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Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 8:24 pm
by Frayed Knot
Triggered by a discussion during one of the recent games where an announcer (I think AJ Pierzynski) mentioned JD Martinez's GS total (8)
before adding, 'but he comes up with the bases loaded a lot'. So that got me wondering who made the most of their trips w/bases loaded.
Ventura always comes to mind as his total is up there among a bunch of guys who mostly have a bunch more HRs than him.
So I took the top 13 all time GS leaders, which translates to 16 GS or more, and compared that to the number of PAs he had with the
pillows (as Keith would say) full of teammates. And, yes, I used PAs rather than just ABs to account for all trips to the plate which
started with runners all around.
So who is the clutchiest GS hitter among the elites?
Why it's none other than David Arthur Kingman!!!, who HR'd in a little under one of every ten bases loaded PAs
Ventura, as it turns out, was smack in the middle of the pack within the group.
| GS | PA w/123 | Pct |
KINGMAN, DAVE | 16 | 167 | 9.58% |
McCOVEY, WILLIE | 18 | 196 | 9.18% |
LEE, CARLOS | 17 | 207 | 8.21% |
RODRIGUEZ, ALEX | 25 | 310 | 8.06% |
GEHRIG, LOU | 23 | 292 | 7.88% |
WILLIAMS, TED | 17 | 220 | 7.73% |
VENTURA, ROBIN | 18 | 238 | 7.56% |
RAMIREZ, MANNY | 21 | 285 | 7.37% |
BABE RUTH | 16 | 224 | 7.14% |
FOXX, JIMMIE | 17 | 242 | 7.02% |
MURRAY, EDDIE | 19 | 302 | 6.29% |
AARON, HANK | 16 | 272 | 5.88% |
PUJOLS, ALBERT | 16 | 315 | 5.08% |
Do I think the results of this 'study' says anything? No, not really. Random variation most likely.
Mostly I was just curious.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:11 pm
by DocTee
I remember someone from the mid-80s--Pat Tabler? Tom Paciorek?---who had a ridiculous (like .450) BA with the bases juiced. Not sure how many HRs though
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:13 pm
by Frayed Knot
Yeah, I wanted to stick to elite type GS hitters as I'm sure there's somebody who HR's in what turned out
to be his only AB with the bags juiced in his career which would wildly throw off the numbers.
oe: I thought of Paciorek too, but it was Tabler who was the bags juiced monster.
109 [1-2-3] PAs with a slash line of: .489/.505/.693 // 1198 but just 2 HRs so less than a 2% GS rate
which is probably the best to expect from a guy with just 47 career HRs in 4,000+ PA
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:28 pm
by batmagadanleadoff
if I'm reading this correctly, Kingman's former Mets teammate, John Milner, hit 10 grand slams in 79 PAs with the bases loaded, a rate of 12.6%
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:33 pm
by Frayed Knot
Yup.
I had the idea to go as low as 10 GS but the easiest lists to find showed only those 13 players with 16 or more.
I think it's likely that we'd find several players with higher rates if more were included.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:38 pm
by batmagadanleadoff
Frayed Knot wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:33 pm
I think it's likely that we'd find several players with higher rates if more were included.
Agreed. Milner came to my mind right away because I remember he had a knack for hitting grand slams. So I looked up his situational splits on BR.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:47 pm
by Frayed Knot
I didn't look but Ventura probably has the fewest overall HRs (294) of those on the above list
and still that's well over double Milner's total of 131.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 11:31 pm
by Edgy MD
DocTee wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:11 pm
I remember someone from the mid-80s--Pat Tabler? Tom Paciorek?---who had a ridiculous (like .450) BA with the bases juiced. Not sure how many HRs though
While there's likely never been another player quite like Pat Tabler with the bases loaded, he manged two grand slams in 109 plate appearances.
