The Stinkin' Designated Hitter -- Revisited

[DrungoHazewood]

It's a joke that some teams use players like David Newhan as their DH. How long has it been since the O's had a regular DH worthy of the title? The best thing about the DH is that it allows hitters like Tejada to take a day off without breaking their consecutive games streak.

You can't claim the DH isn't a worthy rule because one team uses it poorly. The White Sox didn't have a decent third baseman through most of the 50s-80s. Does that make third basemen unworthy? The O's are often a bad team, partly because they use the DH slot as a dumping ground for whoever they couldn't exactly find a position for regardless of their hitting ability.

Weren't you one of those arguing how ridiculous it was that Palmeiro won the GG at 1st base with only 29 games played at the position? Eliminate the DH and you wouldn't have that situation -- either Palmeiro is healthy enough to play 1st or he goes on the DL.

Oh, ok, it's not the fault of the voters who didn't care enough to check if Palmerio had actually played first base, it's the fault of the DH rule. Right.

66-70-83-?? has a valid point. If it's OK to tarnish the integrity of the game by allowing teams to garner the benefit of a great pitcher's contribution on the mound without accepting the penalty of his ineptitude at the plate, then it should be OK to garner the benefits of a great defensive catcher or shortstop without accepting the penalty that he couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper bag.

No it's not. Backup catchers don't hit like pitchers. No one outside of high school "hits" like major league pitchers. From 2000-06 pitchers had a .364 OPS. No other position had less than a .722. Every other position was in about a 100 point band from the mid-700s to mid-800s. I was exaggerating when I said "ten times" but pitchers really are orders of magnitude worse than the rest of the league. Actually, in runs created per 550 plate appearances pitchers create 24 runs, while shortstops create 74, so pitchers are three times worse than anyone else.

The AL doesn't really gain that much in return for their corruption of the game with the DH. The average AL team averages 4.96 runs per game, while the average NL team averages 4.76 runs per game. 4 of the top 10 run scoring teams last year were NL teams (despite the alleged superiority of the AL lately) while 2 of the bottom 10 were AL teams (with the Devil Rays ranking 30th). Is 0.2 runs per game worth turning the game upside down and ensuring that the next Babe Ruth gets his hitting stunted early because all the minor leagues use the DH?

That's not the point. Run context depends on a lot of things. Before the advent of the DH the leagues were often separated by as much as a run a game. Talent distribution, park effects, geography, weather, all have an influence, often more than the effect of switching 1/9th of the lineup between an automatic out and a real player.

The real reason for the DH isn't increased offense. It's to get a real batter with real skills in the game to give the manager real options that aren't driven by desperation.

It was one thing when a Guy Hecker could win a batting title as a pitcher. But we're 120 years from that. The game had evolved and developed over time to the point where pitchers looked ridiculous trying to hit. The DH addressed that.

For someone who's so adept with statistics, you use them very carelessly.

I have to shut this laptop down and get to my meeting, or I'd address your arguments in more depth.

I was wondering why you only responded with six paragraphs.

[Migrant Redbird]

I was wondering why you only responded with six paragraphs.

Lack of time is still an issue today.

[Migrant Redbird]

For another data point in refutation of Jon's contention that pitchers are no better than high school hitters, let me offer the following comment from a blog at Viva el Birdos.

i don't believe any of this is going to happen; not for a moment. but it's not even memorial day, and i'm not quite ready to turn my back on this season --- however much the team might deserve it. how remote are the chances of a renaissance? let me frame it like this. after 41 games, the cardinal pitchers are slugging nearly as well as the center and rightfielders --- the respective slugging averages are .258, .270, and .274 --- and are not far behind the 2bmen and shortstops, who are at .285 and .292. if we look at isolated power (ie, slugging average minus batting average), the pitchers (at .091) are better than all four of those positions, plus the catchers. position by position, the pitchers are the 4th most potent power source on the team.

Several of the Cardinals regular position players are off to historically poor starts at the plate, but that's all it took for the pitching staff to match them.

Of course, we're still talking about a relatively small sample, and I don't expect the pitchers to compare that well with the position players by the end of the season. At least, I sure hope not!

[DrungoHazewood]

For another data point in refutation of Jon's contention that pitchers are no better than high school hitters, let me offer the following comment from a blog at Viva el Birdos.

Several of the Cardinals regular position players are off to historically poor starts at the plate, but that's all it took for the pitching staff to match them.

Of course, we're still talking about a relatively small sample, and I don't expect the pitchers to compare that well with the position players by the end of the season. At least, I sure hope not!

Your argument is that historically awful performances from other positions makes them similar hitters to pitchers, so the DH is silly? I don't think that's the strongest argument.

