Wednesday, August 31, 2005

All-Plunk team (infield)

Yesterday I began announcing the Official Plunk Biggio All Time All-Plunk team, beginning with the outfield. Today we'll go through the greatest plunk taking infielders of all time.

Starter:
First Base: Tommie Tucker
Second Base: Craig Biggio
Short Stop: Hughie Jennings
Third Base: John McGraw

Backups:
2B: Ron Hunt
3B: Eddie Yost

The starting 4 have been hit 964 times so far, with 342 on the bench.

1B: Tommie Tucker played a little outfield and pitched a couple of games, but what he did most of the time was play first base and get hit by pitches. 272 plunks stands as 2nd all time for the moment. Tucker led the American Association in plunks in 1887 and 1889 and was the National League HBP leader from 1890-1892.

2B: Craig Biggio gets the edge over Ron Hunt at second base largely because this is a website about Craig Biggio. To date, Biggio and Hunt both have been hit 214 times while playing second base. Hunt had 243 HBPs, the 50 plunk season, and led the National League a record seven consecutive years. But, Biggio has 271 and counting, and 5 league plunk titles. And a web log.

SS: Hughie Jennings. The all time leader often left out of the conversation by not being modern enough. 287 career plunks, with 220 recorded in years when he played at least 75% of his games at short stop. He led the league 5 times, and was plunked 51 times in 1896.

3B: John McGraw was hit 134 times in his career with 99 recorded in years in which he spent 75% of his time at third. He tied Dummy Hoy for the first HBP crown in the American League in 1901. Anyone associated with a guy named Dummy gets extra credit. Eddie Yost makes the team for getting plunked 99 times in 16 seasons at third. Also, since these two were barely plunked at all compared to Jennings, Tucker, Biggio and Hunt, it seemed like a platoon was called for.

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another wednesday in the wildcard race

11 pitches were thrown to Craig Biggio by the Reds last night, but none of them hit him as the Astros got a needed win at home. In such a tight wild card race, surely the little things, like getting on base by taking one for the team, will be the key for which ever team comes out on top.
Brandon Claussen pitches today for the visitors. 6 of his 8 career hit batters have been recorded this season, but has never plunked Biggio.
James Baldwin plunked Biggio on August 31, 1997 and Jake Peavy got him on August 31, 2003.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

All-Plunk team

This week, I'm naming the long awaited official Plunk Biggio all time All-Plunk team starting today with the outfield.

Outfield: Minnie Minoso, Frank Robinson, Curtis Welch
Backups: Fred Clarke, Chet Lemon

These five have racked up 867 HBPs between them with 776 of them coming in seasons when the they played more than 75% of there games in the outfield.

Minnie Minoso was hit 192 times in his career with 164 of those coming in seasons when he played three quarters of his games in the outfield. He led the American League in plunks 10 different times. No other player has lead his league as many times.

Frank Robinson tallied 198 plunks in his career with 152 coming in season when he played outfield in 75% of his games. He led the league in plunks 7 different times with a career high of 20 coming in his rookie year in 1956. Only 3 other players have been plunked more as a rookie (Tommie Tucker, Charlie Babb, and David Eckstein).

Curtis Welch got plunked 173 times in his career from 1884 to 1893. 153 of those came in season when he got played outfield 75% of the time. He led the defunct American Association in plunks in 1888, 1890 and 1891.

Fred Clarke led the league in plunks just once, in 1902, but he most likely tallied all of his 153 plunks in the outfield since he only played 7 games in the infield.

Finally, rounding out the All-Plunk outfield is Chet Lemon. Lemon led the American League in plunks 4 times, and was hit 151 times - 118 playing center field and 33 playing right.

visiting reds

The Cincinnati Reds are visiting this week, sending Ramon Ortiz to the mound tonight. Ortiz has never plunked Biggio but the Reds are the first team ever to plunk Biggio and are second in the National League this year in hit batters with 61.
Barry Jones hit Biggio with a pitch on August 30, 1991 and Jason Bere did so on August 30, 1997.

And, while you don't really need a crazy baseball blog to remind you of things like this, here it is anyway: www.redcross.org

Monday, August 29, 2005

plunkers vs plunk nots

So far this year, the top 10 teams in hit batters have a combined ERA of 4.75 while the bottom 10 have a combined 4.01 ERA. This is the biggest difference in earned run average between the top and bottom third of teams in plunks since 1937. In 1990, the top third of teams in hit batters posted a better ERA than the bottom third by 2 hundredths of a run, so it is possible for teams that hit a lot of batters to still be effective pitching staffs, but even that year the middle third was better. The ERA of the top third in plunks hasn't been below both other thirds since 1967.
Here are the combined ERAs for the top, middle, and bottom third of teams in the majors for each year back to 1980:
YearTop ThirdMiddle ThirdBottom ThirdTotal MLB ERA
20054.754.104.014.30
20044.524.694.184.46
20034.334.794.084.40
20024.644.273.924.28
20014.564.504.204.42
20004.924.614.784.77
19995.064.654.414.71
19984.574.384.354.43
19974.634.244.274.39
19964.904.554.374.61
19954.534.564.294.45
19944.564.714.304.51
19934.244.354.024.19
19923.763.803.683.75
19914.053.863.823.91
19903.883.803.903.86
19894.093.463.553.71
19884.133.623.443.73
19874.474.204.204.29
19864.233.783.883.97
19854.293.713.663.89
19844.073.833.543.81
19834.073.913.643.87
19823.903.833.853.86
19813.613.743.413.58
19804.063.793.673.84

