thanks, new guy
Craig Biggio didn't get hit by a pitch by Dontrelle Willis or the rest of the Marlins last night, but newly acquired Aubrey Huff contributed a 3 insurance run homer and the pitchers held the Marlins to just 1 run, for a 5-1 victory. Chris Burke got hit by his 8th pitch of the season, continuing to show his ability to learn from the veteran Biggio. Burke is 2 plunks ahead of Biggio, and if this continues he could be the first Astro since Richard Hidalgo to have more plunks in a season than Biggio - but that was in 2000 when Biggio's injury held him to 16 plunks while Hidalgo had 21. The last season a healthy Biggio wasn't at least tied for the team lead at the end of the year was 1992 when Bagwell was hit 12 times and Biggio had 7 plunks.
Also in 1992, tonight's starting pitcher for the Marlins,Anibal Sanchez, turned 8 years old. Sanchez was 3 years old when Craig Biggio was taken as the 22nd pick in the 1987 draft by the Astros. Sanchez will be making his 4th career major league appearance tonight, and he has hit a batter in his last 2 outings. He has never thrown a pitch to Craig Biggio that didn't hit him, but that's only because of the minor technicality that he has never faced Biggio. If Sanchez plunks Biggio tonight he will take Dontrelle Willis's title as the youngest pitcher who has plunked Biggio, and be the first pitcher born in 1984 to do so. Sanchez is 2 years younger than Willis, but Willis plunked Biggio when he was 22.34 years old, while Sanchez is currently 22.38. Sanchez would only be the 11th youngest pitcher to plunk Biggio (by age at the time of the plunk), well behind Kerry Wood who was 20.89 years old when he first plunked Biggio. Carlos Zambrano had hit Biggio in two different games by the time he was Sanchez's age.
3 Comments:
Are Bagwell and Biggio's combined Plunk total the highest combined total for two players from the same team?
Yes, Biggio and Bagwell have combined for 398 plunks in the seasons they've been together for the Astros (16 seasons, including this year). The next most plunked pair of teammates where Hughie Jennings and John McGraw who combined for 283 plunks in 7 seasons for the original Baltimore Orioles (19th century, National League edition). The next 4 pairs of teammates on the list are all Hughie Jennings and others he played with for those Orioles, but then Nellie Fox and Minnie Minoso had 235 together in 9 seasons for the White Sox, and not far behind them are Craig Biggio and Richard Hidalgo, who combined for 229 plunks in their 8 seasons together for Houston.
Burke has developed his own twist to the get-hitting skill he is learning from the master. Burke has learned to jump back enough that it doesn't his body, but not so much that it doesn't hit his shirt. While admittedly not the classic "turn away and take it in a meaty part", it's a pretty effective get-hitting technique.
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