In a piece of heartbreaking news, free agent pitcher Joe Kenndy has passed away. Leaving behind his wife and a young son the day after Thanksgiving, this is a terribly sad turn of events.

Kennedy has a largely nondescript career, primarily starting for below-average teams. One interesting tidbit I found is the list of batters he struck out the most times in his career, which ended much too soon:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  **SO**   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+-------+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Jason Giambi       29  26   4  0  0  1   1   2    11    .154  .241  .269  .510   0   0   0   1   1
 Carlos Delgado     42  36   5  2  0  1   2   5     7    .139  .262  .278  .540   0   0   0   1   2
 Jorge Posada       33  29  12  6  0  0   2   4     7    .414  .485  .621 1.106   0   0   1   0   0
 Alfonso Soriano    31  27   5  0  1  0   2   3     7    .185  .258  .259  .517   0   1   0   0   0
 Eric Hinske        21  21   5  3  0  1   5   0     6    .238  .238  .524  .762   0   0   0   0   0                

He pitched quite effectively against some of the majors' best hitters.

With the death of Josh Hancock earlier this season, that's two active players who passed away this year, and that's simply awful.

Alex Rodriguez has 48 homeruns (so far) this season.  Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batter vs. Pitcher function, we can see that A-Rod has gone yard against 46 different pitchers this year.  The only pitchers that Alex has tagged twice this year are Curt Schilling and Chris Bootcheck.

Bootcheck was in two different games.  But, Rodriguez got Schilling twice, this year, in the same game:  April 20th.

If Alex hits 50 homers this year, he'll become the first right-handed batter in A.L. history to have three 50+ homer seasons.  Considering the unique nature of that mark, it's nice that A-Rod is sharing it with so many different pitchers this season.

David Wells will shortly start his 12th tour of duty with a major league team. That's 2 each with Toronto, New York, and San Diego (putting him in the Jeff Conine club), and one with Detroit, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Chicago (AL), Boston, and now Los Angeles.

I think there is a lot to like about Wells, both as a pitcher and as a candid person who is not afraid to take responsibility or make justifiable accusations about existing problems with MLB. But I have to say, Wells looks quite classless in this article (link via MLBTradeRumors.com.) I don't care what kind of person you are. Replacing another player at his job and then making fun of him while he effectively cleans out his desk is one of the crassest things I have ever heard.

But anyway, this blog is about stats, so let's look at some data about David Wells: Read the rest of this entry »

There is an absolutely fantastic interview with Tim Raines over here at Baseball Prospectus (shout out to the guys over at The Book for pointing it out.) I'll let you read the interview on your own, but I'll use the PI to point out a few of the things that Raines mentions. Read the rest of this entry »

48-year-old Julio Franco was released by Atlanta yesterday to make room for their new acquisitions.

Here's a bit of trivia for you. How many different pitchers do you think Franco has faced in his career?

Really think about it and make a guess before clicking past the jump for the answer.

Read the rest of this entry »

There's a fellow named Rasmussen who has been in the news with regards to the Tour de France, which made me think of former pitcher Dennis Rasmussen (no relation, as far as I know.)

Looking at Dennis Rasmussen's main B-R.com page, did you know that he was twice the "player to be named later" in a trade? Once in a trade for Tommy John, and the other in a trade for John Montefusco.

Just for curiosity, who hit the most homers of Rasmussen?

The answer isTom Brunansky with 5, followed by George Bell with 4, and several guys with 3.

Top OPS vs. Rasmussen, minimum 25 PAs?

The answer is Lloyd McClendon, with a robust 1.408 OPS over 26 PAs (11 hits, 3 2Bs, 2 HRs, 5 RBI in 23 ABs), followed by Larry Herndon at 1.293 and Alan Trammell at 1.217.

And finally, a positive stat: lowest OPS vs. Rasmussen, again minimum 25 PA:

Four guys have OPS under .400:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss

+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Lance Parrish      25  23   2  0  0  0   0   2   7  .087  .160  .087    .247     0   0   0   0   0
 Spike Owen         33  30   3  0  0  0   2   3   7  .100  .182  .100    .282     0   0   0   0   1
 Craig Biggio       32  29   4  0  0  0   0   3   6  .138  .219  .138    .357     0   0   0   0   1
 Alfredo Griffin    38  34   5  0  0  0   1   3   8  .147  .216  .147    .363     1   0   0   0   0

On second thought, maybe Craig Biggio isn't a Hall of Famer (just kidding.)

We know that Alex Rodriguez has a zillion homers this season.  Well, actually, he has 35 - but, at this stage of the season, that seems like a zillion-something.  However, do you know that A-Rod has hit homers off 34 different pitchers this season, to-date?  Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Player Index Batting vs. Pitcher tool, we can see who Alex has taken downtown this year:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B **HR** RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss

+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

 Curt Schilling      9   8   3  1  0    2     4   1   1  .375  .444 1.250 1.694   0   0   0   0   0

 Erik Bedard         6   6   1  0  0    1     2   0   2  .167  .167  .667  .834   0   0   0   0   0

 Joe Blanton         3   2   1  0  0    1     1   1   1  .500  .667 2.000 2.667   0   0   0   0   0

 Boof Bonser         6   5   1  0  0    1     3   1   2  .200  .333  .800 1.133   0   0   1   0   0

