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Intentional Walk Trivia

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 12:54 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 26 2011 01:11 PM

I know, it sounds like I'm really delving into 'Obscure-land' here (and, of course, I am), but this one kind of caught my eye for a couple of goofy reasons. 1) It involves several one-time Mets 2) there are two distinct types of guys who falls onto this list: good hitting/free-swingers, or weak hitters who bat eighth and get walked to get to the pitcher What list, you say? ... Why the list of those who have at least 1/3 of their career walks as intentional walks, that's who. There are thirteen of them since 1950 in case you were wondering. Most of the list is too obscure for even the biggest geeks so I've already filled those in on the table below. But the six guys I'm looking for here are either active (2 of them) or called Shea their home park for at least a piece of their career (4). Note that there is no overlap between those two groups; the players are either active MLB players right now, OR they are one-time Mets. Of the ex-Mets: one started his ML career as a Met but did not finish that way; one finished his ML career as a Met but did not start there; the other two neither started nor finished their careers in blue & orange but did pass through along the way. Three of the four ex-Mets had more career ABs as a Met than in any other uni. So, with those clues given and the category of player plus their BB/IBB stats filled in, you just need to provide the names. PLAYER BB IBB Pct Active Player 721 247 34.3% Active Player 467 156 33.4% Former NYM 375 144 38.4% Manny Sanguillen 223 96 43.0% Former NYM 191 64 33.5% John Bateman 172 69 40.1% Former NYM 151 58 38.4% Fernando Gonzalez 58 20 34.5% Former NYM 55 25 45.5% Steve Lake 43 17 39.5% Rod Booker 27 9 33.3% Charles Thomas 26 9 34.6% Freddie Benavides 20 7 35.0%

Ceetar Jul 26 2011 12:56 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Rey Ordonez?

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 26 2011 12:59 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Dave Kingman in 3rd place

Ceetar Jul 26 2011 12:59 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Preston Wilson?

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 01:00 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Rey-Rey does indeed fill the spot of the one who started his career as a New York Met Kingman is incorrect., as is Preston Wilson PLAYER BB IBB Pct Active Player 721 247 34.3% Active Player 467 156 33.4% Former NYM 375 144 38.4% Manny Sanguillen 223 96 43.0% Rey Ordonez 191 64 33.5% John Bateman 172 69 40.1% Former NYM 151 58 38.4% Fernando Gonzalez 58 20 34.5% Former NYM 55 25 45.5% Steve Lake 43 17 39.5% Rod Booker 27 9 33.3% Charles Thomas 26 9 34.6% Freddie Benavides 20 7 35.0%

Ceetar Jul 26 2011 01:03 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

hmm...Pujols?

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 01:07 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Nope. Prince Albert would jump onto the list in 2nd place [u:2x8mlutj]IF[/u:2x8mlutj] you drop the standard to 25% (behind Bonds of course), but he doesn't make this one.

DocTee Jul 26 2011 01:29 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Frank Taveras?

Ceetar Jul 26 2011 01:30 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Big Bad Vlad Guerrero?

Edgy DC Jul 26 2011 01:37 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Doug Flynn. Tim Foli.

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 02:01 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Vlad's number 1, Vlad's number 1 and Flynn is correct as well. No go on Frank Tavares or Tim Foli PLAYER BB IBB Pct Valdmir Guerrero 721 247 34.3% Active Player 467 156 33.4% Former NYM 375 144 38.4% Manny Sanguillen 223 96 43.0% Rey Ordonez 191 64 33.5% John Bateman 172 69 40.1% Doug Flynn 151 58 38.4% Fernando Gonzalez 58 20 34.5% Former NYM 55 25 45.5% Steve Lake 43 17 39.5% Rod Booker 27 9 33.3% Charles Thomas 26 9 34.6% Freddie Benavides 20 7 35.0% OF the remaining ex-Mets, the higher one had a long career but only a brief one in Queens, the other a shorter overall career but spent more time as a Met.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jul 26 2011 02:09 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

A. Soriano.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jul 26 2011 02:32 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Mo Vaughn?

TransMonk Jul 26 2011 02:35 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Mo Vaughn? Oooo...I like that one.

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 02:48 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 26 2011 05:36 PM

Not bad guesses but both are NO. I hadn't thought of Soriano - but he has surprising few IBBs (58 of 399), at least partially because he got almost none in the Bronx where he was usually surrounded by better bats in the lineup. Big Mo fell just short of 20% for his career. You wouldn't label any of the remaining guys as power hitters.

Ceetar Jul 26 2011 02:49 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Ramon Castro? (I assume one of them is gonna be a feast or famine type backup catcher that usually batted 8th)

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 02:51 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Not Ramon (or Nomar for that matter) but one of the remainder is/was a catcher.

Ceetar Jul 26 2011 07:42 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Frayed Knot wrote: Not Ramon (or Nomar for that matter) but one of the remainder is/was a catcher. Todd Pratt?

Chad Ochoseis Jul 26 2011 07:47 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

OF the remaining ex-Mets, the higher one had a long career but only a brief one in Queens Larry Bowa?

TheOldMole Jul 26 2011 07:58 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Willie Mays?

Frayed Knot Jul 26 2011 08:32 PM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

The remaining players are ... PLAYER BB IBB Pct Valdmir Guerrero 721 247 34.3% Ichiro Suzuki 467 156 33.4% Garry Templeton 375 144 38.4% Manny Sanguillen 223 96 43.0% Rey Ordonez 191 64 33.5% John Bateman 172 69 40.1% Doug Flynn 151 58 38.4% Fernando Gonzalez 58 20 34.5% Mackey Sasser 55 25 45.5% Steve Lake 43 17 39.5% Rod Booker 27 9 33.3% Charles Thomas 26 9 34.6% Freddie Benavides 20 7 35.0%

MFS62 Jul 27 2011 07:39 AM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

I would have thought Tony Pena, only because of Ralph Kiner's famous line "The toughest thing to do in baseball is walk Tony Pena". So, I figured a substantial percentage of his BBs were intentional. Later

Edgy DC Jul 27 2011 07:50 AM Re: Intentional Walk Trivia

Peņa had a perfectly modest .049 walk rate, better than (for instance) Mookie Wilson (.040). The real walkless wonders were Tim F. Foli (.032) and Ozzie Guillen (.023).