Nothing to sneeze at, of course, but what made him remarkable wasn't his bases-loaded power, but just how insanely hard he was to get out, despite otherwise being about as
league-average a hitter as there was in the league.
Team | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | ROE | BAbip |
Career | 109 | 88 | 80 | 43 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 108 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 9 | .489 | .505 | .693 | 1.198 | 61 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | .477 |
Mets | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 |
He joined the Mets at the end of his 10th season, and you'd figure by then, the pattern would have revealed itself as the quirk it was, or, if it was somehow a product of a distinct approach he had, the league would have figured it out.
But there he is with the Mets, as perfect as you can ask, small as his his sample size is. And he continued to excel in those situations after that in his last two seasons with the Blue Jays.
It's a small wonder that baseball ever let him retire.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 12:14 am
by Gwreck
Frayed Knot wrote: ↑Tue Jun 11, 2024 9:47 pmI didn't look but Ventura probably has the fewest overall HRs (294) of those on the above list
By a wide margin. Carlos Lee had 358, Kingman in the mid 400s, Gehrig 493, and the rest are all in the 500 club.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 7:37 am
by Frayed Knot
108 RBI for Tabler in his 109 bases loaded PAs!!
How many RBIs do the Mets get out of 109 sacks juiced PAs? ... 25, maybe 30?
And at least 15 of those are from BBs and/or HBPs. Those are our most reliable run scoring plays.
oe: 34 in 69 PA to date this season (4 BB, 2 HBP)* or right about half Tabler's rate
SIGN TABLER NOW!!!!
* also 3 Sac Flies, so in 60 official ABs w/bases loaded the Mets have managed to knock in 25 runs on 11 hits [.183] seven of them singles
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 12:59 pm
by MFS62
Gil Hodges hit 14 career grand slams & was the NL All Time leader in that category at the time of his retirement.
What was his frequency?
Later
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 1:13 pm
by Edgy MD
| GS | PA w/123 | Pct |
KINGMAN, DAVE | 16 | 167 | 9.58% |
McCOVEY, WILLIE | 18 | 196 | 9.18% |
LEE, CARLOS | 17 | 207 | 8.21% |
RODRIGUEZ, ALEX | 25 | 310 | 8.06% |
GEHRIG, LOU | 23 | 292 | 7.88% |
WILLIAMS, TED | 17 | 220 | 7.73% |
VENTURA, ROBIN | 18 | 238 | 7.56% |
RAMIREZ, MANNY | 21 | 285 | 7.37% |
BABE RUTH | 16 | 224 | 7.14% |
FOXX, JIMMIE | 17 | 242 | 7.02% |
>> HODGES, GIL | 14 | 215 | 6.51% |
MURRAY, EDDIE | 19 | 302 | 6.29% |
AARON, HANK | 16 | 272 | 5.88% |
PUJOLS, ALBERT | 16 | 315 | 5.08% |
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 1:58 pm
by MFS62
Thank you.
Later
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 2:32 pm
by Frayed Knot
MFS62 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 12:59 pm
Gil Hodges hit 14 career grand slams & was the NL All Time leader in that category at the time of his retirement.
What was his frequency?
I dunno. Ask Kenneth. Or Dan Rather.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 2:47 pm
by MFS62
Please do.
Edgy understood what I meant.
Later
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 3:23 pm
by ashie62
Robin Ventura, I was at that game
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 3:40 pm
by Frayed Knot
MFS62 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 2:47 pm
Please do.
Edgy understood what I meant.
So did I.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 3:56 pm
by MFS62
Frayed Knot wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 3:40 pm
MFS62 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2024 2:47 pm
Please do.
Edgy understood what I meant.
So did I.
The why did you respond the way you did, saying "I dunno"?
Later
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 3:57 pm
by Frayed Knot
Because the question had already been answered so I decided to make a joke instead.
Re: Grand Slams
Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2024 4:03 pm
by MFS62
Oh. I like your music and movie references. That one escaped me.
Later