 Chris Bootcheck     2   2   1  0  0    1     2   0   0  .500  .500 2.000 2.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Joe Borowski        1   1   1  0  0    1     3   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Ryan Bukvich        2   2   2  0  0    1     5   0   0 1.000 1.000 2.500 3.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Ambiorix Burgos     1   1   1  0  0    1     1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Shawn Camp          5   5   1  0  0    1     2   0   3  .200  .200  .800 1.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Dewon Day           1   1   1  0  0    1     1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Casey Fossum        5   4   3  0  0    1     1   1   0  .750  .800 1.500 2.300   0   0   0   0   0

 Tom Glavine         6   5   1  0  0    1     2   1   0  .200  .333  .800 1.133   0   0   0   0   0

 Brad Hennessey      2   2   2  0  0    1     2   0   0 1.000 1.000 2.500 3.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Livan Hernandez     3   3   2  0  0    1     3   0   1  .667  .667 1.667 2.334   0   0   0   0   0

 Orlando Hernandez   3   1   1  0  0    1     3   1   0 1.000  .667 4.000 4.667   0   1   0   0   0

 Masumi Kuwata       1   1   1  0  0    1     2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Tom Mastny          3   3   1  0  0    1     2   0   2  .333  .333 1.333 1.666   0   0   0   0   0

 Gil Meche           4   4   2  0  0    1     2   0   0  .500  .500 1.250 1.750   0   0   0   0   0

 Jonathan Papelbon   2   2   1  0  0    1     1   0   0  .500  .500 2.000 2.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Sidney Ponson       4   4   1  0  0    1     2   0   0  .250  .250 1.000 1.250   0   0   0   0   0

+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B **HR** RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss

+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+------+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

 Chris Ray           2   2   1  0  0    1     4   0   0  .500  .500 2.000 2.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Chris Resop         1   1   1  0  0    1     3   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Al Reyes            1   1   1  0  0    1     2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Juan Salas          1   1   1  0  0    1     2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Scott Schoeneweis   1   1   1  0  0    1     1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Josh Sharpless      1   1   1  0  0    1     3   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 James Shields       6   5   2  0  0    1     2   1   0  .400  .500 1.000 1.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Josh Towers         4   4   1  0  0    1     2   0   0  .250  .250 1.000 1.250   0   0   0   0   1

 Steve Trachsel      3   3   2  1  0    1     2   0   0  .667  .667 2.000 2.667   0   0   0   0   0

 Tim Wakefield       8   5   2  0  0    1     2   3   2  .400  .625 1.000 1.625   0   0   0   0   0

 Jered Weaver        3   3   1  0  0    1     1   0   1  .333  .333 1.333 1.666   0   0   0   0   0

 Jake Westbrook      2   2   2  0  0    1     3   0   0 1.000 1.000 2.500 3.500   0   0   0   0   0

 Jay Witasick        1   1   1  0  0    1     2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000 5.000   0   0   0   0   0

 Mike Wood           6   4   1  0  0    1     2   0   1  .250  .500 1.000 1.500   0   0   0   2   0

Curt Schilling is the only pitcher to allow more than one homerun to A-Rod this season - again, so far.  It will be interesting to see if Rodriguez continues this trend of hitting homers off different pitchers - just one per customer outside of ol' Red Light - for the remainder of the season.

Bear with me for a little fishing expedition here.

I went looking at Mike Schmidt's batter-vs-pitcher PI page. I thought "Let's see who Michael Jack really beat up on over the years" and sorted it by OPS. Since I didn't set a minimum number of PAs, the top of the list were the 7 guys who Schmidt had just one at-bat against, hitting a homer in each one (he had some walks as well against some guys.) That gives you a 5.000 OPS...a 1.000 OBP plus a 4.000 SLG. It's not a terribly meaningful number as it's based on just one at-bat, but I found it interested that Schmitty victimized 7 different pitchers this way:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Dave Beard          1   1   1  0  0  1   3   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0
 Mike Dupree         1   1   1  0  0  1   2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0
 Ken Holtzman        2   1   1  0  0  1   2   1   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0
 John Littlefield    3   1   1  0  0  1   2   2   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   2   0   0
 Dave Meads          1   1   1  0  0  1   1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0
 Craig Skok          1   1   1  0  0  1   1   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0
 Milt Wilcox         1   1   1  0  0  1   2   0   0 1.000 1.000 4.000   5.000     0   0   0   0   0

It got me to thinking... Read the rest of this entry »

A very nice piece over at The Hardball Times by Richard Barbieri looks at some of the pairs of brothers who have played MLB, with a focus on the Hoffman brothers.

It's true that the Phillies have often been on the shorter end of brother combos in baseball. Aside from the ones mentioned in the article, the Phillies also ended up with Tom Barrett (instead of Marty), Juan Bell (instead of George, who the Phillies lost in the Rule 5 draft to Toronto), Ken Brett (instead of George, although this one is tough since Ken Brett was pretty good hinmself), Tom Delahanty (instead of brother Jim, but of course they did have brother Ed), Ron Roenicke (instead of Gary), Mark Leiter (instead of Al), Rich Surhoff (instead of B.J.), Frank Torre (instead of Joe), and Mack Wheat (instead of Zack).

But the one I remember most...

Read the rest of this entry »

Roger Clemens vs. Current Mets - Baseball-Reference PI

A new feature in the batter vs. pitcher tools now lets you select an opposing roster to face.  Select the opposing team in "vs. current" and then select what you want to sort on and the tool will show you the pitcher or batter vs. the opposition.  We also list the players that the pitcher has yet to face below this list.

In addition, you can now filter the lists on opposition handedness and whether the option is active or is in the Hall of Fame.