2005 Flashback III – Last Licks

A few Random lists and stuff:

HR/RBI Efficiency
Most RBI's with fewer than X HR, 2005.

 X Player          Team  HR(Rank)   RBI(Rank)
40 Gary Sheffield  NYY   34(T15)   123(6)
30 Joege Cantu      TB   28(T31)   117(T8)
25 Hideki Matsui   NYY   23(T53)   116(T11)
20 Garret Anderson LAA   17(T98)    96(32)
15 Garrett Atkins  COL   13(T140)   89(T39)
10 Edgar Renteria  BOS    8(T220)   70(T89)
 5 Jason Kendall   OAK    0(T492)   53(T172)

Wait for it...
Bobby Abreu saw 284 more pitches than anyone else (3,159 to Jeter’s 2,875). If you go 284 fewer than Jeter, you'd be in would be 39th place. This is because Abreu led the majors with 4.39 pitches per PA and played in all 162 games. Miguel Tejada also played in 162 games…and saw 669 (21%) fewer pitches (2,490)! Angel Berroa played in 159 games and saw 975 fewer pitches!

Also, oddly, Casey Blake ranked second in pitches per plate appearance with 4.38, but somehow only walked 43 times, compiling a lousy .308 OBP!

Staying on First
Willy Taveras came to the plate 635 times last year and managed only 20 extra-base hits! That's 1 every 32 times up (less than once a week). Historically, believe it or not, both Horace Clark (9 EBH in 602 PA in 1968) and Sandy Alomar, Sr (8 EBH in 504 PA in 1973) actually blow Taveras away here!

Speaking of EBH, Jason Kendall gets another mention for another interesting feat: getting hit by a pitch almost as often as getting an extra-base hit. He was hit 20 times while hitting 29 EBH. Here are the top ten seasons (min 400 AB), with an unsurprising king:

Name         Year  HBP EBH DIFF
Ron Hunt     1971   50  28 -22
Ron Hunt     1973   24  14 -10
Ron Hunt     1972   26  20  -6
Ron Hunt     1968   25  21  -4
Ron Hunt     1974   14  15   1
Ron Hunt     1969   25  29   4
Wally Gerber 1926    3   8   5
Alex Cora    2004   18  23   5
Dave Chalk   1976   10  15   5
Ivy Griffin  1920   11  16   5

And that's about it for 2005. See you on Opening Day...and find out an amazing and Esoteric record the Padres have been building since 1969.

Extra Esoterica
Paul Molitor is the last player to amass more than 100 RBIs with fewer than 10 home runs. He drove in 113 runners with only 9 homers in 1996.