Tag Archives: Yadier Molina

Stats the Fact, Jack: August 2, 2020

By Jerry Tapp on | Leave a comment

(A weekly look at several sports stats you may not know)

  • On June 29, four Brewers pitchers (Brandon Woodruff, David Phelps, Devin Williams and Josh Hader) combined on a one-hit shutout in the team’s 3-0 win over the Pirates. It was the first one-hit shutout by the Brew Crew pitching staff since May 7, 2011 when Yovani Gallardo and John Axford combined on a one-hit shutout of the Cardinals in a Brewers’ 4-0 victory. The last one-hit, complete game shutout by one pitcher for the Brewers was August 31, 2008 when CC Sabathia did it against the Pirates in a 7-0 Brewers win.
  • In that same June 29th game, the Brewers pitching staff had 14 strikeouts. It was the 92nd game in team history where the pitching staff had 14 or more strikeouts. The Brewers are 62-30 in those games.
  • Through the first six games of the 2020 season, Christian Yelich was one-for-27, a .037 batting average. In his previous two seasons in Milwaukee, Yelich was 9-for-22 (in 2019) and 10-for-26 (in 2018) in his first six games of those two seasons, a combined average of .396. In his career prior to this season, Yelich was 51-for-170 in the first six games of a season, a .300 average.
  • From 2010-19, the New England Patriots were 24-0 in games where one of their players amassed 100 or more yards rushing, the only undefeated team in that timeframe. The league as a whole was 761-284-7 (a .727 winning percentage) when teams had one player gain at least 100 yards rushing in a contest. The Packers were 20-5-1 (.788) from 2010-19 in games where they had a running back gain 100 or more yards in a game.
  • Former MLB manager John McNamara died on July 28, 2020 at the age of 88. He was the skipper for six different MLB teams in his career (Oakland, San Diego, Cincinnati, California, Boston and Cleveland) and won 1160 games in his managerial career. He is one of 64 managers in league history to win 1,000 or more games as a manager. He managed in one World Series… with the Boston Red Sox in 1986.
  • On one baseball broadcast I watched, there was discussion about how many home runs would lead the majors in the game-shortened season (60 games). The announcers opined that they thought 20 might lead the league this year. For the record, the most home runs in the first 60 games of a season is 32 by Barry Bonds in 2001. He is followed by Mark McGwire with 28 in the first 60 games of the 1998 seasons; Mickey Mantle with 27 HRs in the first 60 games of the 1956 campaign; and Babe Ruth with 27 long balls in the first 60 games of the 1928 season. The most home runs by a Brewers player in the first 60 games of a season happened last year when Christian Yelich had 22 in the first 60 games. Prince Fielder held the record with 21 HRs after the first 60 games of the 2007 season. Carlos Lee (2006) and Richie Sexson (2003) each hit 19 homers in the first 60 games of a season with the Brewers.
  • Prior to the start of the eight-game bubble season for the NBA, the Bucks had two players averaging over 20 points per game for the 2019-20 season: Giannis at 29.6 and Khris Middleton at 21.1. If they both finish the season over 20 points per game, it would be the third time in four years that the Bucks had two players average 20.0-plus points per game in a season. In 2017-18, Giannis and Middleton averaged 26.9 and 20.1 respectively; in 2016-17, Jabari Parker averaged 20.1 and Giannis averaged 22.9 per game. In three straight years starting with the 1999-2000 season, Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson each averaged over 20 points per game in a season for the Bucks, the only time in team history that the same two players averaged 20 or more points per game in three consecutive seasons.
  • Green Bay Packers running back Aaron Jones tied with Christian McCaffrey for the most TDs in the NFL last season with 19. Jones was 12th in the league with 1,084 rushing yards. Tennessee’s Derrick Henry led the league in rushing with 1,540 yards. The Packers have had a player lead the league in rushing only once in team history: Jim Taylor led the NFL in rushing in 1962 with 1,474 yards.
  • The shortened MLB season will likely prevent a few players from reaching important milestones in their careers. The Cubs’ Jon Lester started the season with 190 career wins and appeared a sure bet to reach 200 this season; he had won at least 10 games in 11 of his 15 seasons. Now reaching 200 this year could be a tough road for him. On the batters’ side, Yadier Molina and Ryan Braun were two players who looked like they would pass the 2,000-hit mark this season. Molina started the year with 1,963 career hits; Braun had 1,933.
  • Speaking of 2,000 hits, Ian Kinsler, who played for the San Diego Padres last season, announced his retirement in December, 2019. Kinsler had 1,999 career hits in a 14-year career and it looks like he will end his career one hit short of 2,000. One other MLB player ended his career with 1,999 hits: Jimmy Collins, who played from 1895-1908.