Look at the last 20 years of pitchers hitting and they're still orders of magnitude worse than any other position. Over thousands of plate appearances they're 400 OPS points worse than shortstops or catchers. Even using your data, an .091 isolated power is terrible. That's in the neighborhood of Bill Ripken's career ISO, and he could occasionally hit a ball over the 309 sign at Memorial Stadium if the wind was blowing out.

[Migrant Redbird]

Jon Wilt made some very good points recently in the NL Baseball is Awful thread, but I thought that I'd bring them up in this older thread and tie the two threads together in light of some articles about pitcher turned first baseman, Tim Dorn, which I recently read.

QCTimes

TIM Dorn bristled when a coach in the Mariners system suggested that he might have “lost’’ his swing during a short stint on the mound as a Seattle farmhand.

“That was all the motivation I needed,’’ the Swing of the Quad-Cities first baseman said. “My bat had always been a big part of my game. I knew it wasn’t lost.’’

.... Although he never had pitched competitively in a game, the Mariners were impressed enough with Dorn’s potential after watching him throw a bullpen session to draft him in the 14th round in 2003 as a pitcher.

“Even though I hadn’t pitched, they said they felt I had a chance to get to the big leagues in three-to-four years. That sounded OK,’’ Dorn said.

He toiled two years with Seattle’s affiliate in the Arizona Rookie League, going 0-0 with a 6.83 ERA in 19 appearances before being released during spring training in 2005.

“I talked with them about going back to first base, but one of the coaches said I had probably lost my swing since I hadn’t worked at it for a couple of years,’’ Dorn said. “On the five-hour drive home from Arizona to Los Angeles, I decided to prove them wrong.’’

Dorn sat out the entire 2005 season, working out on his own to prepare for a return to the game.

QCTimes

Dorn, a former pitcher who has resurrected his career as a first baseman, was hitting .344 for the Southern Illinois Miners of the independent Frontier League through 31 games this season.

The 24-year-old also slugged 12 home runs and drove in 34 runs with the Miners, adding 32 runs scored in just his second season as a position player.

Dorn, a 6-foot-8, 245-pounder, spent 2006 with the Pensacola Pelicans of the independent American Association, batting .327 with 10 homers, 43 RBIs and 24 doubles.

The Southern

Already a popular player because he hit the franchise's first home run, Dorn etched another historic place for himself with the team as he became the first Miner to get called up by a major league team. The St. Louis Cardinals called Miners general manager Tim Arseneau just after noon Sunday asking for the Monrovia, Calif., native. Dorn, 24, leaves today for Davenport, Iowa, and the Cardinals' Class A affiliate in the Midwest League.

About 40 minutes after he signed for every autograph hound that came his way in Marion, the 6-foot-8 first baseman said he was still at a loss for words.

"It's overwhelming to see everybody there just to get my autograph. I'm still in the minor leagues, but when I get to the big leagues, I'll be happy to sign a million autographs," Dorn said. "Albert Pujols, I'm coming to get your job, buddy."

QCTimes

The 6-foot-8, 245-pound Dorn is making a sizeable impression as a newcomer to the Cardinals organization.

After going hitless in his Quad-City debut June 26, Dorn has collected at least one hit in each Swing game. He also belted his first home from for Quad-Cities on Monday against Wisconsin, the Midwest League’s Mariners affiliate.

Dorn is only at the lower A level, so he's a long way from actually threatening to take Albert Pujols's job. Too bad Tim's first name isn't Roger; maybe we could move him to 3rd base?

Now, getting back to Jon's post. As I said, Jon made some very good points, but just because they're good doesn't make them necessarily correct.

The reason pitchers are bad hitters is that pitching at a major league level is very difficult, and hitting at a major league level is very difficult. You have to do one or the other very well to be a major league player, so players are selected (scouted, drafted, signed) on the basis of them doing that one thing extremely well.

The primary qualification for becoming an elite athlete in any sport is being gifted with a high degree of athletic talent. By that, I mean acute vision, the ability to control one's muscles with a high degree of precision, and excellent hand-eye coordination. In addition, one needs a robust physique, nearly ideal body proportions, strong muscles with the right proportion of fast twitch/slow twitch cells (or the genetic capability to develop them), stamina, and the mental discipline to develop one's talents to achieve peak potential.

Some of these aspects of athletic talent are more critical than others, especially in specific sports. For example, it's highly unlikely that any 5'4" center will ever lead the NBA in rebounding, just as it's unlikely that a string bean like Randy Johnson could have ever played as an NFL lineman. But within the extremes, there is a high degree of overlap in the athletic talents required to excel in any sport.

Foremost among these is fine muscle control. That's the ability to control one's muscles repeatedly with an extremely high degree of precision. It's the ability which allows a basketball free throw shooter to make one hundred baskets in a row, or a bowler to throw twelve strikes in succession, or a pool player to run the table three hundred balls in a row, or a pitcher to place a curve ball an inch outside the lower outside corner of the strike zone whenever he needs to do it, or a batter to swing the bat on the precise plane necessary to strike the ball squarely so that he doesn't pop the ball up or pound it into the ground weakly.