the lost plunk

Well, I can't say it didn't occur to me that this might happen, but I'm still going to commission a team of genealogists to establish whether or not Doug Eddings and Tommie Tucker are related. Eddings has, by the way, award first base to Biggio on plunks 3 times in his career. Then again, maybe there's some kind of espn.com article on being fundamentally sound jinx like the SI cover curse. I still think if pitchers are going to continue to use inside pitches as intimidation, batters should get to stand there and not be intimidated, and if pitchers are going to continue to suck so much that they occasionally throw a fastball off a batters arm, batters should continue to get to protect their career with a protective arm guard.
And, while people in the game are doing things I've actively discouraged here, the Astros continued their quest to move Roger Clemens to dead last in the league in run support, but somehow he actually moved up to 93rd. He's only 7th from last though, so a few pitchers dropped off the bottom of the list.
The Astros get a day off today, and Biggio has never been hit on August 29th.

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Dodgey weekend

Craig Biggio homered off Derek Lowe but did not get hit by a pitch in last night's pitchers duel. Today he'll face Edwin Jackson. Danny Jackson, and Michael Jackson have plunked Biggio, but never Edwin Jackson. And no Tito.
Paul Byrd hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on August 27, 1997.

Sunday the Astros are scheduled to face Jeff Weaver. Weaver has never plunked Biggio, but he is tied for the National League lead in hit batsmen this season with 13. Mark Gardner hit Biggio with a pitch on August 28, 1992 and Lance Davis plunked Biggio on August 28, 2001.

Friday, August 26, 2005

odd stats

For those of you who haven't thought about things like prime, even, and odd numbers since 7th grade and were hoping to keep it that way, skip down to the second section below (beginning "In other notes").

Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 271 times. 271 is a prime number, and there are 57 other primes less than 271. On average, it has taken Craig Biggio 9.22 games to record the next hit-by-pitch after a prime number plunk, while the plunks following non-prime numbers have come after only 9.14 games. This could easily lead one to believe that having been hit by a pitch a prime number of times has absolutely nothing to do with when you'll get hit by a pitch, and I would be inclined to agree.
On the other hand, the next plunk has come 7.71 games after an odd numbered plunk, but when Biggio has an even numbered total, it takes an average of 10.58 games to find another pitcher to hit him.

In other notes related to tonight's opposing pitcher, the last pitcher to get the win in the final game of a World Series and hit Craig Biggio with a pitch in his career was Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser who won the clinching game 5 of the 1988 World Series, and plunked Biggio on April 1, 1998, and two more times on May 7, 2000. The only other pitcher to accomplish both feats is Jose Rijo, winner of game 4 of the 1990 World Series, and plunker of Craig Biggio on August 2, 1992. Derek Lowe could become the first pitcher to get the win in the final game of the World Series and plunk Biggio in the following season.
Their are 5 pitchers who have been charged with a loss in the final game of the World Series and also hit Craig Biggio: Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Calvin Schiraldi. Not at all surprisingly, all five of them lost to over paid teams from New York, but that's a topic for a whole other web site.

stop Dodging

The Astros take on the Dodgers tonight at Dodger Stadium - rumored to be the only thing in America a french exchange student would want to see when she's not learning Ricky Smith's international language of love. Derek Lowe will be pitching for the Dodgers. In case you've heard this less than 999,999 times this year, Derek Lowe was the winning pitcher in the clinching game of all 3 playoff series' for the Red Sox last year. Plunking Craig Biggio might just be the next most important thing not yet checked off on his career to-do list. Lowe has hit 54 of te 5341 batters he has faced in his career, but he's only hit 4 out of 718 batters this season.
Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on August 26th.

In other news, I'm not saying you should follow ALL of this guy's advice, but...

Thursday, August 25, 2005

LA Dodger of Anaheim?

The Astros are in Los Angeles to play the Dodgers starting tomorrow, but the other team that calls LA home (sort of) has this season's best dodger so far. Angels leadoff man Chone Figgins has emerged as a threat to Sandy Alomar's single season record for plate appearances without getting hit by a pitch.
In 1971, Alomar, also with the Angels, collected 739 plate appearance without getting hit by a pitch. This season, Chone Figgins is up to 558. With 36 games left on the schedule for the Angels, Figgins will need to average 5.028 plate appearance per game and play every game the rest of the way. If he gets to the plate 5 times every game, and has just two 6 plate appearance games in there, he'll break the record. Unless, of course, someone hits him between now and then.
Craig Biggio's longest streak of plate appearances without getting hit by a pitch was 480, from the 6th inning on September 1, 1989 to the 2nd inning on July 22, 1990. Figgins has nearly 1000 more consecutive unplunked plate appearance. In fact, Figgins has never been hit in his 1478 major league plate appearances. He is 3rd in plate appearances among active players who have never been hit by a pitch, behind Juan Castro (1,976) and Coco Crisp (1,622). They all have a long way to go to catch all time pitch dodger Mark Lemke who made it through his entire career of 3,664 plate appearance and was never hit by a pitch.
Personally, I think these guys should take one for the team once in a while.
The Dodgers' shortstop Cesar Izturis went 728 plate appearance last year without getting hit, and had made it up to 1,958 career plate appearances before realizing the value of getting on base via the plunk on April 10th this year. He has been hit 3 times since.

