The Bill Chuck Files of February 16, 2020

Off The Bill Chuck Files,

Each Sunday, in remembrance of my friend and J.G Spink Award winner Nick Cafardo, I post “the Bill Chuck Files” (named by Nick in his Sunday Baseball Notes column)

2019 Runs scored by batting order position

Obviously, it’s no surprise that the deeper you go into the lineup, the fewer the runs scored.

SplitR
Batting 1st3323
Batting 2nd3279
Batting 3rd2917
Batting 4th2827
Batting 5th2627
Batting 6th2345
Batting 7th2195
Batting 8th2105
Batting 9th1849

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

2019 teams with the most runs scored by batters in the leadoff slot

RkTeamGR
1ATL166142
2MIN180139
3HOU187134
4BOS172133
5COL173130
6NYY171121
7TBR187119
8WSN176119
9LAD263118
10OAK170116
11NYM207110
12CLE174110
13LAA182110
14PHI182109
15ARI189109
16TEX180107
17SDP189107
18CIN238107
19KCR169106
20BAL174106
21PIT196105
22CHW171105
23TOR173102
24MIL195101
25CHC25599
26MIA22995
27STL19094
28SFG18791
29DET16891
30SEA17888

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

2019 Players with 80+ Runs Scored when batting leadoff

Player GS R
Marcus Semien 145 107
Ronald Acuña 118 106
Whit Merrifield 152 102
Francisco Lindor 141 101
D.J. LeMahieu 125 98
George Springer 119 96
Charlie Blackmon 108 94
Mookie Betts 102 94
Leury García 134 92
Trey Turner 117 92
Shin-Soo Choo 138 89
Max Kepler 105 87

The 2019 Red Sox were the only team with three players with 100+ RBI

Team # Players with 100+ RBI
Boston Red Sox 3 Xander Bogaerts / Rafael Devers / J.D. Martinez
Atlanta Braves 2 Ronald Acuna Jr. / Freddie Freeman
Houston Astros 2 Alex Bregman / Yuli Gurriel
Minnesota Twins 2 Nelson Cruz / Eddie Rosario
Washington Nationals 2 Anthony Rendon / Juan Soto

2019 Runs Scored by Red Sox leadoff batters

Take a look at the Mookie Betts factor.

Name GS PA AB R
Mookie Betts 102 485 413 94
Andrew Benintendi 48 235 199 30
Michael Chavis 4 19 18 3
Jackie Bradley Jr. 2 10 10 2
Marco Hernandez 3 16 15 2

The Betts effect on the 100+ RBI Red Sox batters

Red Sox RBI RS by Betts % of RS by Betts
Xander Bogaerts 117 32 27.3%
Rafael Devers 115 29 25.2%
J.D. Martinez 105 19 18.0%

2019 Runs scored by Dodgers leadoff batters

Here’s a look at the difference Mookie Betts will make.

Name GS PA AB R
Joc Pederson 103 441 384 76
Enrique Hernandez 23 122 110 16
A.J. Pollock 17 80 71 9
Chris Taylor 8 54 43 8
David Freese 5 18 17 2
Gavin Lux 1 7 6 1
Matt Beaty 2 4 4 1

Hey fans, looking to tell the Astros how you really feel?

Here are the first regular-season road games for the Houston Astros. The dates below are the first games of the first visits to your community

  • March 30 – Oakland
  • April 3 – Anaheim
  • April 10 – Arlington, TX
  • April 13 – Tampa Bay
  • April 28 – Arizona
  • April 30 – Seattle
  • May 4- Kansas City (It’s in Missouri, Mr. President)
  • May 18 – Toronto
  • May 22 – Boston
  • June 2 – New York Metsland
  • June 5 – Baltimore
  • June 29 – Cleveland
  • July 3 – Washington
  • July 31 – Minnesota
  • August 24 – Detroit
  • August 28 – Chicago (South Side)
  • September 21 – Yankee Stadium
  • September 25 – Atlanta

