trivial occurrences 2018

the 90s braves

yeah, as dominant as maddux was, he only reached 200 strkekouts once (1998, with 204)

found this from baseball roundtable, a 2014 article:

With the recent “feel-good” publicity surrounding pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training, BBRT took time to reflect on some unique accomplishments involving major league batteries – specifically looking at teams that could boast 200-strikeout performances by three pitchers in the same season. It’s only happened three times in major history, and the nine hurlers involve make up a pretty diverse bunch:

Five have at least one MLB no-hitter on their resume, with two of those having fashioned multiple no-hit games;
One is on a streak of five consecutive 200+ strikeout seasons, while five notched only one (well-timed for this list) 200+ strikeout seasons in their careers;
One was only the eighth rookie to notch 200+ whiffs, and never came close to the mark again in a 14-season MLB career;
One won sixteen consecutive Gold Gloves, while another is one of only eight pitchers to capture the Cy Young Award and league MVP in the same season;
One threw 17 no-hitters in high school (while racking up a 52-1 won-lost record);
One celebrated his eighteenth birthday by making his first major league start and striking out Willie Mays to end his first major league inning;
One is one of only two pitchers to strikeout four batters in a single post-season inning;
Four, at one time, led their league in wild pitches, including one who led his league in wild pitches and hit batters two consecutive years.

1967 Minnesota Twins: Dean Chance (220 Ks), Jim Kaat (211), Dave Boswell (204).
1969 Astros: Don Wilson (235), Larry Dierker (222), Tom Griffin (200).
2013 Tigers: Max Scherzer (240), Justin Verlander (217), Anibel Sanchez (202).

Most consecutive quality starts in a season, MLB history:

1. Jacob deGrom, 23
2-t. Bob Gibson, 22
2-t. Chris Carpenter, 22

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) September 22, 2018

wow

re: the number of 200 K pitchers on one team, there's likely going to be another team with three 200 K guys this season: Houston w/Cole (272), Verlander (269), and Morton almost there (195.) Pittsburgh must be wondering what they were doing wrong with Gerrit and Charlie.

v. excited to see glasnow join them

matt carpenter, in 677 plate appearances, did not hit into a double play this season

NL player with the most PA who also did not hit into a double play is ryan mcmahon (202 PA)

that's crazy, especially because carpenter is pretty slow and he's usually hitting into a shift

although i guess the shift usually isn't on with runners on base, nm

Below is one of Frank Thomas's batting splits from his 1993 MVP season.

In one case, .367 with 33 HR, for a 1.251 OPS.
In the rest, .259 with 8 HR, for a 0.796 OPS.

What's the split? New post: https://t.co/hJfJSY0qht pic.twitter.com/pKnVDM5rAe

— Phil Birnbaum (@PhilBirnbaum) January 16, 2019

Ken Griffey Sr. had a bWAR of 15.8 from his age 30 season to his age 40 season (and then he played one more year and gained another 0.3 in WAR)

Ken Griffey Jr. had a bWAR of 13.1 from his age 30 season to his age 40 season (and then retired)

Cool stat of the day: Max Schezer and Jacob deGrom both have 10 strikeouts so far, the first time opposing starters have double-digit K's on Opening Day since 1970, when Sam McDowell and Dave McNally did it for the Indians and Orioles. (Also the only... https://t.co/H1mFNMik4V

— David Schoenfield (@dschoenfield) March 28, 2019

Rocco Baldelli is the first MLB manager to be born in the (19)80's.

george springer did *not* lead off the astros season with a homer for the third straight year

but he did homer in his second at-bat

.@tatis_jr is the youngest player to have a multi-hit game on #OpeningDay since Robin Yount in 1975. pic.twitter.com/bwYhJJ1qqv

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) March 28, 2019

meanwhile, vladimir hones his game in extended spring training

history wd thank u for making a nu thred

mookie, it's up to you. my job here is to react to the trivia and then make really dumb jokes about it

Allow me to interrupt:

Today's opening day 47 HRs eclipses the previous record of 46 HRs set in 1999.

how many 'opening days' have had all the teams playing?

Scherzer/deGrom were the first Opening Day starters since McNally/McDowell in 1970 to both strike out 10.

Home runs and strikeouts, sounds familiar.

Eight HRs by the Dodgers set a new team opening day record.

now out of date, but

Dodgers have scored 49 runs this year. Giants have 50 total bases.

— Sam Miller (@SamMillerBB) April 3, 2019

Per @EliasSports, Chris Iannetta becomes the first Rockies player to record the game-winning RBI in 1-0 Rockies wins three different times. Has done it on a HR each time. He is the third active player to have three or more home runs in 1-0 wins (N. Walker, 4; J. Upton, 3).

— Rockies PR (@RockiesPR) April 3, 2019

The #Cubs lead the Majors in:

BA (.307) & OBP (.398)

AND

Opponent BA (.303) & OBP (.417)

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) April 5, 2019

Shane Greene becomes first player since MLB recognized the save statistic 50 years ago to record seven saves in team's first 10 games.