still no 272

Chad Qualls contributed by hitting two Padres batters last night, but Craig Biggio did not get hit by a pitch. Despite Qualls' efforts, the Astros are still taking more plunks than they're dishing out this year by a margin of 60-45. Last year, Astros batters took only 61 HBPs while their pitchers hit 68 batters, making that the first time the Astros handed out more plunks than they took since 1993. 1990 is the only other year during Craig Biggio's career when the Astros batters didn't take more for the team than the pitching staff gave up.

The Astros are off today, and Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on August 25th.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Shut-out stats

The Astros have been shut out 15 times this season, 3 short of the Craig Biggio era record of 18 set in 1992. Craig Biggio has played in 12 of this years blankings, and was hit by a pitch in 2 of them. He's been hit by a pitch in 3 shut-outs during the same season only once in his career, in 1997. Overall, he's been hit 12 times during shut-outs, 8 of which have been complete game shut-outs by the opposing pitcher (the other 4 being combined shut-outs). The Astros have been shut out 130 times in games which Craig Biggio played.
Pitchers who have hit Biggio while pitching a complete game shut-out:
Joey Hamilton, Shawn Estes, Pedro Martinez, Francisco Cordova, Kerry Wood (the 20 strikeout game), Mark Brownson, Carlos Zambrano, Cory Lidle.
Contradictions aside, Biggio has never been hit during a no hitter.

The Astros average 4.53 runs per game when Biggio plays and does not get hit by a pitch, but 5.40 runs when he gets hit. When he gets hit twice, they average 8.35 runs, and 5.14 when he gets hit just once.

shut out again

Last week I mentioned that Roger Clemens was 90th out of 102 starters in run support per 9 innings, and I thought I clearly stated that I was not encouraging any efforts to get him to the very bottom of this category. Despite my objections, the Astros went and got shut out again and move Clemens to 94th on the list. The Astros have now scored 3.73 runs per 9 innings while Clemens has been the pitcher of record.
Meanwhile, Craig Biggio did not get hit by a pitch. Chan Ho Park pitches for the Padres today, as part of the Rangers' starters relocation program. Park hit Biggio twice on September 12, 1997. He also plunked Biggio on April 3, 1996.
Biggio was hit on August 24 in 1997 by Jamey Wright and in 1998 by Matt Karchner.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Biggio vs the bottom 5

The Padres have it 37 batters this season - 4th fewest in the National League, behind Atlanta, San Francisco, and the Cubs. Milwaukee is currently 5th from the bottom. Craig Biggio has been hit at least twice by the bottom 5 teams (including ties) in National League plunks every year since 1992. The most was in 1997 when the lowest 5 teams in plunks hit Biggio 10 times.

TeamTotal HBPHit Biggio









TeamTotal HBPHit Biggio
1989









1990
Braves160









Padres191
Padres210









Giants210
Giants241









Braves260
Astros250









Mets270
Cubs250









Cubs280
1991









1992
Padres130









Padres210
Mets251









Braves261
Reds280









Phillies270
Cubs280









Reds282
Dodgers280









Dodgers280
Braves280












1993









1994
Braves221









Cubs190
Marlins320









Mets210
Padres341









Braves221
Phillies371









Padres251
Dodgers370









Reds271
1995









1996
Reds312









Braves190
Braves320









Cardinals352
Cubs341









Phillies352
Mets350









Dodgers391
Dodgers371









Reds421
1997









1998
Braves311









Pirates310
Giants392









Braves350
Cubs432









Diamondbacks412
Dodgers452









Astros420
Mets473









Cubs482
1999









2000
Braves261









Braves370
Cubs270









Giants410
Padres351









Diamondbacks421
Astros400









Phillies421
Reds452









Reds431













Marlins430
2001









2002
Braves330









Giants360
Giants330









Braves421
Mets430









Expos461
Reds481









Dodgers460
Cubs502









Diamondbacks540
2003









2004
Dodgers401









Braves271
Marlins400









Giants470
Braves420









Padres481
Giants430









Mets490
Mets453









Brewers511













Marlins511

Padres, game 2, looking for 272

Today the Astros will face Padres' starter Jake Peavy. Peavy has hit 24 batters in his career including Craig Biggio on August 31, 2003. Biggio was hit once before on August 23, back in 1997 by Pedro Astacio. Astacio starts Friday for the Padres against Colorado.

271!

Chris Hammond hit Craig Biggio, last night, in the 9th inning on an 0-1 pitch with 2 outs, and came around to score on Lance Berkman's double. Chris Hammond has now hit Biggio twice, having done so on May 12, 1998 for the Marlins. Only Salomon Torres (9/21/93, 5/12/03) and Steve Reed (8/1/94, 4/3/03) have gone longer between plunkings of Biggio.

