Sign of the apocalypse: Corey Patterson is raking
Posted by Andy on May 28, 2011
Corey Patterson had a 5-hit day today (albeit in 7 plate appearances). He's has 2 previous 5-hit games in his career:
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | WPA | RE24 | BOP | Pos. Summary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2006-07-22 | BAL | TBD | L 12-13 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.262 | 3.686 | 1.103 | 7 | CF |
| 2 | 2004-04-21 | CHC | PIT | W 12-1 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.110 | 3.143 | .276 | 2 | CF |
Even before today's game he had an OPS+ of 100 on the year. This for a guy who had an OPS+ of 80 coming in to 2011.
Check out the active players who've had a season with at least 120 games played an an OPS+ of no more than 60.
| Rk | Player | HR | G | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Patterson | 13 | 54 | 126 | 2005 |
| 2 | Corey Patterson | 10 | 50 | 135 | 2008 |
| 3 | Benji Gil | 9 | 57 | 130 | 1995 |
| 4 | Clint Barmes | 7 | 47 | 131 | 2006 |
| 5 | Ryan Langerhans | 6 | 53 | 125 | 2007 |
| 6 | Ronny Cedeno | 6 | 54 | 151 | 2006 |
| 7 | Yadier Molina | 6 | 53 | 129 | 2006 |
| 8 | Juan Uribe | 6 | 55 | 155 | 2002 |
| 9 | Michael Bourn | 5 | 57 | 138 | 2008 |
| 10 | Alex Cora | 4 | 59 | 134 | 2001 |
| 11 | Josh Barfield | 3 | 56 | 130 | 2007 |
| 12 | Brendan Ryan | 2 | 57 | 139 | 2010 |
| 13 | Ramon Santiago | 2 | 59 | 141 | 2003 |
| 14 | Cesar Izturis | 1 | 50 | 150 | 2010 |
| 15 | Willy Taveras | 1 | 55 | 133 | 2008 |
| 16 | Nick Punto | 1 | 53 | 150 | 2007 |
| 17 | Cesar Izturis | 1 | 60 | 158 | 2003 |
| 18 | Cesar Izturis | 1 | 51 | 135 | 2002 |
| 19 | Omar Vizquel | 1 | 50 | 143 | 1989 |
Patterson (along with Izturis) managed to make this list multiple times, and the casual fan sometimes fails to notice since he's the only guy who put up double-digits in homers while doing it.
May 28th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Funny that Omar Vizquel made the list, today's Corey Patterson featured Vizquel's debut as a first baseman in the 11th
May 29th, 2011 at 12:03 am
I thought you burned him at the stake years ago. How is he still playing?
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/732
May 29th, 2011 at 2:56 am
Wow. I always wondered why Benji Gil just disappeared. Amazing to see he is still active.
May 29th, 2011 at 3:47 am
From a North American MLB perspective, Gil is barely active I guess. He's in his 6th season in Mexican-league ball, unaffiliated with any MLB club:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=gil---001rom
and he's 38. The likelihood that he plays again in MLB are remote, although Julio Franco made such a jump in 2001. (But, to be fair, Franco had had a lot more MLB success prior to his stint in Mexico.)
May 29th, 2011 at 3:56 am
JT, nice pull out of the archives.
Your response on that original thread reminds me that Patterson is still young--he's just 31 and already in his 12th major-league season. When I think of him, I envision that he's got to be 34 or 35 since he's been in the majors since 2000, but he started at just age 30. I guess that means that teams will continue to give him a bit of leash since he may be able to maintain whatever ability level he has for a few more years.
And in fairness to Patterson, he's been a better player since I posted that slam. After a short and awful 2009 his career OPS+ was 79 on a .694 OPS. Over 2010-2011, it's an OPS+ of 97 on a .723 OPS. He still doesn't walk enough but he's getting enough XBH to have some real value.
May 29th, 2011 at 5:21 am
How do you have a 5/5 game when your team scores 12 runs yet you only score 1 run and 2 RBI's?
May 29th, 2011 at 9:46 am
I was praying that I would see similarity scores between Patterson and Rickie Weeks, they were not there, but things they do have in common.
Weeks CP
AVG .255 .254 <<<<<< WOW
HR 98 115
SLG .433 .406
SB 2010 11 21 in only 90 games
SB car 97 212
SO 702 892 in 450 more games
Rickie Weeks is not much better than CP. Weeks does have a better OBP% but CP has been HBP 30 times, Weeks has been HBP 92 times in 1300 fewer AB. Weeks is one of the poorest fielding 2b in the game, CP is an average outfielder. I am a Cubs fan and I know too well the frustration CP has had at times. I read the post Andy wrote 3 years ago about CP being a terrible player, and I can't disagree. A few weeks ago I wrote that Weeks is a terrible player and I was called a racist. I will wait for my apology, that is all.
Note* Weeks is younger and is clearly turning into a HR hitter, hence higher SLG numbers and a brighter future.
Last night from the 1 hole, Weeks 0 for 4, 2 SO's, 0 BB's
May 29th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
The bar was always higher for Patterson because he was such a great prospect.