Another ability which is critical in many sports is hand-eye coordination -- the ability to control the timing and direction of the forces exerted by one's muscles in synchronization with the visual information being processed by the brain. This is one ability which is probably more critical for a hitter than it is for a pitcher -- the pitcher only needs to coordinate his delivery sufficiently to propel the ball in the general direction of the strike zone and there are cases of pitchers who were successful despite not having acute vision. Timing is critical to a pitcher's coordination of the forces exerted by all his body's muscles and control of pitch location is a vital factor in any pitcher's success, but it is the hitter who needs to time his swing in coordination with the pitcher's delivery and not the other way around, while a pitcher's control problems have more to do with his fine muscle control than they do with his ability to locate the strike zone precisely.

Pitching and hitting are different skill sets. One does not relate to the other. The chances of one person being in the top 1/10000th of one percent of the population in two radically different skills is like winning the lottery. It would be like finding someone who can not only run the 100m dash in 9.8 seconds, but can also kick 65-yard field goals.

An interesting analogy, but I don't believe it's completely valid, and I believe there's a lot more correlation between the athletic talents necessary to develop pitching and hitting skill sets than Jon recognizes. Running a 100m dash quickly and kicking long field goals both require similar athletic capabilities: A high percentage of fast twitch muscle cells (for rapid acceleration), strong leg muscles, good body proportions, and fine muscle control through a complex series of leg movements. Neither sport requires anywhere near the degree of hand eye coordination that hitting a baseball does, but they are somewhat similar to each other in that regard. The kicker only repeats his series of leg movements a few dozen times each game (counting sideline practice) while the sprinter repeats his stride multiple times each second, but both of them require exceedingly fine and repeatable muscle control in order to achieve the maximum level of performance.

Yes, the top echelon of sprinters have a more ideal ratio of fast twitch muscles and a more perfect proportioning of limbs which allows them with the proper training to achieve levels of performance which are out of reach for 99 percent of the human population, but that's probably also true to a large degree of baseball sluggers with the ability to drive a baseball 500 feet or further. Only a small fraction of major league baseball players possess that ideal genetic combination to hit monster home runs, and that is never enough unless they also develop their fine muscle skills and hand-eye coordination to the point that they can make contact with a baseball with some degree of frequency.

It's the same thing with pitchers. Only a small fraction have the physical attributes to propel a baseball towards the plate in the upper nineties, but pitchers like Jamie Moyer prove every game that precise fine muscle control is more important than absolute velocity. And that's a capability which is equally necessary for hitting a baseball successfully. More importantly, it's a skill which can be developed through lots of properly organized practice. Yes, some players have greater potential than others, but the relatively low success rates of drafted players indicate that baseball teams have difficulty predicting which players are capable of achieving the necessary level for success in the major leagues.

And even if one found someone with both skills, the amount of practice necessary to hone each one means that you'll rarely, if ever, find someone who can continue to do both well at a high professional level.

I believe the athletic talent necessary to develop the skill sets has a great deal of overlap, but Jon is correct that it requires a great deal of practice to hone those skills. That, in my opinion, is a major factor which limits the overlap between baseball players with both good pitching skills and good hitting skills. However, there remains a great deal of overlap which Jon and others simply refuse to acknowledge.

In the "NL is awful" thread, I compiled a list of somewhat comparable at bats between NL starting pitchers between 2000 and 2006 and Orioles position players between 2002 and June 2007. I used those ranges because they corresponded to the availability of sortable statistics by pitchers for seasons and by monthly splits for the position players. I used monthly splits for position players and seasonal statistics for starting pitchers because those were the only reasonably similar size samples available. I arbitrarily chose pitchers' seasons consisting of 40 at bats or more because I wanted to be sure that I was getting starting pitchers with relatively full seasons, but I used all the monthly splits for Orioles position players including splits consisting of just a single at bat in the month. However, it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of position player monthly splits were greater than the seasonal cutoff of 40 at bats used for pitchers. In addition, monthly splits for position players were usually between 80-110 at bats, with a peak of 124, whereas pitchers' at bats were mostly in the 50-80 range with a top of 88 at bats. Thus, in addition to the 5 day gap between pitchers getting at bats, they usually got only about 2/3 as many at bats in a season as a position player got each month.

Within my criteria, I compiled a data base of 360 pitchers' seasons and 385 position players' monthly splits. I probably should have excluded the very lowest sample sizes for hitters (below 10 or 20 at bats), but I didn't.

The median OPS for position players was .752, with only 5 pitchers putting up seasons with an OPS above that level: Hampton (twice), Wolff, Marquis, Carlos Zambrano. The overall median OPS was .565, with 41 pitchers above that level and 54 hitters below it. The median OPS for pitchers was .374, with 16 hitters' splits falling below that level: Castillo 7 times, Bako 6 times, Bynum, Gibbons, and Roberts once each. Of those 16 hitters' splits below the pitchers' median, half were 5 or fewer at bats and the others were 11, 15, 19, 21 (twice), 23, 29, and 45 at bats.

