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August 13, 2007

Lead-Off Catchers

Filed under: Game Finders — Sky @ 12:48 pm

Motivated by a discussion forum question, here’s a list of most games in a season (since 1957) by a player who started the game batting lead-off and played catcher at some point.

Jason Kendall 2004 119 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2006 90 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2005 75 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2001 52 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2002 51 Ind. Games
Paul Lo Duca 2001 32 Ind. Games
Butch Wynegar 1980 29 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2003 19 Ind. Games
Johnny Oates 1973 17 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2000 17 Ind. Games
Craig Biggio 1989 17 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 1999 15 Ind. Games
Butch Wynegar 1979 14 Ind. Games
Craig Biggio 1991 14 Ind. Games
Ivan Rodriguez 2007 12 Ind. Games
Charlie Moore 1980 10 Ind. Games
Charlie Moore 1981 9 Ind. Games
Tim McCarver 1972 9 Ind. Games
Jason Kendall 2007 8 Ind. Games
Brad Ausmus 1999 8 Ind. Games

I posted the list 20 spots deep so I could point out that Brad Ausmus was at one point a productive hitter. During 1999, when Larry Parrish batted him at the top of the order, Ausmus posted a .365 OBP. (That was also the last year he slugged higher than .365.)

Click on More for a list of 3B and DH lead-off hitters.

Third Basemen:

Pete Rose         1977   159 Ind. Games
Pete Rose         1976   156 Ind. Games
Pete Rose         1978   156 Ind. Games
Paul Molitor      1982   150 Ind. Games
Eddie Yost        1959   144 Ind. Games
Eddie Yost        1960   138 Ind. Games
Pete Rose         1975   137 Ind. Games
Paul Molitor      1983   135 Ind. Games
Jim Gilliam       1959   130 Ind. Games
Wade Boggs        1984   125 Ind. Games

Designated Hitters:

 Paul Molitor      1991   109 Ind. Games
Brian Downing     1991    89 Ind. Games
Brian Downing     1987    80 Ind. Games
Cesar Tovar       1975    61 Ind. Games
Pat Kelly         1974    58 Ind. Games
Brian Downing     1992    56 Ind. Games
David Dellucci    2005    55 Ind. Games
Paul Molitor      1987    53 Ind. Games
Brian Downing     1989    51 Ind. Games
Paul Molitor      1988    49 Ind. Games
Luis Polonia      1992    46 Ind. Games

Johnny Damon and Shannon Stewart are the two most recent players to DH lead-off more than 25 games.

2 Comments »

  1. [...] also a Stat of the Day Blog with a handful contributors highlighting the power of the tool. I just posted an entry listing the most games in a season batting lead-off by unusual positions — catcher, third [...]

    Pingback by skyking162 » Blog Archive » B-R’s Play Index — August 13, 2007 @ 1:28 pm

  2. I checked the lead-off split for Tim McCarver. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=mccarti01&year=c He fit into the leadoff role quite nicely. In 75 career PAs in the #1 spot in the order (including not just starts at that spot but also PH appearances in which he slotted into the #1 spot), his OBP was .387 and his BA was .343. That’s compared to his overall career BA of .271 and OBP of .337. Maybe the guy should’ve been a leadoff man all along!

    Comment by birtelcom — August 13, 2007 @ 5:03 pm

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