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Post by chicoruiz on Mar 3, 2021 21:13:53 GMT -6
...involves a 1971 draft-eligible guy, so I thought I'd mention it here.
In 1971, Enzo Hernandez of the Padres came to the plate 618 times... and drove in 12 runs.
I mean, how do you even do that? You'd think he'd drive in more runs than that without even trying. It certainly must have been a team achievement. I believe Enzo batted in the leadoff spot, so you have a bad hitter batting with almost no one one base, since he followed the bottom of the order for the punchless '71 Padres.
Anyway that stat kind of blew my mind so I thought I'd share it. It may not be the worst run production stat of all time, but I'll bet it's a contender.
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Post by drhanson on Mar 3, 2021 22:40:27 GMT -6
Thanks for putting a spotlight on Hernandez, John. You're right -- that is an interesting (and kinda weird) stat. I checked him out and as it turns out there isn't much mystery as to how he managed to compile 618 PAs with only 12 RBIs. You were right about him being a leadoff hitter: He started 141 games, batting leadoff in 134 of them, 8th in 5 games, and 9th in 1 game (with 1 start unaccounted for). Counting the times he led off an inning after the 1st inning, he led off an inning in 43% of his plate appearances. And you were also right about his team's run production: The Padres scored only 486 runs, least in either league. And then we have to factor in Hernandez' downright miserable hitting. He hit only .222/.295/.250 with only 12 extra base hits (and no home runs). He didn't put the ball in play very often, and when he did, his batting average on balls in play was only .237. And he didn't exactly rise to the occasion in the clutch either. Surprisingly, he came to bat with runners in scoring position 105 times during the season, but he only hit .182/.214/.182 with no extra base hits in those PAs.
So all in all, not a guy you want to have at the plate with the game-winning run in scoring position.
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Post by drhanson on Mar 6, 2021 14:20:34 GMT -6
I was curious about whether Hernandez "accomplishment" set some sort of record so I looked it up. Sure enough, Hernandez seems to hold the modern (1900-present) record for fewest RBIs in a season of anyone with at least 600 PAs. However, I say "seems to hold" the record because my sortable database only goes up through 2012, so maybe someone broke the record since then.
Here is the top 20 (or maybe bottom 20). Hopefully the formatting survived the copy/paste process. [Edit: Looks like the formatting didn't survive. Oh well, you can still figure it out with a little patience.]
SEASON
MODERN (1900-)
PLATE APPEARANCES >= 600
RBI YEAR RBI PA
1 Enzo Hernandez 1971 12 618
T2 Roy Thomas 1906 16 620
T2 Clyde Milan 1910 16 624
4 Luis Castillo 2000 17 626
5 Morrie Rath 1912 19 709
6 Richie Ashburn 1959 20 660
T7 Harry Bay 1905 22 621
T7 Sparky Adams 1933 22 631
T9 Donie Bush 1917 24 673
T9 Miller Huggins 1911 24 626
T9 Don Blasingame 1959 24 691
T9 Miller Huggins 1914 24 635
T9 Beals Becker 1909 24 645
T9 Roy Thomas 1902 24 626
T15 Julio Cruz 1978 25 634
T15 Topsy Hartsel 1904 25 624
T15 Sonny Jackson 1966 25 670
T15 Sandy Alomar Sr. 1972 25 666
T15 John Farrell 1902 25 621
T15 Larry Bowa 1971 25 696
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Post by CLDemons on Mar 6, 2021 14:44:53 GMT -6
Sounds like there should be a new rating in the clutch. Instead of "terror" in the clutch, how about "terrified"!
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