2010 at 1:13 am
The one that floors me is Todd Benzinger. He wasn't a slappy speed merchant, or a semi-legit power hitter like Carter, Francouer or Kuzmanoff. He was a slow .250 hitting doubles-power first baseman with no patience and that was pretty well established while he was at Boston. So why did Rose (and then Tommy Helms) determine that not only was he good enough to get the most PAs of any player, but to hit him either second 31 times, cleanup 25 times and fifth 66 times.
Meanwhile, Skeeter Barnes was mashing the ball at Nashville as a left fielder. He probably could have easily moved to first base.
Of course, that team had the corpses of Manny Trillo, Ken Griffey, Joel Youngblood and Dave Collins walking around.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Joe Carter--not a terrible player but immensely overrated.
January 8th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Wow, Larry Bowa gets 184 hits and can't even muster a .300 OBP. This inspired me to run a search for the worst OBP with 200+ hits. The winner? Ralph Garr in 1973, with a .323 OBP (and a 97 OPS+) despite collecting 200 hits. Check out the rest of the list. And leading the list of the lowest OPS with 200+ hits is none other than Juan Pierre with a stunning 82 despite 204 hits. Now that's just sick.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Regarding what Andy posted in message 3 - That's what hitting a World Series-winning walk-off homerun will do for you.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:56 am
I think Carter made his rep before hitting that homer. First by going 30-30 in '87, then with all the 100-RBI seasons (6 in a row, 10 out of 12 seasons overall, and 7 of 8 seasons just prior to the big WS HR).