Midweek Meanderings
Five things I’ve noticed about the Reds so far.
1. Alex Gonzalez has more Doubles (23) then Edwin Encarnacion has Extra Base Hits (21) On the other hand, who thought that Edwin would have less errors (11) then Gonzalez (15)
2. Aaron Harang is damn good. Harang is currently clipping along with a 3.50 ERA, vs. the leagues average of 4.34. One of the major parts of Aaron’s arsenal is the strikeout pitch. Below is a list of the pitchers the Reds have had who struck out more then 8 batters a game in a season (since divisional play) and their ERA and the era vs. the league, plus the runs saved above average. It’s a short list, one that only has 3 pitchers on it, and Harang will be the third guy to do it twice.
ERA YEAR ERA SO/9 IP ERA RSAA 1 Jose Rijo 1988 2.39 8.89 1.07 22 2 Mario Soto 1982 2.79 9.57 0.81 26 3 Mario Soto 1980 3.07 8.61 0.54 13 4 Jose Rijo 1994 3.08 8.93 1.14 22 5 Aaron Harang 2006 3.76 8.30 0.73 28
3. Jeff Keppinger is still interesting to me… In just looking at the Reds since the 1995 season Jeff Keppinger (.951 OPS) is pushing the envelope for the best OPS by a Red with at least 100 PA’s, but this doesn’t come without a caveat, that being the top 25 of is littered with one year wonders and stars.
CINCINNATI REDS SEASON 1995-2006 OPS YEAR OPS AB 1 Kevin Mitchell 1996 1.026 114 2 Jose Guillen 2003 1.013 315 3 Jon Nunnally 1997 1.002 201 4 Barry Larkin 1996 .977 517 5 Reggie Sanders 1995 .975 484 6 Alex Ochoa 2000 .964 244 7 Adam Dunn 2004 .956 568 8 Adam Dunn 2001 .948 244 9 Ken Griffey Jr. 2005 .946 491 10 Ken Griffey Jr. 2000 .942 520 11 Ron Gant 1995 .940 410 12 Sean Casey 1999 .938 594 13 Ken Griffey Jr. 2003 .936 166 14 David Ross 2006 .932 247 15 Adam Dunn 2005 .927 543 16 Eric Davis 1996 .917 415 17 Sean Casey 2004 .915 571 18 Barry Larkin 1997 .913 224 19 Austin Kearns 2002 .907 372 20 Sean Casey 2000 .902 480 21 Barry Larkin 1998 .901 538 22 Ken Griffey Jr. 2001 .898 364 23 Jerome Walton 1995 .892 162 24 Michael Tucker 2000 .892 270 25 Mark Lewis 1995 .887 171
4. Brandon Phillips has more extra base hits then Edwin and David Ross combined. That said let’s also note that Brandon has a .322 on base percentage and has 58 walks to 39 GIDP as a Red. His current on base percentage would rank him as 5th worst amongst Reds second sackers in the post strike era. He is however on pace to tie Brett Boone’s 1998 EBH total of 63, which is actually tied for number one in franchise history, with Joe Morgan’s 1973 output. So despite the poor on base percentage we are seeing Phillips pursue something that we has Reds fans don’t see very often, a second basemen with over 50 extra base hits.
EXTRA BASE HITS YEAR EBH EBH T1 Joe Morgan 1973 63 63 T1 Bret Boone 1998 63 63 3 Joe Morgan 1976 62 62 4 Pete Rose 1966 59 59 5 Pete Rose 1965 57 57 T6 Todd Walker 2002 56 56 T6 Joe Morgan 1974 56 56 T8 Tony Cuccinello 1931 52 52 T8 Pokey Reese 1999 52 52 10 Bret Boone 1995 51 51 11 Joe Morgan 1975 50 50
Worst 2nd sacker OB% since 1995 (Reds) (300 PA’s)
OBA YEAR OBA EBH RCAP 1 Bret Boone 1996 .275 -11 -13 2 Juan Castro 2003 .290 -7 -12 3 Bret Boone 1997 .298 -9 -24 4 Pokey Reese 2000 .319 -12 -20 5 Bret Boone 1998 .324 10 -6 6 Brandon Phillips 2006 .324 -6 -8 7 Bret Boone 1995 .326 7 2 8 Pokey Reese 1999 .330 -2 0 9 Rich Aurilia 2005 .338 1 3 10 Todd Walker 2002 .353 4 10 11 D'Angelo Jimenez 2004 .364 -10 4 12 D'Angelo Jimenez 2003 .365 -4 8 13 Ryan Freel 2005 .371 -8 0
5. Hit by Pitches - Currently the Reds lead all of MLB in batters hit by pitches (56) the next batter the Reds hit will place this years team at slot #5 for batters hit by pitches in Reds team history, which in retrospect doesn’t seem to be a feat that has occurred as much as legend (The 1960’s and the brush back style we always hear about) nor is it a feat that the Reds often led the league in. Below is a list of the Reds teams with the most HBP and the placement they held in that stat at the years end.
But first here’s the 1960’s
HIT BY PITCHES YEAR HBP 1 Reds 1969 56 2 Reds 1962 48 3 Reds 1965 46 T4 Reds 1968 45 T4 Reds 1966 45 T6 Reds 1967 42 T6 Reds 1960 42 8 Reds 1963 39 9 Reds 1961 32 10 Reds 1964 31
HIT BY PITCHES YEAR HBP 1 Reds 2005 80 2nd 2 Reds 1997 77 1st 3 Reds 2006 60 12 T4 Reds 2002 56 8th T4 Reds 1969 56 1st 6 Reds 2004 54 9th 7 Reds 1998 52 9th