I was forced to place the table into a separate post because of the size limit. In the post below is a table with a subset of the total range which contained an equal number of position players and pitchers. Above the selected range, there are 265 position players and just 15 pitchers; below the selected range, there are 243 pitchers and only 20 hitters. But within the range below, between an OPS of .437 and .667, are 100 position players and 100 pitchers.

What I'm attempting to illustrate, realizing that I may not succeed, is that there is a greater overlap of pitchers having good seasons at the plate and position players having a bad month at the plate than most fans realize.

A lot of it is about perception. NL fans watch pitchers hit all the time, so we understand the degree to which a pitcher can be dangerous at the plate. We've seen it far too many times -- where our team wants to get out of an inning unscathed with the pitcher at the plate and it doesn't happen, either because the pitcher bloops a single over the second baseman's head or because our own pitcher tries to pitch the opposing pitcher too fine and ends up walking him. Yes, we groan when our pitcher comes to the plate in a critical situation, but we also groan as well when an Adam Everett or an Adam Kennedy comes to the plate, because we don't perceive that there is that much difference between having a pitcher at the plate and a weak hitting position player in the midst of a slump.

Back to Jon's comments.

Baseball has gotten harder over time as training has improved, scouting has gotten more organized, systems have developed to find and identify the best players at a young age and funnel them into the majors, and the population has exploded. In 1880 the game was significantly easier, so you had pitchers like Guy Hecker win batting titles.

I'm not convinced that the game was that much easier. I'm assuming that you're referring to Hecker's 1886 season when he hit .341, since Baseball Reference shows 1882 as his first season? I also assume that this was back in the days when your relief pitcher had to be playing somewhere else on the field because substitutions for the starting 9 players weren't allowed (at least, not without permission of the opposition). For that reason, pitchers got a lot more at bats than they do today (Hecker had 343 at bats that year) and good hitting pitchers had adequate opportunity to keep their batting skills from getting rusty.

There have been numerous examples over the years where pitchers have played positions and position players have pitched, e.g., Jose DeLeon and Jose Oquendo in 1988, Cody McKay in 2004, Scott Spiezio this year Rarely have they converted from pitching to position player or vice versa successfully (as Babe Ruth did and Rick Ankiel seems to be doing), but I would argue that's largely because the switch comes too late in their careers. Ankiel is 27 and he had fewer than 500 at bats as a professional ballplayer at all levels entering this season; that's a huge experience gap to overcome.

[Migrant Redbird]

Here is the table of 200 players, 100 starting pitcher seasons and 100 Orioles position player monthly splits, which was too long to fit within the post above. Pitchers can be distinguished from pitchers because the year is shown in the split column, whereas the month and year is shown for the position players.