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Monday, August 22, 2005

Astros' Starters

Tonight's starter for the Astros, Roy Oswalt, has started 18 games in which Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch, and Biggio has been hit 20 times in those 18 games. That puts Oswalt in 4th place in both of those categories. Shane Reynolds started 30 games for the Astros in which Biggio got plunked. In those 30 games, Biggio got hit 33 times - the same number of batters Reynolds hit in his entire career with the Astros.

Astros' StarterPlunksGames
Shane Reynolds3330
Mike Hampton2623
Darryl Kile2120
Roy Oswalt2018
Doug Drabek1716
Chris Holt1413
Wade Miller1413
Jose Lima1211
Scott Elarton118
Pete Harnisch77
Jeriome Robertson77
Roger Clemens76
Greg Swindell66
Sean Bergman55
Tim Redding55
Dave Mlicki44
Andy Pettitte44
Kirk Saarloos44
Mike Scott44
Donne Wall44
Ramon Garcia43
Jim Deshaies33
Octavio Dotel33
Carlos Hernandez33
Mark Portugal33
Brian Williams33
Ron Villone32
Doug Brocail22
Danny Darwin22
Brandon Duckworth22
Wandy Rodriguez22
Rodrigo Rosario21
Brandon Backe11
Kent Bottenfield11
Nelson Cruz11
Bob Forsch11
Bill Gullickson11
John Halama11
Jonathan Johnson11
Jimmy Jones11
Scott Linebrink11
Tony McKnight11
Peter Munro11
Rick Rhoden11
Pete Schourek11

back on the road

Once again, Craig Biggio did not get hit by a pitch all weekend. But, he did score yesterday on a Jason Lane plunk with the bases loaded, so HBPs are still a part of his offensive production.
The Astros go back on the road today visiting San Diego, where they'll face Woody Williams today. Williams has hit 51 batters in his carrer and just threw his 30,000th pitch in his last outing. He has only hit one batter this season, and he has never hit Craig Biggio. Also, Biggio has never been hit on August 22nd.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Freddy Van Dusen signing day

Unfortunately, getting hit by a throw on the way to first base isn't a stat that has ever been tracked, so Craig Biggio will have to continue his hunt for the 271 pitch with his name on it this weekend. Today Ben Sheets pitches for the Brewers. He hit Biggio with a pitch June 29, 2001. The Brewers' Scott Karl hit Biggio on August 20, 1998, and the Cubs' Kyle Farnsworth hit him on August 20, 2002.

Today is also the 50th anniversary of Fred Van Dusen's signing with the Phillies. Hopefully the last 50 years have been kinder to Freddy than the few weeks following August 20, 1955, but he can still say he made it to the show once upon a time - I'm sure a good number of people who never had one at all would trade their major league career for his.

Tomorrow Victor Santos goes for the Brewers. He has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, and Biggio has never been hit on August 21.

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Friday, August 19, 2005

SI Cover jinx

Finally, a stat about Sports Illustrated Covers where Michael Jordan doesn't hold the record. Craig Biggio has been hit by a pitch 15 times while Tiger Woods was on the cover of SI, but only 12 times when Jordan was on it.
Tiger Woods15
Michael Jordan12
Kobe Bryant12
Shaquille O'Neal11
Tim Duncan10
Karl Malone7
Kevin Garnett6
Lance Armstrong6
Ben Wallace6
Randy Johnson6

No pitcher has ever been on the cover of SI and hit Craig Biggio in the same week, and Craig Biggio has never been on the cover.

Teeth removed, but not by a pitch

For those of you who have speculated that Craig Biggio must somehow enjoy pain to be hit by a pitch 270 times, you'll be interested to note that he missed last nights game having had his wisdom teeth removed earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the Astros continued their combined efforts to move Roger Clemens to dead last among starting pitchers in run support. I'm not encouraging this, but Clemens is 90th and has a long way to go to catch 1O2nd place Kip Wells. Clemens run support is down to 3.91, but Kip Wells is only getting 2.69 runs of support per 9 innings of work. On the other hand, David Wells is enjoying 8.06 runs of support per 9 innings (but he really needs it).
Hopefully Biggio will be back in the line up tonight, getting on base by any means necessary, willing to sacrifice more teeth if need be. Doug Davis, tonight's starter for the Brewers, has never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, but he has hit 3 batters this year and 20 in his career.
Biggio has never been plunked on August 19th.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Most plunked day of the week (Revisited)

In April, I posted Craig Biggio's plunk totals by day of the week, but since commenter Xavier McDaniel asked about it, it seems like a good time for an update and a more in depth look. If there is one thing this site, and the whole issue of Craig Biggio getting hit by pitches needs, it's a more in depth look.
Here are the plunks by day of the week again, updated through yesterday, and sorted by plunks per plate appearance.

