innings and outs
If the Astro's continue to go with their latest shuffling of the batting order, which has Craig Biggio batting 6th in the lineup, Biggio might have a chance to do something else that he's never done. Because he has been near the top of the batting order for so much of his career, he has been plunked 56 times in the first inning, but never with with 2 outs.
Interestingly, Biggio's 2 out HBPs have occurred, on average, later in the game than his 1 out plunks and no out plunks. The average of the innings in which he's been hit with no outs is 3.8. It's 5.0 for 1 out plunks and 5.42 for 2 out plunks. While nearly 39.3% of Biggio's plunks with no outs in an inning have come in the first inning, none of his 6 extra innings plunks have been recorded with no outs. The median inning of his no out plunks is the 3rd, but the median inning for his 1 out and 2 out plunks is the 5th. He's been hit most often with no outs in the 1st inning, but his best inning for 1 out plunks is the 5th, and for 2 out plunks it's the 7th.
Here are the number of times he's been hit in each inning by number of outs:
| Inning | 0 outs | 1 out | 2 outs |
| 1 | 46 | 10 | 0 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | 12 | 16 | 13 |
| 4 | 10 | 7 | 10 |
| 5 | 10 | 18 | 8 |
| 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | 12 | 12 | 14 |
| 8 | 12 | 8 | 6 |
| 9 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| total | 117 | 93 | 71 |
I have yet to find a theory to explain this.
Craig Biggio has also never been plunked while batting 6th in the lineup. He's been hit in every other batting slot except 4th. On April 16th this year, he had his first ever plunk in the 9th spot in the batting order, while pinch hitting. Retrosheet lists his stats through 2005 by batting order slot on their splits page here.
Labels: batting order, extra innings, outs
4 Comments:
Here's a theory on why he's hit more often with two outs:
Opposing pitchers, while eager to pitch in and help Biggio in his march towards history, are less eager to let him score after the deed's been done. By hitting him with two outs in the inning, they stand at less risk of giving up a run.
Or maybe, batting lead-off ahead of the pitcher slot, he's more likely to come up with outs already in the inning. Both theories have their merits.
On a separate issue, there's been a lot of talk recently about hitting streaks (including our own Willy Taveras) but very little mention of get-hitting streaks. Any idea what the longest consecutive-game plunk streak was, either by a hitter or a pitcher? What a Biggio's personal best?
If my memory serves, the PBR reported on a three-game streak by Chris "Bidge Jr." Burke earlier this year. That's got to be close.
hmm... so your theory is the early inning/no out plunks are mistakes but the late inning, multiple out plunks are contributions?
I think Baylor might have had a 4 game plunk streak but a conclusive answer is probably not going to be available.
How many of Biggio's 46 first-inning, 0-out plunks are lead-off plunks? Since Biggio is one of the greatest lead-off hitters ever and one of the greatest get-hitters ever, I would suppose that he's the greatest lead-off get-hitter ever. Since you are great at facts as well as suppositions, can you tell me whether my supposition is correct
The leadoff plunk count stands at 39 (1st inning, 1st batter for the Astros), but he hasn't done it this year. For more information on getting hit leadoff, check here.
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