Dan Uggla, Miguel Olivo, and sluggers with the worst slugging percentage
Posted by Andy on July 22, 2011
Check out the lowest slugging percentages for guys qualified for the batting title who homered in at least 4% of their plate appearances:
| Rk | Player | HR | PA | Year | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | RBI | BB | SO | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Uggla | .380 | 17 | 400 | 2011 | ATL | 98 | 363 | 48 | 70 | 15 | 1 | 38 | 34 | 88 | .193 | .265 | .645 | *4 |
| 2 | Darrell Evans | .380 | 22 | 522 | 1988 | DET | 144 | 437 | 48 | 91 | 9 | 0 | 64 | 84 | 89 | .208 | .337 | .717 | *D3 |
| 3 | Miguel Olivo | .381 | 13 | 314 | 2011 | SEA | 80 | 291 | 35 | 63 | 9 | 0 | 44 | 17 | 87 | .216 | .256 | .637 | *2/D |
| 4 | Rob Deer | .386 | 25 | 539 | 1991 | DET | 134 | 448 | 64 | 80 | 14 | 2 | 64 | 89 | 175 | .179 | .314 | .700 | *9/D |
| 5 | Aaron Hill | .394 | 26 | 580 | 2010 | TOR | 138 | 528 | 70 | 108 | 22 | 0 | 68 | 41 | 85 | .205 | .271 | .665 | *4/D |
| 6 | Frank Thomas | .399 | 21 | 509 | 1960 | CHC | 135 | 479 | 54 | 114 | 12 | 1 | 64 | 28 | 74 | .238 | .280 | .678 | 375/9 |
| 7 | Graig Nettles | .404 | 26 | 633 | 1970 | CLE | 157 | 549 | 81 | 129 | 13 | 1 | 62 | 81 | 77 | .235 | .336 | .741 | *5/7 |
| 8 | Brandon Inge | .406 | 27 | 637 | 2009 | DET | 161 | 562 | 71 | 129 | 16 | 1 | 84 | 54 | 170 | .230 | .314 | .720 | *5 |
| 9 | Reggie Jackson | .406 | 25 | 584 | 1984 | CAL | 143 | 525 | 67 | 117 | 17 | 2 | 81 | 55 | 141 | .223 | .300 | .706 | *D/9 |
| 10 | Carlos Pena | .407 | 28 | 582 | 2010 | TBR | 144 | 484 | 64 | 95 | 18 | 0 | 84 | 87 | 158 | .196 | .325 | .732 | *3/D |
| 11 | Andre Thornton | .408 | 22 | 514 | 1985 | CLE | 124 | 461 | 49 | 109 | 13 | 0 | 88 | 47 | 75 | .236 | .304 | .711 | *D |
| 12 | Greg Vaughn | .409 | 23 | 573 | 1992 | MIL | 141 | 501 | 77 | 114 | 18 | 2 | 78 | 60 | 123 | .228 | .313 | .723 | *7/D9 |
| 13 | Jeff Burroughs | .409 | 29 | 672 | 1975 | TEX | 152 | 585 | 81 | 132 | 20 | 0 | 94 | 79 | 155 | .226 | .315 | .724 | *9/D |
| 14 | Charlie Spikes | .409 | 23 | 561 | 1973 | CLE | 140 | 506 | 68 | 120 | 12 | 3 | 73 | 45 | 103 | .237 | .303 | .712 | *7D9 |
| 15 | Nick Swisher | .410 | 24 | 588 | 2008 | CHW | 153 | 497 | 86 | 109 | 21 | 1 | 69 | 82 | 135 | .219 | .332 | .743 | 3879/D |
| 16 | Gene Tenace | .411 | 26 | 612 | 1974 | OAK | 158 | 484 | 71 | 102 | 17 | 1 | 73 | 110 | 105 | .211 | .367 | .778 | *3*2/4 |
| 17 | Lee May | .414 | 25 | 590 | 1978 | BAL | 148 | 556 | 56 | 137 | 16 | 1 | 80 | 31 | 110 | .246 | .286 | .700 | *D/3 |
| 18 | Jack Cust | .417 | 25 | 612 | 2009 | OAK | 149 | 513 | 88 | 123 | 16 | 0 | 70 | 93 | 185 | .240 | .356 | .773 | *D9 |
| 19 | Dave Kingman | .417 | 30 | 666 | 1985 | OAK | 158 | 592 | 66 | 141 | 16 | 0 | 91 | 62 | 114 | .238 | .309 | .726 | *D/3 |
| 20 | Dwayne Murphy | .418 | 27 | 660 | 1982 | OAK | 151 | 543 | 84 | 129 | 15 | 1 | 94 | 94 | 122 | .238 | .349 | .767 | *8/6D |
| 21 | Joe Pepitone | .418 | 28 | 647 | 1964 | NYY | 160 | 613 | 71 | 154 | 12 | 3 | 100 | 24 | 63 | .251 | .281 | .698 | *38/9 |
Dan Uggla and Miguel Olivo are both near the top, although it's not unusual to see guys high on lists like this in the middle of a season. Should Uggla and Olivo improve a little in the last couple of months, they may very well fall off this list. It's fairly hard to maintain such outlying stats over an entire season.