 

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Today’s Sports Stat-August 3, 2017

By Jerry Tapp on | Leave a comment

St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina had a pair of home runs in the Cards win over the Brewers last night at Miller Park. Molina has now hit 12 home runs at Miller Park, the most at any opposing ballpark for the perennial All-Star catcher.

Molina’s 12 HRs at Miller Park are not the most by an opposing player. There are seven players who have never played for the Brewers who have hit 15 or more home runs at Miller Park: Andrew McCutcheon (19), Albert Pujols (19), Matt Holliday (17), Joey Votto (17), Lance Berkman (16), Derrek Lee (16) and Adam Dunn (15).

 

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Lucroy making a run at Brewers’ RBI mark for catchers

By Jerry Tapp on | Leave a comment

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.

Jonathan Lucroy

Jonathan Lucroy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy had a pair of RBIs last night in the team’s 9-3 win over the Cubs. Those RBIs give Lucroy 42 for the season, which places him first on the team in that category.

In looking at the Brewers history, there has been only one Brewers catcher who has led the team in RBIs in a season. Dave Nilsson did it in 1994 when he had 69 RBIs. If Lucroy maintains this pace, he could become the second backstop to lead the team in runs batted in.

Lucroy has 42 RBI in 64 games played. The Brewers have 87 games left on their schedule, and should Lucroy play in all 87 games (not likely) he is on a pace to drive in 99 for the season. Only one Brewers catcher has ever driven in 100 or more runs in a season; that was Ted Simmons in 1983 when he had 108 RBI while catching in 86 of 152 games that season.

Here’s a look at Brewers catchers who finished in the Top 3 in team RBI for a season (players must have caught 50% or more of the season’s games to qualify):

1973: Darrell Porter, 67 RBI (third on team)
1975: Darrell Porter, 60 RBI (tied for second on the team)
1981: Ted Simmons, 61 (third on team)
1983: Ted Simmons, 108 (second on team)
1994: Dave Nilsson, 69 (first on team)

Here’s a look at the most RBI by a Brewers catcher in a season (caught 50% or more of the season’s games to qualify)

1. Ted Simmons, 1983… 108
2. Ted Simmons, 1982… 97
3. Dave Nilsson, 1994… 69
4. B.J. Surhoff, 1991… 68
5. B.J. Surhoff, 1987… 68

Note: Through games of June 25, Lucroy ranks tied for second in the majors for catchers with 42 RBI  (he is tied with Cards’ catcher Yadier Molina). Buster Posey leads all MLB catchers with 43 RBIs.

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Yadier Molina could challenge all-time batting average mark for catchers

By Jerry Tapp on | Leave a comment

Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.

Yadier Molina

Yadier Molina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina through games of June 20 leads the majors with a .366 batting average. This mark is 81 points above Molina’s career batting average of .285 and 51 points above his best season when he hit .315 last year. This 2013 MLB season is a little short of being half complete, but Molina could be approaching some historic numbers if he keeps up this pace.

If Molina finishes the season above .350, he would become the ninth catcher in major league history to have a batting average of .350 or higher for a season. But what’s even more interesting is what Molina could accomplish if he can raise his average a few points and end the season at .368 or above: If he finishes at .368 or above, he would have the highest batting average for a catcher in a season in baseball history. (Note: This is based on the player playing 50% or more of his games as a catcher and having enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.)

Here’s a look at the catchers who have had the highest single season batting averages in baseball history.

Batting Average, Catcher, Team, Year
.367 Babe Phelps, Brooklyn, 1936
.365 Joe Mauer, Minnesota, 2009
.362 Mike Piazza, Los Angeles, 1997
.362 Bill Dickey, N.Y. Yankees, 1936
.358 Chief Meyers, N.Y Giants, 1912
.357 Mickey Cochrane, Philadelphia A’s, 1930
.354 Gabby Hartnett, Chicago Cubs, 1937
.353 Bubbles Hargrave, Cincinnati, 1926

Let’s widen the parameters a bit. If we drop the batting average down to .320 or better, Molina would become the 38th catcher to finish the season with a batting average over .320 if he can keep that mark. A catcher batting .320 or above in a season has happened 77 times in baseball history by 37 different players. Mickey Cochrane had the most seasons with a .320 or above batting average with seven. He is followed by Bill Dickey with six, Ernie Lombardi, Joe Mauer and Mike Piazza with five each, and Spud Davis, Gabby Hartnett, Jason Kendall and Ivan Rodriguez with three each.

Since 2000, there have been 11 times when a catcher finished the season with a batting average of .320 or above. So far this season, we have three catchers above .320: Molina, Mauer and Buster Posey.

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