Filed under Trivia
Happy black Friday. Did you know that 2009 saw Alfonso Soriano qualify for the batting title and yet have more strikeouts than he had hits. This was only the 9th time a Cub has achieved this feat since 1900. The interesting this is that all of them occur after 1960 and all but one occur after 1990. Here is the breakdown of this elite club of suck.
| Player | Year | SO | H | PA | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alfonso Soriano | 2009 | 118 | 115 | 522 | 64 | 25 | 1 | 20 | 55 | 40 | .241 | .303 | .423 | .726 |
| Sammy Sosa | 2004 | 133 | 121 | 539 | 69 | 21 | 0 | 35 | 80 | 56 | .253 | .332 | .517 | .849 |
| Alex Gonzalez | 2003 | 123 | 122 | 601 | 71 | 37 | 0 | 20 | 59 | 47 | .228 | .295 | .409 | .704 |
| Mark Bellhorn | 2002 | 144 | 115 | 529 | 86 | 24 | 4 | 27 | 56 | 76 | .258 | .374 | .512 | .886 |
| Alex Gonzalez | 2002 | 136 | 127 | 568 | 58 | 27 | 5 | 18 | 61 | 46 | .248 | .312 | .425 | .737 |
| Jose Hernandez | 1998 | 140 | 124 | 533 | 76 | 23 | 7 | 23 | 75 | 40 | .254 | .311 | .471 | .782 |
| Sammy Sosa | 1997 | 174 | 161 | 694 | 90 | 31 | 4 | 36 | 119 | 45 | .251 | .300 | .480 | .779 |
| Rick Wilkins | 1994 | 86 | 71 | 358 | 44 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 39 | 40 | .227 | .317 | .387 | .703 |
| Billy Cowan | 1964 | 128 | 120 | 520 | 52 | 16 | 4 | 19 | 50 | 18 | .241 | .268 | .404 | .673 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Not surprised to see Sosa, Horn, Gonzo, or K-Nandez on that list. All of them were wild swingers. Is it possible we could get a list of players around MLB who accomplished that feat? I would think Tubby and Big Donkey would be on such a list
Here is a list of guys who have done it at least 2 times since 2000
Yrs From To Age Adam Dunn 7 2002 2009 22-29 Mike Cameron 7 2001 2009 28-36 Jim Thome 7 2000 2008 29-37 Pat Burrell 6 2001 2008 24-31 Carlos Pena 5 2003 2009 25-31 Nick Swisher 4 2005 2009 24-28 Brad Wilkerson 4 2002 2005 25-28 Troy Glaus 4 2000 2005 23-28 Dan Uggla 3 2007 2009 27-29 Ryan Howard 3 2007 2009 27-29 Jack Cust 3 2007 2009 28-30 Jose Hernandez 3 2001 2003 31-33 Jeromy Burnitz 3 2001 2003 32-34 Preston Wilson 3 2000 2005 25-30 Richie Sexson 3 2000 2005 25-30 Jim Edmonds 3 2000 2005 30-35 Mark Reynolds 2 2008 2009 24-25 Chris Young 2 2007 2008 23-24 Rickie Weeks 2 2007 2008 24-25 B.J. Upton 2 2007 2009 22-24 Brandon Inge 2 2007 2009 30-32 Jason Bay 2 2007 2009 28-30 Bill Hall 2 2006 2007 26-27 Alex Gonzalez 2 2002 2003 29-30 Mark Bellhorn 2 2002 2004 27-29 Jose Valentin 2 2001 2004 31-34 Mo Vaughn 2 2000 2002 32-34 Greg Vaughn 2 2000 2001 34-35 Jorge Posada 2 2000 2002 28-30 Brian Daubach 2 2000 2002 28-30Frankly, if a guy puts up an .886 OBP he can strike out 300 times in a season. That Bellhorn outlier year was awfully good!
I think you mean OPS? If some guy had an .886 OBP, he would be making $50M a year and be driving Bentleys. Forget Cadillacs, Bentleys.
Bellhorns 2002 season was the lone bright spot in that too recent season of despair. I still would like to know what happened between he and Dusty in early 2003 that got him moved to the bench and then shipped to Colorado. It may have been simply his understated way (some would claim passive) toward the game and his non aggressive approach at the plate.
His 2004 season in Boston showed that he had one more productive season in his toolset.