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:35 am
JP Arencibia (0.404) and Vernon Wells (0.388) don't miss by much this year. About 15 PA short of making Andy's list.
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:05 am
No one between 1993 and 2007 cracks this list?
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:22 am
@2, Dan -- Batting averages were relatively high in that period.
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:32 am
Interesting stuff, Andy.
I do think it's worth noting that the chosen minimum HR rate of 4% is also very near the maximum for the seasons shown. All 21 of those seasons fall between 4.00% and 4.83%.
Raise the minimum HR% to 5%, and the lowest qualifying SLG is .431 by Dave Kingman in his final year. Kong would also get the #3 spot and two more in the top 25.
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am
I will be shocked if Uggla is still on this list by year end, given his recent surge and unbelievable BaBIP for the first 3 months - but the fact that he still is at 99 games is pretty disheartening.
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:47 am
Oliva? Plz fix.
July 22nd, 2011 at 11:49 am
Fixed, thanks. Don't know how I made that mistake.
July 22nd, 2011 at 12:36 pm
I think the easiest way to get off of this list is not to start hitting better, but to stop hitting so many fluke home runs.
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:35 pm
@8
Buddy, what is a fluke home run? When players hit 4 homers in every 100 PA, their dingers probably aren't considered flukes.
There are two diametrically opposite ways to get off this list: hit more home runs to raise SLG or hit less home runs to get under the 4% mark.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around a one-sentence description, in words, of what kind of hitters this list represents!
July 22nd, 2011 at 1:56 pm
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around a one-sentence description, in words, of what kind of hitters this list represents!"
I'm taking this as a compliment.
July 22nd, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Andy, please do. It is an intriguing, thought-provoking list.
I invite others to comment on what it means to them
July 22nd, 2011 at 2:39 pm
I love seeing Fake Frank Thomas and Gene Tenace. Thomas had a really nice career, and Tenace has an argument as the all-time best offensive catcher not named Mike Piazza.
Like Piazza, he may have been crummy behind the plate, but he made up for it by hitting like an All-Star first baseman. Ol' Fiore Gino Tennaci has just been greatly underappreciated. The year he shows up on this list? He had an OPS+ of 130 and played 160 games for the World Series champions. Not bad.
July 22nd, 2011 at 2:41 pm
"Fake" Frank Thomas would probably like to remind you that he was an All-Star before "Real" Frank Thomas was born.
July 22nd, 2011 at 3:04 pm
How about players who qualified for the batting title with more than 3% home runs, and at least 100 RBI's, and a slugging percentage below .400.
July 22nd, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Adam Dunn is having such a bad season he can't even be on this list!
July 22nd, 2011 at 4:27 pm
"Real" Frank Thomas is 1000 times better than the older one tho
July 22nd, 2011 at 4:37 pm
@10.
"What kind of hitters does this list represent?"
I'd say guys with a bit of power (not too much) and a low BA. Striking out a lot will also help get in with this group.
Older sluggers whose bat speed has slowed down (Evans, Jackson, Kingman, Deer) fit this description - they're still swinging for the fences and hitting some dingers, but generally making a less solid contact than when they were younger. Younger sluggers having off years (Uggla, Burroughs, Murphy) are also a match. Then, there's guys for which this is just their thing - damn the strikeouts, and keep swinging away (Vaughn, Pena, Deer).