DayPlunksPlate AppearancesHBP/PA
Sat5018060.02769
Sun4215820.02655
Mon4617840.02578
Wed4317190.02501
Tues2912060.02405
Thurs2412240.01961
Fri3618420.01954

Thursday has been the least plunked in total, but it's only second to last in plate appearances and plunks per plate appearance for Biggio. I think this chart leads to an obvious assumption: the Astros get their ice delivered on Saturday mornings, so as the week's supply dwindles, Biggio is more and more inclined to get out of the way of pitches which might otherwise hit him. The Tuesday/Wednesday numbers are probably just a random anomaly. That makes perfect sense, right?
However, the overall trend hasn't held up this year. Maybe they got an ice machine. This year Biggio has been plunked twice on Thursday, and over half his plunks have been on Tuesday and Wednesday. And, none of his 2005 HBPs have come on a Saturday.


Plunks (per plate appearance)
YearSundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
19880
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
19891
(0.012)
0
(0)
2
(0.024)
0
(0)
0
(0)
2
(0.024)
1
(0.012)
19902
(0.02)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
1
(0.01)
19910
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
2
(0.019)
0
(0)
19922
(0.019)
1
(0.012)
1
(0.008)
0
(0)
1
(0.016)
2
(0.017)
0
(0)
19930
(0)
0
(0)
4
(0.034)
1
(0.01)
0
(0)
2
(0.017)
3
(0.025)
19941
(0.013)
2
(0.031)
1
(0.014)
2
(0.027)
1
(0.018)
0
(0)
1
(0.012)
19952
(0.019)
3
(0.045)
4
(0.04)
3
(0.034)
3
(0.037)
4
(0.034)
3
(0.026)
19965
(0.043)
3
(0.035)
5
(0.042)
6
(0.054)
0
(0)
4
(0.034)
4
(0.036)
19976
(0.052)
5
(0.057)
5
(0.045)
4
(0.034)
3
(0.037)
5
(0.043)
6
(0.053)
19982
(0.016)
4
(0.046)
4
(0.037)
4
(0.036)
1
(0.014)
3
(0.025)
5
(0.042)
19994
(0.035)
1
(0.013)
2
(0.017)
1
(0.009)
1
(0.013)
1
(0.007)
1
(0.009)
20002
(0.027)
4
(0.07)
3
(0.036)
2
(0.032)
2
(0.047)
1
(0.013)
2
(0.029)
20016
(0.065)
2
(0.029)
3
(0.027)
4
(0.034)
2
(0.023)
3
(0.026)
8
(0.064)
20020
(0)
1
(0.016)
2
(0.017)
3
(0.027)
2
(0.025)
3
(0.026)
6
(0.063)
20034
(0.046)
1
(0.018)
3
(0.026)
6
(0.052)
5
(0.051)
1
(0.008)
7
(0.056)
20044
(0.045)
1
(0.014)
3
(0.027)
2
(0.017)
1
(0.012)
2
(0.017)
2
(0.018)
20051
(0.019)
1
(0.017)
4
(0.051)
5
(0.064)
2
(0.04)
1
(0.013)
0
(0)

Visiting Brew

Carlos Zambrano pitched his tenth straight game without giving up more than 3 earned runs last night, and hasn't hit anyone in sixteen games. But, the Cubs are leaving and Tomo Ohka and the Brewers are coming into town for 4 games starting tonight. Ohka has never hit Biggio with a pitch, but has hit 3 batters this year, most recently plunking Jose Guillen on July 17.
Biggio was hit by a pitch by Jimmy Anderson on August 18, 2001, and hit by Jaime Navarro on August 18, 1996.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

further draft notes

Note from yesterday: the data used for these draft analysis bits include the sandwich round with the first round of the draft. Sandwich round picks who have hit Biggio with a pitch include Rocky Biddle, Stan Spencer, Mark Petkovsek, Jamey Wright, Calvin Schiraldi and Pete Harnish. But, the rules aren't entirely clear to me so I may have added or removed some from this list. Contrary to popular belief, Rich Garces, David Wells, Bartolo Colon and Jeff Juden were NOT drafted in the sandwich round.

In 1987, Craig Biggio was drafted in the first round, 22nd overall, by the Houston Astros. Since then he has been hit by a pitch 270 times. The 21 players drafted ahead of Biggio in '87 have a total of 123 HBPs led by Ken Griffey Jr. with 74. The entire first round of the '87 draft not named Craig Biggio has 189.
Through 2004, every player drafted 46th or later since 1987 had a combined total of only 214 HBPs. The 31 players who have made the bigs after being drafted in the 20th round have been hit 307 times, making the 20th the lowest draft round to have a combined total of more plunks than Biggio (since 1987).
Among 1st round picks, the 22nd slot where Biggio was draft is only second in total plunks in the Craig Biggio era, trailing the 23rd picks. The 23rd picks include 108 time plunk victim Mo Vaughn and Jason Kendall, who is the second most plunked active player with 190.
The second most plunked 22nd pick ever drafted was Chet Lemon, with a not at all shabby 151 plunks.

1987 draft first round (players who had at least one plate appearance in the majors):
Pick#PlayersTeamPlunks
1Ken Griffey Jr.SEA74
3Willie Banks*MIN2
4Mike HarkeyCHN1
5Jack McDowellCHA0
6Derek LilliquistATL0
9Kevin AppierKCA1
11Lee TinsleyOAK4
12Delino DeShieldsMON20
13Bill SpiersMIL18
14Cris CarpenterSLN0
16Mike RemlingerSFN0
17Alex SanchezTOR0
18Jack ArmstrongCIN2
19Brian Bohanon*TEX0
21Steve PeguesDET1
22Craig BiggioHOU270
23Bill HaselmanTEX11
24Chris DonnelsNYN1
25John OrtonCAL5
26Reggie Harris*BOS0
27Pete Harnisch*BAL1
29Mark Petkovsek*TEX1
30Travis FrymanDET41
31David HoldridgeCAL0
32Bob ZupcicBOS6




* Pitcher who plunked Biggio.