 PLAYER      SPLIT  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO  BA   OBP  SLG   OPSMarkakis    May-06  71  8 18  4  1  0   8  0  0  8 10 .254 .329 .338  .667Castillo    Jul-05  22  4  5  1  0  0   2  0  0  6  4 .227 .393 .273  .666Gomez       Aug-06   6  2  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0 .333 .333 .333  .666Patterson   Apr-07  80  8 19  6  0  1   9  5  1  7 12 .238 .315 .350  .665Gibbons     May-07  63  7 15  3  0  2   4  0  0  3 16 .238 .284 .381  .665Payton      Apr-05  34  3  8  0  0  2  10  0  0  1  4 .235 .250 .412  .662Bako        Jun-06  27  2  7  1  0  0   2  0  0  5  7 .259 .364 .296  .660Gibbons     Jun-05  81  7 20  6  0  2   9  0  0  2  6 .247 .265 .395  .660Huff        Apr-07  98  9 23  5  1  3  13  0  0  4 19 .235 .262 .398  .660Gomez       Sep-05  42  4 10  2  0  0   2  0  0  9  2 .238 .373 .286  .659Suppan       2003   41  3 12  1  0  0   2  0  0  2 11 .293 .341 .317  .658Oliver       2003   65  6 17  3  0  1   8  0  0  3 17 .262 .304 .354  .658Roberts     Jun-07  69  8 19  4  0  0   0  4  1  5  6 .275 .324 .333  .657Bynum       Aug-06  28  4  7  3  0  0   1  1  2  2  8 .250 .300 .357  .657Bako        May-02  54  8 14  1  0  1   3  0  1  5 14 .259 .322 .333  .655Backe        2005   43  5 10  2  2  0   6  1  0  3 12 .233 .283 .372  .655Gibbons     Aug-04  61  3 14  3  0  2   7  0  0  4 13 .230 .277 .377  .654Huff        Apr-06  22  4  4  0  1  0   1  0  0  7  4 .182 .379 .273  .652Mora        May-07  97 16 23  6  0  2   9  3  1  8 13 .237 .290 .361  .651Millar      Apr-06  69 12 14  5  0  2  10  0  0  6  9 .203 .286 .362  .648Millar      Jun-07  44  3  9  4  0  0   5  0  0 10  9 .205 .352 .295  .647Gomez       Jun-02  80  9 18  3  1  2   5  0  1  5  9 .225 .284 .363  .647Roberts     Jun-04 106 20 25  6  0  1  14  4  2 15 18 .236 .325 .321  .646Willis       2005   86 13 23  4  0  1  11  0  0  3 12 .267 .297 .349  .646Mora        Jul-02 100 11 23  3  1  2  14  1  0  5 18 .230 .304 .340  .644Patterson   Sep-04 116 13 23  5  1  5  12  6  2  8 42 .198 .256 .388  .644Patterson   Jul-06  91 11 25  4  0  1   6  4  1  1 21 .275 .290 .352  .642Rusch        2002   65  6 19  0  0  1   8  0  0  1 23 .292 .303 .338  .641Millar      Apr-04  78  7 17  4  0  2   7  0  1  6 16 .218 .295 .346  .641Mora        Aug-05 103  9 24  2  1  3  12  0  1  6 16 .233 .282 .359  .641Huff        May-07 102  7 27  5  0  1  11  0  0  5 19 .265 .296 .343  .639Gibbons     May-02  85  8 17  7  0  2  10  0  1 11 11 .200 .286 .353  .639Zambrano     2003   75  9 18  5  0  2   6  0  0  1 26 .240 .250 .387  .637Patterson   May-02 100 14 26  3  1  1   7  4  0  3 19 .260 .296 .340  .636Bako        May-05  20  0  4  1  0  0   2  0  0  6  8 .200 .385 .250  .635Prior        2003   70  6 18  4  0  1   6  0  0  2 25 .257 .278 .357  .635Bako        Sep-04  27  6  6  1  0  0   3  0  0  7  4 .222 .371 .259  .630Castillo    Jun-05  31  3  8  2  0  0   6  0  0  2  5 .258 .303 .323  .626Roberts     Aug-03 123 12 30  4  0  2   9  3  2 10 18 .244 .301 .325  .626Hernandez    2004   81  2 20  7  0  1  10  0  0  1  8 .247 .256 .370  .626Bako        Apr-07  45  4 10  1  0  1   5  0  0  5 12 .222 .314 .311  .625Payton      Sep-05 107 11 27  5  0  1   7  0  1  7 10 .252 .298 .327  .625Roberts     May-04  98 15 23  7  0  0   6 11  1 11  9 .235 .318 .306  .624Mora        Jun-06 109 15 27  3  0  1  10  4  0  8 21 .248 .320 .303  .623Neagle       2002   45  5 12  4  0  0   1  0  0  0 11 .267 .267 .356  .622Bohanon      2000   52  6 11  3  0  2  11  0  0  2 14 .212 .236 .385  .621Hernandez    2005   82  7 20  2  1  2   7  0  0  0  8 .244 .253 .366  .619Tomko        2003   61  3 17  1  0  0   9  0  1  4 15 .279 .323 .295  .618Hernandez   May-03  83  7 17  4  0  3   9  0  0  5 13 .205 .256 .361  .617Bako        Jul-02  50  5 12  1  0  1   3  0  0  4  8 .240 .296 .320  .616Gomez       Sep-02  56  4 14  1  2  0   6  0  0  1 12 .250 .276 .339  .615Payton      May-05  50 13 11  2  0  1   7  0  0  5  4 .220 .291 .320  .611Gibbons     Sep-03 102 10 25  3  0  2  10  0  0  5 13 .245 .278 .333  .611Bako        Apr-02  29  0  7  1  0  0   1  0  0  4  2 .241 .333 .276  .609Neagle       2001   56  6 11  4  0  2   9  0  0  2 12 .196 .233 .375  .608Bako        Aug-04  28  5  6  2  0  1   3  0  0  0  6 .214 .214 .393  .607Willis       2003   58  2 14  2  0  1   4  0  0  3  8 .241 .279 .328  .606Mora        May-02 104 13 23  6  0  2   8  4  1  5 13 .221 .268 .337  .605Gomez       May-04  83  9 21  1  1  0   4  1  0  7  8 .253 .315 .289  .604Payton      Apr-02  82 13 17  1  1  2   6  1  0  9 12 .207 .286 .317  .603Payton      Apr-07  35  6  9  1  0  0   1  0  0  3  2 .257 .316 .286  .602Eaton        2004   62  9 13  7  0  0   7  2  0  5 15 .210 .279 .323  .602Millar      May-05  98  7 22  4  0  2  11  0  0  6 16 .224 .274 .327  .601Castillo    Sep-04  31  3  7  1  0  0   6  0  0  6  7 .226 .342 .258  .600Markakis    Sep-06 116 11 26  5  0  2   7  0  0  9 15 .224 .280 .319  .599Castillo    Apr-05  21  4  4  1  0  1   3  1  0  1  8 .190 .217 .381  .598Gomez       Apr-06  19  4  5  0  0  0   1  0  0  1  3 .263 .333 .263  .596Hernandez   Apr-04  69  5 15  1  0  1  12  1  0 10  5 .217 .321 .275  .596Hampton      2003   60  6 11  2  1  2   8  0  0  5 13 .183 .246 .350  .596Hampton      2000   72  6 20  0  0  0   8  0  1  5 19 .278 .316 .278  .594Park         2000   70  6 15  4  0  2   6  0  0  2 16 .214 .236 .357  .593Huff        Apr-04  68  8 13  1  0  3   7  0  0  6  9 .191 .253 .338  .591Huff        May-05  97  6 20  4  1  1  13  3  2 12 13 .206 .291 .299  .590Zambrano     2006   69  9 11  0  0  6  11  1  0  1 25 .159 .169 .420  .589Bynum       Apr-06  17  2  4  0  1  0   1  0  0  0  7 .235 .235 .353  .588Bako        Jul-03  27  4  5  3  0  0   2  0  0  3 10 .185 .290 .296  .586Gomez       Jul-06   8  0  2  0  0  0   2  0  0  1  0 .250 .333 .250  .583Payton      Aug-04  36  4  6  1  1  1   2  0  0  4  9 .167 .250 .333  .583Eaton        2003   51  4  9  2  0  2   3  0  0  4 22 .176 .250 .333  .583Hernandez   Jul-05  50  1 12  4  0  0   5  0  0  2  5 .240 .259 .320  .579Mora        Aug-06  99 12 22  3  0  1  15  1  1 11 16 .222 .295 .283  .578Vazquez      2001   62  5 16  2  0  0   1  0  0  2 11 .258 .288 .290  .578Gomez       Aug-04  54  3 14  2  0  0   5  1  1  1  8 .259 .281 .296  .577Hernandez   Sep-02  67  7 14  4  0  1   7  0  0  4 13 .209 .264 .313  .577Hernandez    2002   62  6 15  4  1  0   6  0  0  0  9 .242 .238 .339  .577Jennings     2004   67  3 15  4  0  1   6  0  0  2 16 .224 .246 .328  .575Vazquez      2005   63  2 15  1  0  1   2  0  0  3 10 .238 .273 .302  .574Patterson   Jul-03  17  1  4  1  0  0   0  1  1  1  3 .235 .278 .294  .572Patterson   Jul-04 102 13 23  5  1  1   8  5  0  3 32 .225 .248 .324  .572Bako        Aug-06  37  2  9  1  0  0   1  0  0  3 11 .243 .300 .270  .570Glavine      2004   53  5 11  2  0  0   8  0  0  9 10 .208 .323 .245  .568Wright       2006   46  4 12  2  0  0   1  0  0  0 10 .261 .261 .304  .565Willis       2006   63  8 10  0  1  3  10  0  0  6 13 .159 .232 .333  .565Patterson   Sep-02  81 11 18  5  0  1   3  1  0  1 23 .222 .241 .321  .562Markakis    Apr-06  66  8 12  1  0  2   5  0  0  7 16 .182 .270 .288  .558Hernandez   Jun-07  19  1  3  1  0  1   5  0  0  1  5 .158 .190 .368  .558Lawrence     2003   67  7 15  2  0  1   5  0  0  3 18 .224 .257 .299  .556Hernandez    2000   88  6 21  3  0  1   9  0  0  1 13 .239 .247 .307  .554Gibbons     Aug-02  91  6 15  3  0  4   7  0  1  6  6 .165 .224 .330  .554Estes        2004   72 12 17  3  1  0   2  0  0  