rookie watch

Giants rookie 2nd Baseman Kevin Frandsen has played just 11 games in his Major League career but he's already been plunked 5 times, including 3 in his first 3 games. He has a great head start toward surpassing the National League rookie record of 20 set by Frank Robinson 1956, or even the all time rookie record of 28 by Tommie Tucker in 1887 in the American Association. The best recent MLB rookie plunk total was David Eckstein's 21 in 2001 - the American League record. It will come as no surprise to Astros fans that Frandsen considers Craig Biggio his idol. This article notes that Frandsen was excited to meet Biggio before last nights game - Frandsen had not yet been called up when Houston got rained on in San Francisco earlier this season. After Frandsen's 3 game plunk streak to begin his career, the San Francisco Chronicle noted Frandsen's idolization of Biggio, and that he is planning to break Ron Hunt's single season plunk record for the Giants of 26 (set in 1970). We can only hope that Frandsen is just one of a new crop of up and coming Major Leaguers who have learned the value of the plunk from Craig Biggio. Let's hope that they also learn how to stay healthy at the same time, the way Biggio has.
Kevin Frandsen sounds like the kind of player a Craig Biggio fan can get behind.

Tied with Frandsen on the rookie HBP list is Seattle's Kenji Johjima. While Johjima is a rookie by MLB standards, he is no stranger to being plunked on the professional level. According to japanesebaseball.com, he was hit 95 times in his career in Japan, for the Fukuoka Hawks. That site also credits Kazukiro Kiyohara as the Japanese all time HBP record holder, with 196 and still counting. Surely Kenji could have made a run at the all time Japanese record if he had continued to play there, but he felt that greater fame and glory could be found playing, and getting hit by pitches, in the American major leagues.