— Jason Beck (@beckjason) April 7, 2019

Chris Davis now holds the all time hitless record - 49 consecutive at bats going back to last year

Chris Davis is due

to retire

dear Baltimore Orioles, I will CRUSH this record, hire me

Put it in the record books—the Mariners have hit a home run in 1️⃣5️⃣ straight games to start the season. 💥 pic.twitter.com/tIAHp1lZNC

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) April 11, 2019

if dee gordon hits a home run and nobody is in the stands to see it, does it count for runs

Mitch Garver is leading off tonight for the Twins. He's the first Twins catcher to bat leadoff in a game since Butch Wynegar in 1980.

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) April 15, 2019

I'm going to go by memory here and not check this first: in my mind, Wynegar and Wockenfuss were both considered fast for catchers?

15 career SB between them, so maybe not...(They did total 26 triples).

i had a memory of Carlton Fisk having had a season w/a lot of triples and he did, he led the AL in triples with 9 in his rookie season. weirdly he also stole 17(!) bases in 1985, tying a career high. this was the same season he hit a career high 37 home runs, all at age 37. I remember him being slow, but i may also be mixing it up with how long he took to take a single AB. considering the length of his career behind the dish i suspect he was just a more elite athlete than he appeared to be.

I think I was getting my '70s W-catchers mixed up: it was John Wathan who stole all the bases (seasonal high of 36, 105 in 860 career games).

i don't know where else to put these random bits of info regarding future 3,000 career hit possibilities:

there are currently four active players with over 2,000 hits:

Pujols - 3,093
Cabrera - 2,692
Cano - 2,484
Markakis - 2,256

Pujols and Cabrera look like toast, Cano is 36 and may very well be (that K rate is presently a bit worrisome for him), and the best player out of that group now appears to be Markakis. I'd be surprised if he's able to get enough playing time to reach 3k, he's in that "Mark Grace with the Arizona Diamondbacks" phase of his career.

the list of active players at least halfway there with 1,500+ career hits is this:

Ian Kinsler (14, 37) - 1,951
Melky Cabrera (15, 34) - 1,874
Yadier Molina (16, 36) - 1,865
Adam Jones (14, 33) - 1,836
Hanley Ramirez (15, 35) - 1,834
Ryan Braun (13, 35) - 1,814
Dustin Pedroia (14, 35) - 1,805
Matt Kemp (14, 34) - 1,778
Curtis Granderson (16, 38) - 1,749
Ryan Zimmerman (15, 34) - 1,749
Joey Votto (13, 35) - 1,742
Edwin Encarnacion (15, 36) - 1,723
Hunter Pence (13, 36) - 1,709
Andrew McCutchen (11, 32) - 1,625
Howie Kendrick (14, 35) - 1,617
Justin Upton (12, 31) - 1,604
Evan Longoria (12, 33) - 1,602
Nelson Cruz (15, 38) - 1,590
Elvis Andrus (11, 30) - 1,585
Asdrubal Cabrera (13, 33) - 1,543
Ben Zobrist (14, 38) - 1,540
Brian McCann (15, 35) - 1,526
Shin-Soo Choo (15, 36) - 1,515

Andrus seems like he'd have the best shot out of that group, which isn't to say it's likely.

Going down to guys with 1200+ career hits (Trout is at 1,202), it looks like only he and Altuve (1,441 hits at age 29) seem like good bets. But also Trout seems like a guy who will walk more and more as time goes on, I could see him getting Bonds'd when it comes to 3k.

Castro, Hosmer, and Freeman are all between 1200 and 1500 career hits at 29 years old but I don't know....

It's only of interest to me because of the relative frequency with which players have joined the club in recent decades.

going back there were a few major gaps:

- 17 years between Eddie Collins and Paul Waner

- 16 between Waner and Musial

- 12 between Musial and Aaron

since then the longest break was 7 years between Carew and Yount, but since Yount there have been 15 more players who have joined (in 26 years).

Miggy may suck now, but he'll make it to 3000 with ease. all he has to do is eke out 60 hits a year between now and the end of his contract

i guess it all depends on how much he wants the 3k and how long the Tigers will run him out there regularly...

i suppose, but then he only had 40 last year. i can see him rupturing more things than his biceps in the years to come

the tigers are 9-9 and shane greene has earned the save in all their wins

Cabrera would do well to retire, but if he gets another 100 hits this year, I'd say he makes it with relative ease.

Agree with Andrus on both counts: best bet from the middle group, but not a good one. There are so many relatively anonymous middle infielders who hit ~30 with ~1500 hits; if they haven't had star seasons by that point, they just don't last long enough. (I did mention Andrus on the underrated thread the other day, though.) I've been fooled many times.

I'd say yes to Trout and Altuve, then I think you drop down to Acuna, Albies, and Soto.

Check that, there's also another group nestled between Trout/Altuve and the three young guys: Betts, Lindor, Bogarts, etc. I'm sure at least one of those guys will make a run at 3,000.

Mets are the first NL team in more than 110 years to have three pitchers homer in the first 25 games of a season.

The Cubs are the first team since the Blue Jays in 2010 to hit multiple 2 out, 3 run homers (or better) in the same inning.

nationals are the first team to have three players under 22yo (soto, robles, kieboom) homer in the same game

Congrats on your first @MLB win, Elvis Luciano!

His milestones:
- FIRST player born in the 2000s to get a win
- Youngest pitcher in #BlueJays HISTORY to get a win pic.twitter.com/i9vukirSGg

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) April 28, 2019

alex bregman has drawn a walk in 10 straight games; the last astro to do that was noted moneyball-hater joe morgan in 1970