1 11 .236 .247 .306  .552Milton       2006   48  7 10  3  1  0   3  0  0  2 24 .208 .235 .313  .548Hampton      2004   61  5 11  3  0  2   7  0  0  3 21 .180 .219 .328  .547Castillo    May-02  11  1  3  0  0  0   1  0  0  0  5 .273 .273 .273  .546Hernandez   Apr-02  69  8 13  3  0  2   7  0  0  4 11 .188 .227 .319  .546Zambrano     2004   70  8 16  1  0  1   5  0  0  3 29 .229 .257 .286  .542Gibbons     Apr-07  76  6 15  5  0  1   8  0  0  4 12 .197 .238 .303  .541Suppan       2005   58  5 12  2  0  1   5  0  0  3  9 .207 .246 .293  .539Pavano       2004   68  4 13  3  0  2   6  0  0  1 24 .191 .214 .324  .538Estes        2000   68  4 14  4  0  1  10  0  0  2 28 .206 .229 .309  .537Wolf         2003   70  9 14  6  0  0  11  0  0  5 22 .200 .250 .286  .536Jennings     2003   53  3 11  3  0  0   3  0  0  5 16 .208 .271 .264  .535Hernandez    2006   65  6 13  5  0  1   5  0  0  1  6 .200 .212 .323  .535Patterson   Jul-02  90  8 18  3  0  2   8  0  1  2 32 .200 .232 .300  .532Suppan       2006   55  4 12  1  0  0   6  0  1  5 11 .218 .295 .236  .531Prior        2005   48  5 11  2  0  0   3  0  0  2 14 .229 .260 .271  .531Huff        May-06  80  7 14  2  0  2   8  0  0  9  8 .175 .256 .275  .531Ortiz        2001   67  6 13  6  0  0   6  0  0  5 19 .194 .247 .284  .530Dreifort     2000   68  5 11  3  0  3   8  0  0  1 25 .162 .186 .338  .524Clemens      2005   58  2 12  2  0  0   4  0  0  5 18 .207 .281 .241  .523Payton      Jul-04  81  7 16  2  0  1  12  1  0  8 14 .198 .264 .259  .523Castillo    May-05  24  2  4  1  1  0   3  0  0  2  4 .167 .231 .292  .523Jarvis       2001   60  8 11  3  0  1  10  0  1  4 19 .183 .239 .283  .522Ortiz        2000   61  7 12  2  0  0   5  0  0  8 16 .197 .290 .230  .519Hernandez   Jun-05  56  2 12  2  0  1   4  0  0  0  7 .214 .214 .304  .518Dessens      2003   45  1  9  1  1  0   6  0  0  3 10 .200 .250 .267  .517Tejada      Apr-03 112 11 18  2  0  4  13  1  0  7 18 .161 .230 .286  .516Vazquez      2000   65  4 15  2  0  0   1  0  0  2 15 .231 .254 .262  .515Weaver       2005   69  5 16  2  0  0   7  0  0  2 18 .232 .254 .261  .514Millwood     2002   70  5 14  5  0  1  11  0  0  0 27 .200 .200 .314  .514Gomez       Aug-03  21  0  4  2  0  0   2  0  0  1  1 .190 .227 .286  .513Pettitte     2006   60  4 12  3  0  1   5  0  0  1 18 .200 .213 .300  .513Patterson   May-07  91 12 19  5  0  0   7  6  1  4 14 .209 .247 .264  .511Morris       2003   52  5 10  2  0  1   3  0  0  2 16 .192 .222 .288  .511Simontacchi  2002   50  5 12  0  0  0   2  0  0  2 15 .240 .269 .240  .509Gomez       Jun-05  78  7 17  2  0  0   3  1  0  4  5 .218 .265 .244  .509Daal         2001   55  7 13  1  0  0   5  0  0  1 10 .236 .250 .255  .505Castillo    Apr-07  23  3  4  2  0  0   1  0  0  2  8 .174 .240 .261  .501Valdez       2004   52  6 10  4  0  0   5  0  0  3 13 .192 .232 .269  .501Myers        2004   51  6 10  4  0  0   1  0  0  2 17 .196 .226 .275  .501Gomez       Jun-07  22  1  5  1  0  0   3  1  0  0  0 .227 .227 .273  .500Castillo    Jun-02  14  2  2  1  1  0   3  0  0  0  4 .143 .143 .357  .500Hernandez   May-02  69  4 14  1  0  1   8  0  0  3 10 .203 .236 .261  .497Ramirez      2005   72  4 16  3  0  0   2  0  0  1 17 .222 .233 .264  .497Lieber       2000   82  2 18  4  0  0   4  0  0  1 28 .220 .229 .268  .497Weaver       2004   70  3 15  2  1  0   2  0  0  1 26 .214 .225 .271  .497Peavy        2006   60  6 10  3  0  2   9  0  0  1 19 .167 .180 .317  .497Estes        2003   39  4  7  1  0  1   3  0  0  2 17 .179 .214 .282  .496Tapani       2001   50  1 12  0  0  0   2  0  0  1 14 .240 .255 .240  .495Beckett      2005   59  5  9  3  0  1   6  0  0  7 17 .153 .239 .254  .493Gomez       Jul-03  64  4 14  1  1  0   7  1  0  1  5 .219 .227 .266  .493Ritchie      2000   60  