Free Swinger Update – Pt I – Back on July 27 in our most recent Free Swinger Update, DN&N noted that Diamondbacks backstop Johnny Estrada had drawn just 8 bases on balls in 282 at bats, giving him the third highest number of at bats without double digits in walks (our boy Jeff Francoeur led the pack of course with just 9 BB in 419 AB).  In response, reader Jim McLennan of azsnakepit.com wrote in to point out that Estrada’s last 5 walks at that point had all been issued intentionally.  In fact, until drawing an unintentional free pass on August 15, Francoeur’s former teammate in Atlanta went an amazing 279 at bats between walks since drawing one on April 23.  He then proceeded to draw another unintentional walk in his very next game.  We’re not certain if this is a record in itself (anyone who does is highly encouraged to write in to let us know), but in researching this, we found some other awfully interesting free swinging information to pass along.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt II – We’ll get to how Estrada and Francoeur relate to other historical free swingers later on but first, we’ll start you with an update on the progress of this season’s liberal swatters.  Our boy Francoeur continues to be the standard bearer in this category, coming to the plate a total of 533 times this year (511 AB) and drawing just 12 base on balls (4 intentional).  Among all players with as many or fewer walks than Jeff, Angel Berroa (12 BB/1 intentional) has the next most plate appearances and at bats (415/392), followed by Juan Uribe (11 BB/1 IBB, 374 PA/351 AB), Estrada (10/5, 363/339) and Miguel Olivo (6/1, 340/324). 

 

Free Swinger Update Pt III – Francoeur, with his 12 BB in 533 PA, is averaging one walk every 44.42 plate appearances this year.  That’s impressive, and on pace to see him challenge a long time record, but it’s not the highest ratio of PA/BB in the majors this year.  In fact, it’s only 8^th among all players with at least 125 plate appearances.  Detroit’s backup catcher Vance Wilson (newly re-signed to a two-year $1.9 million extension) has drawn just 1 walk in 145 plate appearances (131 AB) this season.  The second hardest player to walk this season has been the Angels’ Robb Quinlan, who has drawn just 2 walks (0 IBB) in 188 PA (183 AB) for a rate of one every 94 PA.  Rounding out the top five are the Twins backup catcher Mike Redmond (2/0, 144/135 – 1 every 72 PA), Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo (6/1, 336/320 – 1 every 56 PA) and Giants backstop Eliezer Alfonzo who has drawn just 4 walks in 206 PA (195 AB) for a rate of 1 every 51.5 PA.  Estrada is 13^th, averaging a BB once every 36.30 PA.  As a former catcher myself, I have to ask, what’s the deal with all the catchers?

 

Free Swinger Update Pt IV - The rookie Alfonzo was recalled in early June to replace Mike Matheny (9BB in 177 PA – 1 every 19.67) when the veteran went down with a concussion.  Alfonzo’s first 3 BB were all intentional.  It was not until July 16, 89 at bats into his ML career, that Alfonzo drew his first unintentional walk.  He has since gone 106 AB without another free pass, unintentional or otherwise. 

 

Free Swinger Update Pt V – Anderson Hernandez, demoted in early May by the Mets after batting just .149, currently has the most PA and AB by any ML position player without a walk, having gone to the plate 41 times without one.  Laynce Nix, with 38 PA, is next.  Chris Carpenter leads all major leagues with 59 plate appearances without a walk.  How close are these guys to setting a record?  Not very.  Ed Walsh set the modern major league record for plate appearances in a single season without a walk when in 1907, he came to the plate 156 times (154 AB) without drawing a single free pass to break the record formerly held by Cy Young (149/148 in 1904).  Of course, those guys were pitchers.  What, you may be asking, is the record for a position player?  Don’t worry, that’s what I’m here for.  The record for most plate appearances in a single season by a position player without a walk is 148 (146 AB), set by Craig Robinson, a Philadelphia shortstop in 1973.

 

Free Swinger Update Pt VI –Since 1900, there have been 60 players with a minimum of 100 plate appearances that have come to the plate and not taken a single walk.  All but six of those players were pitchers.  Robinson, of course, was one of them.  2^nd on this all-time list is a former OF named Alejandro Sanchez, who came to the plate 133 times (133 AB) for Detroit in 1985 and failed to draw a single walk, get hit by a pitch, or even sacrifice a runner over; more on him later.  3^rd – Rob Picciolo (Cal – 1984) – 128/119, 4^th – Harry Bemis (Cle – 1909) – 126/123, 5^th – Bert Adams (Phi – 1917) – 111/107, 6^th – Gus Getz (Bro – 1916) – 102/96 

 

Free Swinger Update Pt VII – So were those seasons’ aberrations or were those players truly free swingers?  For that answer we look at their career numbers.  Robinson, a career .219 hitter, drew 30 walks the following season in 452 at bats for Atlanta. Over the course of his short career (789 PA), he averaged a walk once every 18.79 PA.  Bemis averaged one walk every 30.44 PA (2,405 career PA - .255 career BA), Adams one every 31.52 (725 - .206), Getz one every 48.83 PA (1,172 - .219), and Picciolo one every 68.80 PA (1,720 - .234).  But how about Alejandro Sanchez?  A career .229 hitter, he was quite possibly the freest swinger of all-time, coming to the plate 215 times in his short major league career and drawing just 1 walk.  In fact, that was the only unofficial PA of his career as Sanchez was never hit by a pitch, never sacrificed a runner over either by bunt or fly ball, or otherwise ever recorded an unofficial at bat other than that one walk. 

