Andre Ethier’s Walk-Off Hits
Posted by Raphy on May 7, 2010
In his summary of last night's Dodger's-Brewers game Craig Calcaterra, mentioned that Andre's Ethier's walk-off grand slam was his 11th walk-off hit since 2008. This sounds like an awful lot and it made me wonder where that ranks among all baseball players. A quick run of the PI event finder for each of the last 3 years gives us the following leaders for walk-off hits from 2008-2010.
Andre Ethier 11
Kurt Suzuki 5
Miguel Tejada 5
Alfonso Soriano 4
Jorge Cantu 4
Jose Lopez 4
Kevin Youkilis 4
Mark Ellis 4
Prince Fielder 4
Robinson Cano 4
Not only does Ethier lead, he leads by a wide margin, doing it more times than any other 2 players combined. Here are Ethiers walk-off hits since 2008.
| Cr# | Yr# | Gm# | Date | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 2008-05-25 | LAD | STL | Mike Parisi | tied 3-3 | 1B | b10 | -2- | 2 | 6 (3-2) | 1 | *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Line Drive); Pierre Scores |
| 2 | 2 | 1 | 2008-08-12 | LAD | PHI | J.C. Romero | tied 3-3 | 1B | b 9 | -2- | 1 | 6 (1-2) | 1 | *ENDED GAME*:Single to LF (Ground Ball thru Weak 3B); Martin Scores |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 2008-08-17 | LAD | MIL | Carlos Villanuev | tied 5-5 | HR | b 9 | 1-- | 0 | 4 (1-2) | 2 | *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Kemp Scores |
| Cr# | Yr# | Gm# | Date | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 2009-05-02 | LAD | SDP | Luke Gregerson | tied 1-1 | 1B | b10 | 123 | 0 | 4 (2-1) | 1 | *ENDED GAME*:Single to RF (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Furcal Scores; Hudson to 3B; Ramirez to 2B |
| 5 | 2 | 1 | 2009-06-05 | LAD | PHI | Brad Lidge | down 2-3 | 2B | b 9 | 123 | 2 | 1 (0-0) | 2 | *ENDED GAME*:Double to RF (Line Drive to Deep RF Line); Blake Scores/unER; Loney Scores/unER; Martin to 3B |
| 6 | 3 | 1 | 2009-06-06 | LAD | PHI | Chad Durbin | tied 2-2 | HR | b12 | --- | 2 | 8 (3-2) | 1 | *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF) |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | 2009-06-29 | LAD | COL | Joel Peralta | tied 2-2 | HR | b13 | 1-- | 0 | 5 (1-2) | 2 | *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Blake Scores |
| 8 | 5 | 1 | 2009-08-06 | LAD | ATL | Rafael Soriano | down 2-4 | HR | b 9 | 1-3 | 0 | 3 (2-0) | 3 | *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Pierre Scores; Furcal Scores |
| 9 | 6 | 1 | 2009-09-15 | LAD | PIT | Phil Dumatrait | down 3-4 | HR | b13 | 1-- | 1 | 1 (0-0) | 2 | *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF); Furcal Scores |
| Cr# | Yr# | Gm# | Date | Tm | Opp | Pitcher | Score | Inn | RoB | Out | Pit(cnt) | RBI | Play Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 2010-04-15 | LAD | ARI | Blaine Boyer | tied 5-5 | 1B | b10 | -23 | 1 | 4 (2-1) | 1 | *ENDED GAME*:Single to CF (Fly Ball to Deep CF); DeWitt Scores; Kemp to 3B |
| 11 | 2 | 1 | 2010-05-06 | LAD | MIL | LaTroy Hawkins | tied 3-3 | HR | b 9 | 123 | 1 | 5 (2-2) | 4 | *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF); Carroll Scores; Paul Scores; Kemp Scores |
May 7th, 2010 at 11:10 am
Very interesting stuff. I remember Ethier's back to back walk offs vs the Phils last year.
I wonder if the PI could be "tricked" at all depending on what you tell it. For example, there are ways for a base hit to end a game but still result in a loss for that team. Like if an advancing runner gets thrown out at home or if the batter tries to stretch a single into a double... etc. I have very little experience with PI and all of Ethier's seem to check out.
May 7th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Jim - My search was for hits that both ended the game and put the team in the lead. You're right, that a game ending hit doesn't guarantee a win, which is why the second filter is necessary.
May 7th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I would like to see walks included. Also, I'm curious to know how many opportunities these guys had.11 walk offs are great but if he failed 30 times in the same situation?
B
May 7th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
It's easy to redo this search for game-ending plate appearances instead of hits.
Ethier's total of 11 in less than 3 seasons is insane and very Ortiz-like.
Damn it! I almost made it a while day without mentioning Ortiz on this blog.
May 7th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Great info! Thanks!
Do you know who the career leaders are for walk-off winning base hits?
Charlie
May 7th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
I wonder what the record is for this sort of thing? A quick perusal show David Ortiz with 17. The only others with that many or more I found were:
Pete Rose - 21
Rickey Henderson - 21
Mike Schmidt - 17
Barry Bonds - 17
Second behind Ortiz for active players I found Miggy Tejada with 14. But to show you how indicative this stat is, Manny Ramirez has 9 - and so does Marco Scutaro.
May 7th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
[...] heroics that always seem to follow Andre Ethier. Just unbelievable. So unbelievable, in fact, the Baseball-Reference blog analyzes it and concludes he is by far the “clutchiest” hitter in the game today. (Hat [...]
May 10th, 2010 at 9:02 am
[...] the Dodgers to a 7-3 win. For Ethier, it was his 11th walk-off hit since 2008, a total that leads all of baseball by a wide margin during that span. The two closest hitters to him are Kurt Suzuki and Miguel [...]
May 11th, 2010 at 9:25 am
[...] Andre Ethier of the Dodgers has 11 walk-off hits since 2008. No other player has more than five. … Joe [...]
May 11th, 2010 at 9:35 am
[...] the Dodgers to a 7-3 win. For Ethier, it was his 11th walk-off hit since 2008, a total that leads all of baseball by a wide margin during that span. The two closest hitters to him are Kurt Suzuki and Miguel [...]