4 13  2  0  0   2  0  0  2 22 .217 .242 .250  .492Redding      2003   50  4 10  3  0  0   2  0  0  2 19 .200 .231 .260  .491Williams     2001   81 11 16  5  0  0   7  0  0  3 21 .198 .230 .259  .489Schilling    2000   61  2 13  3  0  0   4  0  1  1 15 .213 .226 .262  .488Tapani       2000   56  3 10  2  0  1   4  0  1  3 20 .179 .220 .268  .488Bako        May-03  29  2  5  1  0  0   1  0  0  4  6 .172 .273 .207  .480Mora        Sep-02  73  5 10  2  1  1   5  1  1 10 17 .137 .247 .233  .480Morris       2006   60  2 12  4  0  0   6  0  0  1 21 .200 .213 .267  .480Hernandez   Jul-06  80  7 15  4  0  0   7  0  0  4 14 .188 .241 .238  .479Gibbons     Jun-07  33  3  5  3  0  0   1  0  0  3  7 .152 .237 .242  .479Sanchez      2000   56  4 13  0  0  0   4  0  0  1 15 .232 .246 .232  .478Benson       2005   49  4  9  1  0  0   6  0  0  5 22 .184 .273 .204  .477Payton      Apr-06  65  9 14  3  0  0   2  0  1  0  8 .215 .215 .262  .477Stephenson   2003   44  0  9  0  0  0   2  0  0  3 18 .205 .271 .205  .475Willis       2004   66  5 12  2  0  1   3  0  0  3 14 .182 .217 .258  .475Patterson   Sep-05  70  4 12  4  0  1   5  1  2  3 18 .171 .203 .271  .474Patterson   Aug-05  60  7 10  1  1  1   4  2  0  3 15 .167 .206 .267  .473Duckworth    2002   48  3  9  1  0  0   4  0  0  5 11 .188 .264 .208  .472Yoshii       2000   50  4  9  1  0  1   8  1  0  2 13 .180 .212 .260  .472Williams     2004   58  3 11  4  0  0   2  0  0  1 20 .190 .210 .259  .468Wells        2002   62  4 12  2  0  1   5  0  0  0 27 .194 .194 .274  .468Lidle        2004   62  3  9  4  0  1   6  0  0  5 36 .145 .209 .258  .467Peavy        2005   53  5 10  1  0  0   2  0  0  4 16 .189 .259 .208  .466Schmidt      2001   49  5  8  0  0  2   4  0  0  1 22 .163 .180 .286  .466Roberts     May-02  28  7  5  1  0  0   2  2  0  3  2 .179 .250 .214  .464Bako        Aug-02  39  5  6  3  0  0   2  0  0  4  6 .154 .233 .231  .464Williams     2006   53  3 11  1  0  0   4  0  0  2 13 .208 .236 .226  .463Rueter       2000   60  4 12  3  0  0   5  0  0  1 11 .200 .213 .250  .463Thomson      2002   52  4 11  0  0  0   3  0  0  3 19 .212 .250 .212  .462Padilla      2005   41  2  6  1  1  0   4  0  0  5 24 .146 .239 .220  .459Batista      2002   51  5  8  2  0  1   2  0  0  3 28 .157 .204 .255  .459Wolf         2000   57  5 11  2  0  0   4  0  0  3 19 .193 .230 .228  .458Patterson   Jun-05 102  9 16  4  1  1   5  6  0  7 33 .157 .211 .245  .456Wood         2003   61  4 10  1  0  2   6  0  0  1 26 .164 .177 .279  .456Glavine      2006   53  6  9  1  0  0   2  0  0  7 18 .170 .267 .189  .455Maddux       2000   80  2 15  2  1  0   5  0  1  2 19 .188 .217 .238  .454Milton       2005   56  7  8  1  0  2   4  0  0  3 25 .143 .186 .268  .454Dessens      2001   56  3 11  1  0  0   2  0  0  3 11 .196 .237 .214  .452Wolf         2002   58  6  8  4  0  1   4  0  0  4 23 .138 .194 .259  .452Bere         2001   62  2 12  4  0  0   2  0  0  0 18 .194 .194 .258  .452Burnett      2005   68  3 10  2  2  1   2  0  0  1 34 .147 .171 .279  .451Gagne        2001   44  3  6  2  1  1   2  0  1  1 13 .136 .156 .295  .451Dessens      2002   45  0  9  0  0  0   5  0  0  3 11 .200 .250 .200  .450Perez        2002   64  5 10  5  0  1   4  0  0  1 13 .156 .169 .281  .450Patterson   Jul-05  18  0  3  0  1  0   0  0  1  0  7 .167 .167 .278  .445Wright       2001   66  7 13  1  0  0   4  0  0  3 19 .197 .232 .212  .444Bako        Jun-03  33  1  5  3  0  0   0  0  0  2  5 .152 .200 .242  .442Trachsel     2006   50  4  7  1  0  1   2  0  0  4 13 .140 .218 .220  .438Duke         2006   68  2 13  3  0  0   7  0  0  1 32 .191 .203 .235  .438Bako        Sep-02  32  2  6  2  0  0   3  0  1  0  8 .188 .188 .250  .438Trachsel     2003   58  3 11  2  0  0   4  0  0  2 16 .190 .213 .224  .437