Cubs finale

Greg Maddux got through 7 innings on only 70 pitches last night, and his relievers Kerry Wood and Ryan Dempster got the final 6 outs on 19 pitches, so there were very few opportunities for Craig Biggio to get hit by a pitch.
Carlos Zambrano takes the hill for the Cubs tonight, and he'll bring with him his short history of plunking Biggio. He hit Biggio on May 31 and August 12, 2003.
August 17th has it's own history of Craig Biggio getting hit by pitches. He was hit one year ago today by Randy Wolf of the Phillies, and in 1997 Scott Ruffcorn and Wayne Gomes both hit Biggio on August 17 - also for the Phillies. It will be tough for the Phillies to hit Biggio with a pitch today, but I wouldn't rule it out.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Draft Analysis

Craig Biggio has been plunked 65 times by 46 pitchers who were drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. 45 pitchers who were never drafted at all and came to the majors as undrafted free agents have hit him 60 times. This is an important lesson for young pitchers who hope someday to go to the major leagues and hit Craig Biggio with a pitch - being a high draft pick is no guarantee for success, and not being drafted at all doesn't me you won't someday reach your goal.
Biggio has been hit by 7 times by 4 different pitchers picked with the first selection in the draft. Danny Jackson was the number 1 pick in 1982 by Kansas City, but he recorded both of his plunks of Biggio in 1995 with St. Louis. Andy Benes also pitched for the Cardinals when he hit Biggio 3 times between 1996 and 2001 after being the number 1 pick in 1988 by San Diego. Paul Wilson was the first player picked in 1994, and hit Biggio with the Mets just 2 years later in 1996. Kris Benson was drafted #1 in 1996 by the Pirates and hit Biggio in 2004.
The lowest drafted player ever to plunk Biggio was Kyle Farnsworth, drafted by the Cubs in the 47th round in 1994. It took him 8 years to reach the majors and plunk Biggio for the Cubs in 2002. (Several other plunkers including Kip Wells, Jason Jennings, Rick Helling and Alan Benes were drafted in later rounds but did not sign, re-enter the draft and were selected higher in later years).
In all, 57 pitchers plunked Biggio for the same team that drafted them for a total of 76 HBPs. Colorado and Pittsburgh have been the most effective at drafting pitchers to plunk Biggio for them, each drafting 8, but Colorado's draftees have racked up 14 plunks to the Pirates 10.

Pitchers who have plunked Biggio by draft round:
RoundPitchersPlunks
14665
undrafted4560
22024
31722
41115
8914
669
755
947
1746
534
1434
1233
1333
1123
1823
2123
1622
2522
3022
1011
1511
1911
2011
2211
2311
2411
2611
3111
3511
3611
4011
4111
4711


Pitchers who plunked Biggio with the team that drafted them by draft round:
RoundPitchersPlunks
11321
369
266
635
935
1434
823
1723
1222
512
411
711
1311
1511
1611
1811
2011
2111
2411
2511
3011
3511
3611
4011
4111
4711


Pitchers who plunked Biggio with the team that drafted them by team:
TeamPitchersPlunks
PIT810
COL814
SLN66
SDN46
MIL45
FLO44
CHN49
PHI33
CIN33
SFN22
NYN22
MON23
LAN23
CHA22
MIN11
KCA12
ARI11


Pitchers who plunked Biggio (all) by team that drafted them:
TeamPitchersPlunks
PIT1113
SLN1113
COL1017
CHA1010
SDN814
KCA710
CHN612
BAL610
LAN68
MIL68
TEX67
PHI66
MON510
NYA57
NYN56
CLE56
CIN55
CAL45
MIN45
TOR45
SEA45
SFN45
FLO44
DET34
HOU33
ATL33
BOS22
ANA22
ARI22
OAK22
TBA11

Just another Maddux Wednesday

The Astros set a Craig Biggio era team record last night for the most runs scored after being shutout in 2 consecutive games, with 12 runs. Tonight Greg Maddux pitches for the Cubs. He hit Biggio on July 31, 1993 and June 12, 1994 and won the Cy Young award in both of those years. Maddux stands as the only pitcher to win the Cy Young award twice in years when he also hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. He is also the only 3000 strikeout pitcher who has hit Biggio, as well as the only 300 win pitcher to have done so. He is 73 wins ahead of the second most winning member of the Biggio plunker club, Frank Tanana. Tanana won 240 games.
Biggio has been hit once on August 16, by Seth Etherton in 2003.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Why California?