Prospect Ratings by Baseball America:
Pre-1999: Rated #16 Prospect
Pre-2000: Rated #3 Prospect
Pre-2001: Rated #2 Prospect
He never got a huge payday, but his contracts were always a little larger than warranted because GM's hoped that he would "pan out" at some point.
Sickels ranked him even higher than BA and had a "Prospect Retro" on him back in 2006 detailing what went wrong:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2006/4/25/16919/8667
May 29th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
@7 -- Timmy P, I think what sparked the comment that offended you was not simply your calling Weeks a terrible player; rather, it was that your relentless harping on Weeks:
(a) showed no regard for the more important offensive metrics in which he excels; and
(b) focused on your personal aesthetic distaste for his appearance.
The type of behavior is circumstantial evidence of irrational bias -- whether or not the commenter was right about the particular source of your irrational attitude (bordering on obsession) towards Weeks.
My impression of your posts in general is that you seem to play it both ways at the same time, interspersing tries at serious analysis with lines of commentary that are so repetitious as to suggest self-parody. When you go on a rant about how Weeks's braids slow him down on the bases, nobody can tell whether you're trying to be funny, just venting your pro-Cubs/anti-Brewers viewpoint, expressing a serious (and seriously uninformed) opinion, or just a little bit nuts. If you keep choosing that path, you should be aware that you are deliberately inviting misunderstanding, and that you bear some responsibility when misunderstanding occurs.
May 29th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Don't take it so serious JA, just having a little fun. I'm a bit of a crackpot but so what, plus I mentioned that not all the keys work on my machine so sometimes I use the wrong words. I've been coming to this site for years and years but only a few months ago started reading the blog, so I've got years worth of great ideas and brilliant insight to share. I'm getting old, gonna be 44 next month so I have old fashioned ideas of fashion and hairstyles. One thing I love about this blog is that if you leave a comment that uses poor English or bad spelling or both, nobody jumps all over you, they just stick to how stupid your baseball related comments are, which is nice. One drawback to commenting here is that occasionally Neil will drop some French on you, and that can be intimidating!
May 29th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Wow, Corey Patterson is 4 for 5 with a HR and 3 RBIs so far today.
May 29th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Andy, great list, thank you.
However, as you noted, it was an X-inning game. And hitting in front of Bautista doesn't hurt your chances of getting hittable pitches.
Andy, you were prescient in posting about Patterson yesterday in light of his 4 for 5 game today, as Timmy P. pointed out.
So a two-game total of 9 for 12 with 2 HR is a pretty good run.
@8
DavidRF, I never looked into Corey Patterson's background to see that his ML career was "disappointing" in light of expectations. Interesting.......
May 29th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
Timmy P. here is the "French" I "dropped" on you, I think.
"However, a word of advice. Don't wear out your welcome here. The raison d'etre of this site is not to provide baseball betting lines but it is, as I understand it, to use an extensive, searchable database to enhance our enjoyment and understanding of baseball."
Here is the link, post #65
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/10991
Here are parts of my first couple of posts in reply to you.
"With respect , Timmy, I don't catch your point." post #2
"Timmy, one could make the argument that Juan Pierre is overrated, not underrated, at this point in his career." post #4
Here is the link to your original post.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/10970
Timmy P., I don't want to bore everyone else with a public dispute but I treated with you with respect until your comments in the thread became repetitive and frankly ..... a little disjointed.
Other readers reacted negatively to your comments in the two threads linked above (go back and read them!) but for some reason you have fixated on me as being rude to you.
If I took too much on myself and was condescending by trying to give you advice, then I am sincerely sorry. I have been guilty of shooting my mouth off before in BRef, but have tried to take responsibility for my posts and to apologize.
I have found BRef to be a respectful and accepting virtual community. I wish that experience for you also.
But as JA has pointed to you very nicely in @7 you have to be responsible in what you post on a thread if you want to be taken seriously.
May 29th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
The good, the bad & the Corey:
-- For 2010-11 combined, Corey Patterson has a 102 OPS+ in 522 PAs.
-- Patterson's career K/BB ratio of 4.5 is the 6th worst in modern history among players with 3,000+ PAs. The bottom 5: Miguel Olivo, Shawon Dunston, Tony Armas, Mariano Duncan and Bill Bergen. (You can't formulate any list of the worst hitters without including Bergen.) Olivo is in a class by himself at 6.02; no one else is over 5.
-- Corey's 5th hit yesterday was a walk-off HR in the 14th inning.
May 29th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Neil - "repetitive and frankly ..... a little disjointed." That's a kind way to put it. Have some fun Neil, don't let things get too serious. I have on occasion seen someone get a little too serious and maybe tried to poke 'em a little. Your love for baseball and the Jay is obvious, and your knowledge of the game unquestioned. I've put the Jays on my watch list, good luck to the Jays. I would be curious as to how the rest of Canada feels about the Jays. Do they show all the games in say Winnipeg, or BC? I lived in Minnesota for a while and there were many a fan that traveled down from the Canadian plains provinces to cheer for the Jays when they were in town. There were some Twins fans from Manitoba also I remember seeing and talking to.
May 30th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Timmy, is that Lou Rawls in your avatar? You mentioned him recently but the photo is tiny. If so, I approve.
May 31st, 2011 at 10:27 am
What's next, a Felix Pie retrospective?