 

Free Swinger Update Pt VIII – Ok, so it’s one thing to not draw a walk in 150 or fewer PA, but what about those really prodigious free swingers?  You know, the ones who came to the plate a lot?  In 1936, Wally Jensen of Pittsburgh came to the plate 731 times and managed to draw just 16 bases on balls, an average of one every 45.69 plate appearances.  That was the fewest in history of any batter with over 700 plate appearances in a single season.  Francoeur is dangerously close to eclipsing that rate.  Filling out the top five on this list are: 2^nd – Alfonso Soriano (NYY – 2002) – 23 BB/741 PA/1 every 32.22, 3^rd – Larry Bowa (Phi – 1974) – 23/717/31.17, 4^th -- Lou Brock – (StL – 1967) – 24/724/30.17 5^th --Felipe Alou (Atl – 1966) – 24/706/666

 

Free Swinger Update Pt VIIII - Other notables on this list include Willie Wilson who in 1980 with Kansas City set the major league record for most at bats in a season with 705, and came to the plate 745 times and drew just 28 walks (8^th - 1 every 26.61 PA).  Ichiro also makes the list with his 2001 total of just 30 walks in 738 plate appearances (14^th - 24.60).  Neifi Perez ranks 7^th this season in BB/PA, just ahead of Francoeur (5 BB in 250).  Neifi had just 28 walks in 732 PA with Colorado in 1999, an average of one every 26.14 plate appearances (10^th).  Another one of the biggest free swingers in history has to be the former Yankee second sacker Bobby Richardson.  Four times in his career, he came to the plate over 700 times in a season and all four times drew 37 walks or less. 

 

Player	Year	Tm	PA	AB	BB	AB/BB	PA/BB
Bobby Richardson	1961	NYY	706	662	30	22.07	23.53
	1962	NYY	754	692	37	18.70	20.38
	1963	NYY	668	630	25	25.20	26.72
	1964	NYY	728	679	28	24.25	26.00
	1965	NYY	713	664	37	17.95	19.27
	1966	NYY	648	610	25	24.40	25.92
	Career	NYY	5783	5386	262	20.56	22.07

 

Free Swinger Update Pt X – And finally, there is the case of free swinger Mariano Duncan who in 1995 began the season by going to the plate 201 times for Philadelphia without drawing a walk.  He was an August waiver pickup that year by the Reds and then went another 19 PA with Cincinnati before he finally drew his first walk of the year.  For the entire season, Duncan came to the plate 277 times and drew five walks, an average of 1 every 55.40 PA.  Of course, the Reds had to know what they were getting.  In 1989 he was traded by the Dodgers, along with Tim Leary, to Cincinnati for Kal Daniels and Lenny Harris.  At the time of the trade, Duncan had not walked in 87 plate appearances.  He would go another 20 with the Reds before drawing his first walk that year, and finish with 8 BB in 273 PA, one every 34.13 times he came to the plate.

 

	PA	AB	BB	AB/BB	PA/BB
Duncan - Career	4998	4677	201	23.27	24.87

 

 

Chasing the Hammer – Barry Bonds on Monday hit the 725^th home run of his major league career, a monster bomb deep into McCovey Cove that gave the Giants a 1-0 lead in a game they would win behind a two-hit shutout by Noah Lowry.   The big fly, his 17^th of the year, leaves him just 30 shy of tying Hank Aaron for the major league record.  He is also now just 8 HR behind the Hammer for the most in National League history.  Bonds’ splash shot was the first of the year for the Giants and 41^st in the history of Willie Mays Field.  Bonds has hit 33 of those. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt I – They’re calling it the Boston Massacre 2006.  5 wins in 4 days.  The Yankees came into Boston on Friday with a 1 ½ game lead and left with a margin of 6 ½ games.  More than that, they left the Red Sox pitching staff in shambles.