Why California? Why do your native born pitchers hit so many batters? Is it simply because there are so many of them, or are you going to blame it on the Santa Anna winds?
Californians have hit Craig Biggio more times (41) than pitchers from Idaho have hit
anybody (39). Montana and Delaware born pitchers have combined for only 41 hit batters during Biggio's career. Californians have hit more batters during the past 17 seasons than 44 others states have hit in major league history.
Pitchers from England have hit 47 batters, but only got Biggio once. The Germans have hit 113 batters while the French have only hit 17. Neither country has produced a plunker of Biggio. And, not to be forgotten, Poland has hit 63 batters, but never hit Craig Biggio.

State, Province or CountryBiggio PlunksPitchersTotals 1988-2004Totals All time
Hit battersPitchersHit battersPitchers
California413136643618858775
Dominican Republic251816561571961179
Texas221415721513953360
Florida12129801121584155
New York128891834612501
Illinois1058641024637433
Georgia96571371570118
Massachusetts99412372310286
Virginia85322361216137
Pennsylvania76821695707588
New Jersey74480421666191
Alabama75289261173103
Kentucky75275331506138
Ohio65914875562472
Louisiana65561441235107
Mexico653933659358
Oklahoma63309261094115
Indiana64292351987175
Venezuela544935256965
South Korea5318991899
North Carolina44255282160184
Alaska42944944
Michigan33608562788213
Puerto Rico324793676357
Maryland32354231448129
Hawaii331991142818
Japan321922019521
Kansas33107191371110
South Carolina33891670870
Washington222622982683
Wisconsin22234181211109
Mississippi221622356169
Arizona211051349469
New Hampshire22101737925
Missouri11454282677243
Iowa11317211592117
Cuba112701768269
Nevada11122616610
Nicaragua1111631816
British Columbia111031111717
West Virginia1158768053
North Dakota11482718
Idaho1139322215
Aruba11383383
Rhode Island1123422336
Wyoming11232967
South Vietnam11231231
England112234711
Taiwan114141
Tennessee00241341330135
Minnesota002131885272
Colorado001792046244
Connecticut001591464073
Oregon001302150956
Arizona001201834635
Ontario001081243555
Australia0082138213
Panama0081911416
Utah0070815321
South Dakota0068823625
Maine0060336035
Nebraska0055967152
New Brunswick00451483
New Mexico00436819
Holland003611563
Quebec003258513
Washington DC0022243840
Montana0022311710
Delaware0019531427
Alberta00131142
W.Germany00116177
France0051122
Nova Scotia004165
Philippines004141
Germany00319615
Spain002182
Jamaica001111
Afghanistan001111
Vermont000030021
Ireland000014816
Switzerland0000831
Poland0000631
Canada (?)0000604
Saskatchewan0000595
Wales0000401
Sweden0000363
Scotland0000345
Manitoba0000341
Virgin Islands0000302
Ukraine0000143
Italy000073
Norway000041
Russia000132
Czechoslovakia000021
Bahamas000011

Cubs visit

Craig Biggio took yesterday off, and I guess took the keys to the Astros offense with him, but today's a new day. The Cubs are in visiting and they'll have pitchers who have previously plunked Biggio starting all three games. Today it will be Glendon Rusch who hit Craig Biggio with a pitch last year on June 1. Craig Biggio has never been hit by a pitch on August 15th.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Clemens plunked, 9 short of record

Roger Clemens was hit by a pitch for the first time in his long career last night. He had tallied 149 hit batters before being hit himself, which was 9 short of Nolan Ryan's total. Ryan hit 158 batters and was never plunked himself, making him the all time leader in batters hit by a pitcher who has never been hit. Thanks to Kip Wells, that's one record Clemens won't break.
Al Leiter (114 hit batters) and Chan Ho Park (113 hit batters) are the next closest active players to that particular record of Ryan's. Neither has been hit by a pitch.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

maybe they just download music illegally...

The scurvy Pirates plundered no booty last night, and didn't hit Craig Biggio with a single pitch, nor steal any of his rum or Dubloons. It was Rick White who would be walkin' the plank after blowing the Pirates lead in the 8th.
Today's Pirates starter, Kip Wells hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on July 12, 2003 and tomorrow's scheduled starter, Dave Williams did the same on May 17, 2002. Biggio has been hit once on August 13 - in 1992 by Frank Castillo, but he has never been hit on August 14th.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Dukes of... peril. to batters.

Zach Duke is the first Duke to pitch in the majors since Martin Duke pitched 13 innings in 4 games for the American Association's Washington Statesmen in 1891. He went 0-3, but never recorded a hit batter, so his nickname "Duck" my have been a play on his last name rather then a commentary on his pitching. Zach Duke owns the lone major league hit batsmen recorded by a pitcher with the last name Duke.
While Craig Biggio has never been hit by a Duke, nor an Earl, Lord, Prince or King, though Kansas City Royals hit him three times.
He has also been hit by two pitchers who attended Duke University, Chris Capuano and Mike Trombley. Only LSU and Florida State can claim more Biggio plunkers, with 3 each, but Florida, Kentucky, Texas, Wichita State and North East Louisiana State have had 2 each attend their schools as well. In overall plunks, Fresno State leads with 5, but that was entirely the work of Mark Gardner.
There have been only 4 pitchers (through 2004) who attended Duke to pitch in the majors, and their combine career totals come to only 42 hit batters, ranking tied for 130th in that statistic. Pitchers from the University of Texas lead that category by a wide margin with 408 plunks (through 2004).