Batters versus Aroldis Chapman‘s slider in 2019

In the regular and postseason of 2019, Aroldis Chapman threw 339 sliders to 98 batters. Batters swung at 162 pitches, missed 72, put 44 in play, fouled off 46, chased 65, and took 66 for called strikes. In 88 AB, Chapman allowed 14 hits including four extra-base hits which included three homers. Against Chapman, batters had a .159 BA, .235 OBP, .273 slugging pct., and a .507 OPS. Chapman walked eight batters, hit one batter, and struck out 45 with the slider as the deciding pitch. The three homers that Aroldis surrendered were to Domingo Santana of the Mariners, Travis d’Arnaud of the Rays, and the buzzer-beater to Jose Altuve of the Astros in the ALCS.

Mookie Betts becomes a Dodger before your very eyes

Here is a time-lapse video by Photoshop wizard Zach Gardner of @traderumorsmlb as he trades Mookie Betts’ Red Sox jersey for Dodger blue.

2019 American League Batting by Position

SplitBAOBPSLGOPS
as C.230.296.403.699
as 1B.250.328.448.776
as 2B.254.315.412.726
as 3B.262.329.452.781
as SS.272.330.454.783
as LF.264.332.450.782
as CF.246.317.435.753
as RF.259.330.454.784
as DH.248.329.457.786
as P.087.132.090.222
as PH.219.327.389.715

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

2019 National League Batting by Position

SplitBAOBPSLGOPS
as C.246.321.412.734
as 1B.262.347.475.822
as 2B.259.325.423.748
as 3B.263.340.474.814
as SS.266.323.437.760
as LF.260.332.465.797
as CF.254.321.420.741
as RF.268.345.470.815
as DH.225.314.418.732
as P.131.161.168.329
as PH.223.310.396.706

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

How much should the Dodgers be concerned about Kenley Jansen?

Jensen’s numbers are going in the wrong direction.

G IP SV BS SV% R H HR XBH BB K IR IS ERA WHIP BA OBP
2019 64 64.2 33 8 80.5% 28 51 9 22 16 82 16 5 3.62 1.04 .208 .265
2018 78 82.1 41 6 87.2% 30 58 15 24 20 95 14 3 2.84 0.95 .191 .245
2017 78 85.0 46 2 95.8% 15 52 7 16 10 129 24 5 1.38 0.73 .170 .206
2016 78 80.1 50 6 89.3% 18 40 5 17 16 123 16 1 2.02 0.70 .146 .201
2015 63 61.0 38 2 95.0% 17 40 7 13 12 92 12 6 2.51 0.85 .183 .230
2014 69 66.1 45 5 90.0% 20 55 5 16 19 103 13 5 2.71 1.12 .221 .274

Rest In Peace: Tony Fernandez and Katsuya Nomura

Blue Jays legend Tony Fernandez passed away Saturday at the age of 57. Fernandez was a brilliant shortstop who spent 12 of his 17 MLB seasons with the Jays and was on their 1993 World Championship team. With Toronto, Fernandez won four Gold Glove Awards and appeared in five All-Star Games. Tony also played for the Brewers, Padres, both Ohio teams (the Indians and Reds) and both New York teams (Mets and Yankees). He was born in in San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, the home of many great major leaguers including Alfonso Soriano, Juan Samuel, Pedro Guerrero, Robinson Cano, Guillermo Mota, and Rico Carty. He was born on June 30, 1962, the day Sandy Koufax pitched his first no-hitter (vs. the Mets). He was a career .288 hitter and remains Toronto’s leader in games (1,450), hits (1,583) and triples (72).

Katsuya Nomura was a legendary catcher and manager in Japan. He died this past week in Tokyo at the age of 84. While we have all heard of Sadaharu Oh, Namura was less well-know in spite of playing for 26 seasons (some as a player-manager) and hitting 657 home runs with 1988 RBI, both second all-time behind Oh. His 2901 hits are also second all-time in Japan.

“Nomura minus baseball equals zero,” he once said. “There would be nothing left if you take baseball away from me.”