It began on Friday afternoon with a game New York won 12-4 while collecting 17 hits. It ended with a 14-11 Yankee win in which the bombers collected 17 more hits and scored 7 runs in the 7^th inning to erase a 10-7 Red Sox lead.  In fact, by the time that one was all over, these two teams, who seem to meet every weekend, had played the longest 9 inning game in history at 4 hours and 45 minutes and the longest twinbill in history at 8 hours and 42 minutes.  On Saturday, New York scored 13 more runs on 10 hits and 13 walks, 9 of which were issued by starter Josh Beckett.  Randy Johnson won the 277^th game of his major league career in that contest.  On Sunday, Curt Schilling calmed things down and seemed on his way to his 207^th career win.  Big Papi’s 44^th home run gave Schilling the lead, but Jonathan Papelbon blew his only save chance of the series and Jason Giambi’s 2^nd home run of the night off of Craig Hansen gave Mariano Rivera the win.  Mike Mussina did not figure in the decision, holding at 237 career wins.  Finally on Monday, David Wells, in search of career win number 230, pitched possibly his best game of the year: 7 1/3, 6 hits and 2 runs.  But Cory Lidle was better, shutting out the Sox over 6 innings and helping the Yankees extend their winning streak to five straight games, the longest current streak in the majors.

 

The Longest Streak Pt II – The Mariners have not won a game since August 9, when Jarrod Washburn outdueled James Shields to help Seattle finish off a 3-game sweep of the Devil Rays.  They have since lost 11 straight games to division rivals Texas, Oakland, and Los Angeles to drop 14.5 games back of the A’s and give them the longest losing streak currently in the majors.  This slide prompted the team to trade Jaime Moyer to Philadelphia.  Moyer is currently tied for 84^th all-time in wins with 211 and is 21^st all-time among left handers.  Seattle has lost those 11 games by a combined score of 77-36 and have now lost 15 straight this season to Oakland, tying the record for most consecutive wins in a season against a division opponent.  The Mariners are 1-15 for the year against the A’s and will face them 3 more times in late September.  More immediately, the M’s will try to end their slide today against the blisteringly hot Yankees and rookie Jeffrey Karstens, who will be making his major league debut.  Gil Meche (9-8, 4.66) takes the ball for Seattle.  He’s got a 9.58 ERA in his last 5 starts (20.2 IP, 32 H, 22 ER). 

 

The Longest Streak Pt III – Willy Taveras extended his hitting streak on Monday to 24 straight games, the longest current streak in the majors and the second longest in Astros history behind only Jeff Kent’s 25-game streak in 2004.  Taveras reached on a bunt single in the first inning, the fifth time he has extended his streak with a bunt hit, including in the 7^th inning of the Astros 1-0 loss to the Cubs on August 16.  He is 7-for-9 in bunting for a hit since the streak began and has collected an additional four infield hits, 3 of which extended his streak.  Taveras has extended his streak in his last at bat only twice, extending it in the first three innings 15 times, including 8 times in the first inning.  One of those times was on August 15 in the ‘Stros 8-6, 18 inning loss to Chicago in which Tavares went 1-for-9.  He had gone 3 additional hitless at bats the next day before his 7^th inning bunt hit extended the streak and snapped an 0-for-11 slide.  Overall, Taveras is batting .330 (34-for-103) since he began his streak with a pinch hit single against Elizardo Ramirez on July 27.  The Astros face Cincinnati and Kyle Lohse today.  Taveras has never faced Lohse and is just 6-for-29 lifetime combined against the Reds pitchers.

 

Yankees vs. Red Sox by the Numbers

 

	R	H	E
New York	49	62	6
Boston	26	50	2

 

Sox Pen	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Gm 1	4.7	10	8	7	5	3	0	13.49
Gm 2	5.3	9	7	7	5	3	0	11.82
Gm 3	3.3	3	4	4	4	5	1	10.81
Gm 4	3	6	5	5	2	7	2	15.00
Gm 5	1.7	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00
	18	28	24	23	16	20	3	11.50
Sox
Starters	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
Johnson	4.3	7	4	4	2	3	1	8.31
Lester	3.7	8	7	7	3	4	1	17.17
Beckett	5.7	7	9	9	9	2	1	14.29
Schilling	7	6	3	3	1	7	1	3.86
Wells	7.3	6	2	2	1	4	0	2.46
	28	34	25	25	16	20	4	8.04
Total	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	ERA
	46	62	49	48	32	40	7	9.39

 

Yankees	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	Ave
Damon	23	6	10	3	1	2	8	0	2	0.435
Jeter	24	5	7	1	0	0	5	1	5	0.292
Abreu	20	5	10	4	0	0	3	7	7	0.500
Rodriguez	21	5	7	3	0	0	5	5	4	0.333
Giambi	12	6	6	2	0	2	8	6	2	0.500
	100	27	40	13	1	4	29	19	20	0.400
Red Sox	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	Ave
Ortiz	20	5	6	2	0	2	4	3	3	0.300
Ramirez	11	3	8	2	0	2	7	9	0	0.727
	31	8	14	4	0	4	11	12	3	0.452

Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.