The Bill Chuck Files of February 16, 2020
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.
Split | R |
---|---|
Batting 1st | 3323 |
Batting 2nd | 3279 |
Batting 3rd | 2917 |
Batting 4th | 2827 |
Batting 5th | 2627 |
Batting 6th | 2345 |
Batting 7th | 2195 |
Batting 8th | 2105 |
Batting 9th | 1849 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com
2019 teams with the most runs scored by batters in the leadoff slot
Rk | Team | G | R |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ATL | 166 | 142 |
2 | MIN | 180 | 139 |
3 | HOU | 187 | 134 |
4 | BOS | 172 | 133 |
5 | COL | 173 | 130 |
6 | NYY | 171 | 121 |
7 | TBR | 187 | 119 |
8 | WSN | 176 | 119 |
9 | LAD | 263 | 118 |
10 | OAK | 170 | 116 |
11 | NYM | 207 | 110 |
12 | CLE | 174 | 110 |
13 | LAA | 182 | 110 |
14 | PHI | 182 | 109 |
15 | ARI | 189 | 109 |
16 | TEX | 180 | 107 |
17 | SDP | 189 | 107 |
18 | CIN | 238 | 107 |
19 | KCR | 169 | 106 |
20 | BAL | 174 | 106 |
21 | PIT | 196 | 105 |
22 | CHW | 171 | 105 |
23 | TOR | 173 | 102 |
24 | MIL | 195 | 101 |
25 | CHC | 255 | 99 |
26 | MIA | 229 | 95 |
27 | STL | 190 | 94 |
28 | SFG | 187 | 91 |
29 | DET | 168 | 91 |
30 | SEA | 178 | 88 |
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
Split | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|
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
Split | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|
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.”