To look at it a bit differently, I ran a query of guys who qualified for the batting title, and had HR > 50% of XBH. Lots of the same guys, but some new ones too (Graig Nettles, in particular). Here are the low sluggers in that group.
PLAYER...SLG...HR...XBH...YEAR...TEAM
Cory Snyder... .360... 18... 35... 1989 CLE
Jeromy Burnitz... .365 19 34 2002 NYM
Dan Uggla... .380... 17... 33... 2011 ATL
Darrell Evans... .380... 22... 31... 1988 DET
Miguel Olivo... .381... 13... 22... 2011 SEA
Clete Boyer... .381... 16... 31... 1970 ATL
Rob Deer... .386... 21... 39... 1993 TOT
Rob Deer... .386... 25... 41... 1991 DET
Graig Nettles... .386... 22... 40... 1973 NYY
Tony Batista... .393... 26... 47... 2003 BAL
Aaron Hill... .394... 26... 48... 2010 TOR
Graig Nettles... .398... 15... 23... 1981 NYY
Frank Thomas... .399... 21... 34... 1960 CHC
Deron Johnson... .400... 20... 38... 1973 TOT
Graig Nettles... .401... 20... 36... 1979 NYY
Gary Gaetti... .404... 19... 34... 1989 MIN
Graig Nettles... .404... 26... 40... 1970 CLE
Brandon Inge... .406... 27... 44... 2009 DET
Reggie Jackson... .406... 25... 44... 1984 CAL
Carlos Pena... .407... 28... 46... 2010 TBR
Reggie Jackson... .408... 18... 32... 1986 CAL
Andre Thornton... .408... 22... 35... 1985 CLE
Ron Cey... .408... 22... 42... 1985 CHC
Dwayne Murphy... .408... 15... 28... 1981 OAK
John Milner... .408... 20... 39... 1974 NYM
July 22nd, 2011 at 5:53 pm
@17
Doug, thanks for the information. I wish you had table-posting privileges in here to make the data a little easier, visually, to absorb.
In your second paragraph, the division of the players on Andy's list into three groups is really helpful.
Gary Gaetti shows up on your list, but wasn't Graig Nettles on the original one.
Setting the filter at HR > 50% of XBH is a creative way of shedding light on the list from the opposite direction.
Any way you slice and dice it, being on this list is baaaad, agreed? No one on Andy's list has more than one season being so offensively unproductive.
Doug, your search catches Graig Nettles three times, Reggie Jackson twice (!) and Rob Deer twice. Ah, the allure of the home run or past, post-season play to a GM.
July 22nd, 2011 at 6:19 pm
You're right Neil - didn't notice Nettles on Andy's list. Actually, Nettles shows up 4 times on the second list.
Besides Gaetti, Synder, Burnitz, Cey and Deron Johnson are notable new guys on the second list.
BTW, Neil - I found a juicy little tidbit about AJ. It's on the CC blog.
July 22nd, 2011 at 6:27 pm
@19
Doug, I read your comment in the Sabathia blog.
Don't tempt John Autin to unload on A.J. He was actually a decent warrior for our team.
July 22nd, 2011 at 9:03 pm
love that you guys call the 1st Thomas the "fake" Frank Thomas!
Awesome
July 22nd, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Two things I notice on the list are that there are very few triples, and that not one player on the list has as many doubles as homers. Some older guys slowing down and some younger guys who were never fast to begin with. The one that catches my eye is Pepitone, with twelve doubles in 613 AB, despite a .251 average.
July 23rd, 2011 at 2:12 am
Despite Olivo's prominence on this list, I'm sure the Mariners aren't complaining.
Olivo's the team leader in HR with 13. Right behind him is Justin Smoak with 12 HR and a team-leading .399 SLG. The Giants and As also have no qualifying batters this year who are slugging 0.400.
If the Mariners keep this up, they will become the first team since 1968 to have back-to-back seasons with no qualifying batters slugging 0.400. The Dodgers and White Sox managed that dubious feat in '67 and '68.
July 23rd, 2011 at 9:23 am
@23
Welcome to the Brave New World of low-offense.
August 3rd, 2011 at 6:52 pm
12 days later and because of his great hitting/homer streak, Dan Uggla is already at .425 and a few percentage points off the chart...