There are currently 13 catchers in major league baseball’s Hall of Fame. Of these 13 players, five have a career batting average north of .295 and four have hit more than 300 home runs. No player has accomplished both. Let me rephrase that.
During the 2009 post-season Cal Ripken Jr. commented during a TBS post-game report that Guerrero was the “best bad-ball hitter he’s ever seen,” after witnessing a base hit on a pitch that bounced in the dirt before reaching the plate.
In the case of Curt Schilling one can look at the ten seasons beginning in 1997 and ending in 2006. Schilling tallied a 3.41 earned run average and a .643 win percentage with 155 wins and only 86 losses. In each season he averaged 222 strikeouts, 40 walks, 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings and a 5.58 strikeout to walk ratio.
Placido Polanco became just the 30th player in the history of Major League Baseball to hit a grand slam on opening day. While playing for the Phillies for two and a half seasons between 2003 and 2005, he quickly became a fan favorite because of solid defense and his ability to put the ball into play, not because of his power numbers.
Placido Polanco has a career batting average that is 49 points higher and an on base percentage that is 55 points higher than Pedro Feliz. But what does this exactly mean for the Phillies? For this we turn to Project VORP, or Value Over Replacement Player.
Barring an injury or two, Andy Tracy will remain a career minor league player. This past week he was one of seven players invited to the Phillies Spring Training camp for the upcoming season.
Nobody has ever doubted the ability of Jimmy Rollins to play major league baseball. Despite the occasional slump, his yearly average of 39 doubles, 10 triples, 16 home runs, 36 stolen bases, and 104 runs along with a career .274 batting average speak for themselves.
It seems like every year the A.L. and N.L Gold Glove award winners are announced dozens of baseball analysts, commentators, and bloggers voice strong opposition regarding several selections. The inherent problem is that the only people that vote for the winners of this award are managers and coaches, and they cannot vote for players on [...]
For several years after the retirement of Michael Jack Schmidt, arguably the best overall third baseman in the history of major league baseball, the Phills had tried filling the void at the hot corner with what can be described only as 2nd tier players at best. Kim Batiste, Dave Hollins, Charlie Hayes, Milt Thompson and [...]
When you think of the Phillies best players over the past two seasons, most people would point out Utley’s 63 home runs, 69 doubles, 225 runs and 37 stolen bases, or Howard’s 93 home runs and 287 runs batted in, or Victorino’s 204 runs, 69 doubles, 61 stolen bases and two .290+ batting averages, or [...]
While the Phillies have made two World Series appearances in as many years, it is not difficult to point out one spot on the roster that has room for improvement for the upcoming season. For the first time in as long as I can remember it is not our starting pitching, nor is it our [...]
Life was going well for Jayson Werth in 1997. As an 18 year old high school graduate, he would be drafted in the 1st round, 22nd overall, by the Baltimore Orioles, who finished with an American League best 98 wins. After working his way up through the Orioles and Dodgers minor league systems, he would [...]
That’s right. If you have waited this long to jump on the Phillies bandwagon you may want to think differently. You may want to jump on the train, the Chooch Train. While Ruiz is often referred to as the prototypical defensive major league catcher, it is not his career .246 batting average that makes him [...]
McGriff would hit 30 or more home runs ten times in his career, including seven consecutive seasons. He would add eight seasons with 100 runs batted in. Selected for five All-Star Games, McGriff would win the All-Star Game MVP award in 1994 with a 2-run home run in the bottom of 9th that would tie the game and send it into extra innings. He would retire with three Silver Slugger awards and six top-10 finishes in MVP voting. He also was first player to ever lead both the American League and National League in home runs
In most cases when you win the Most Valuable Player award in the World Series one season you are expected to perform and perform well the next. The previous 10 winners include all-stars Mike Lowell, David Eckstein, Jermaine Dye, Manny Ramirez, Josh Beckett, Troy Glaus, Curt Shilling, Randy Johnson, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera all [...]
In the history of Major League Baseball there have been only 23 players have hit for 40 or more doubles and 40 or more home runs in the same season, a feat that has been accomplished only 32 times. This past season Albert Pujols joins Lou Gehrig as the only two players to accomplish this [...]
Growing up watching Barry Larkin play I can remember his entire 19 year career with the Reds include 12 all star appearances, 3 gold gloves, a career .295/.371/.444, and 397 steals with only 77 caught stealing for an impressive 84% steal percentage. He would retire with 9 silver slugger awards, 441 doubles and 198 home [...]
After listening to Howard Eskine argue with Ike Reese quite adamantly during today’s broadcast that Ryan Howard could improve his offensive numbers if he were to “choke up” with two strikes, I decided to research the issue. How could someone that has averaged 100+ runs, 25+ doubles, 51 home runs 144 rbi’s, and 100 walks over [...]
If I ask up who you would start the first three games of our playoffs if they were to start today I am pretty sure it would go something like this Lee, Hamels, Happ. Well right now I would start Lee, Blanton and Happ and here is why. After posting a 7.11era through his first [...]
When a former major league ball player give a complement about another player people listen, especially when it pertains to a player at his same position. Anybody that follows baseball knows that Joe Morgan thinks very highly of himself, and rightfully so as he is regarded by many as the best ever.