Harrrr, there be pirates here

The Nationals left town last night after having dropped 3 games behind the Astros in the wild card race, and they didn't even take out their frustrations by hitting Craig Biggio with a pitch. Admirable restraint. But they did hit Willy Tavaras last night.
Tonight's pitcher for the Pirates is rookie Zach Duke, whose name sounds extremely fictitious. He has never faced the Astros, and has hit just one batter in 7 career starts.
Carlos Zambrao plunked Biggio on August 12, 2003, and Al Leiter and Rob Stanifer both hit him on August 12, 1997.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Television

I point this out only to highlight the greatness of Craig Biggio's career longevity, but during his first two season's in the league, and when he first began his ascension to the upper rungs of the all time Hit by Pitch list, The Cosby Show was the number 1 rated show on television. Through 2004, nine other shows have held the title of network televisions top rated show since then (season totals), but Craig Biggio has been hit the most times while E.R. was #1. NBC has had the #1 show for 142 plunks, leading CBS's 95 and ABC's 19. Biggio has been hit 114 times while a drama held the top spot, 73 times when sitcom's were the most watched show, 44 times when gameshows held the title, and 25 times when a news show was number 1. Interestingly, most of these shows aired on Thursday nights, and Thursday's are also the day of the week when Craig Biggio get's hit the least.

Plunks by reigning #1 rated television program through 2004:
ShowPlunks
E.R.72
Seinfeld45
CSI42
Survivor28
60 Minutes25
Friends17
Who Wants to be a Millionaire16
The Cosby Show6
Roseanne3
Cheers2

That's right, I called Survivor a game show.

another 4 hits, but not hit

Last night Craig Biggio was having so much trouble finding a pitch to get hit by he ended up going 4-5. Livan Hernandez homered for the Feds, but failed to join Omar Daal and Armando Reynoso as the only pitchers to homer and plunk Biggio in the same game.
Ryan Drese pitches for the Nationals in tonight's rubber game of the series. Drese has never plunked Biggio but does have a respectable 7 hit batters this season and 30 in his career.
Bob Wickman hit Craig Biggio with a pitch on August 11, 1998, and Joey Hamilton hit him on August 11, 1994.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

youth gone wild part 3 (walks)

The pitchers who have hit Craig Biggio with a pitch 270 have combined to surrender, in those same games, 462 walks or about 0.41 walks per inning pitched. During the span of Biggio's career, the total major league walk rate has been 0.38 per inning pitched, so the pitchers plunking Biggio haven't been walking people too much more often. There have been 81 Biggio plunking appearances where the pitcher hit more batters than he walked, and another 56 where the pitcher's walks and hit batters were equal. That leaves just 121 times, less than half, that a pitcher has walked more batters than he hit in a game where he hit Biggio. (There have been 12 multi-plunk pitching appearances, thus 258 overall pitching appearance with a hit Biggio.)
Younger pitchers have walked the most batters in games when they also hit Craig Biggio with a pitch, led by the 26 year olds with 55.
Walks in games when a pitcher hit Craig Biggio, by pitcher's age:
AgeWalks
2655
2544
2943
2443
2340
3139
2839
2232
3230
3027
2724
3314
2110
346
374
393
363
352
382
401
411
200


And, younger pitchers in general do tend to surrender more walks.

Walks per inning pitched by pitcher's age, all time:
AgeWalksInningsPitchersWalks per inning
2244217112615.33333333315080.392637
2367765176658.66666666721880.383592
212454464241.33333333339130.382059
20996526493.66666666674740.376125
25104984282210.66666666733240.372003
2489368240260.66666666728290.371961
19398310774.66666666671820.369663
26114016312569.66666666734580.364767
2711595832084534020.361413
28105877299400.66666666731130.353628
2993906270813.33333333327490.346755
3080878235942.33333333323540.342786
3168685201612.33333333320450.340677
1813644034790.338124
325669616928017120.334923
3346220139863.33333333314140.330465
447662343.33333333333290.326883
3436467111944.33333333311350.325758
4313004025560.32298
352749485737.66666666678980.320673
3620607644646880.319665
371462345976.66666666674980.318051
4222617138.33333333333830.31674
381041133378.33333333333840.311907
39703122606.66666666672490.311013
405346172521790.309876
413444113101310.304509

(ages with less than 20 pitchers excluded)

And it might just be getting worse.

Walks per inning pitched by pitcher's age, 1988-2004:
AgeWalksInningsPitchersWalks per inning
2116963549.33333333333780.477834
22604013696.66666666672280.440982
231174128073.33333333334250.418224
2418376455066520.403812
2522556559258880.403323
272623167122.66666666679610.390789
262557365548.66666666679520.390135
282411962709.33333333338400.384615
301932451760.66666666676310.373332
292192058910.33333333337550.37209
311714446510.66666666675570.368601
3312100335503910.360654
34993127897.66666666673190.355977
3214300403084820.354768
357402215022600.344247
365661167612070.337746
3918335487.33333333333650.334041
37410712471.33333333331460.329313
4012713868.66666666667440.328536
3829909217.66666666667990.324375
419933141340.31614

(ages with less than 20 pitchers excluded)