Plunk Everyone

It's often been said around baseball that without pitchers nobody would get hit by pitches. Daniel Cabrera of the Orioles is one such pitcher. He's hit 17 batters so far this season, leading the Major Leagues. Showing a tremendous sense of balance, he's hit 9 right handed batters and 8 lefties. He has also plunked an impressive 6 members of the American League All-Star Team, including the entire starting infield. He's been relatively efficient in hitting batters, with opposing batters seeing just 3.1 pitches when they get hit. That's just a little bit below the league average. And, he's still the only pitcher in the majors who has hit a batter on every day of the week this season. According to MLB Gameday's pitch f/x data, Cabrera's average start and end speeds on the pitches with which he hit's batters are the fastest in the majors, among pitchers who have hit at least 10 batters. (Although data is only available for 13 of his 17 plunks). He hits lefties slightly harder than right handers, with plunks to lefties averaging 93.5 mph leaving his hand, and slowing to 85 mph at impact. Pitches Cabrera threw to hit right-handers have averaged 92.5 mph to start, and hitting at about 84.4 mph. Those plunks to right handers may be a bit slower, but they also tend to be higher - averaging 4'6" off the ground, while lefties have been plunked down low by Cabrera - about 2'7" off the ground. (The league wide average height of plunks thrown by right handed pitcher to right handed batters is about 3'8", and 2'4" when righties hit lefty batters).

If Cabrera can hit 4 more batters, he'll break the Orioles single season franchise record. That record is 20, by Barney Pelty, who set the mark for the 1904 St. Louis Browns, which moved to Baltimore and took up the Orioles name in 1954. At just 3 hit batters behind his franchise record, Daniel Cabrera is the closest of any pitcher this year to breaking such a mark. The only other real contenders are Roy Halladay, who could break Chris Carpenter's 2001 Blue Jays record of 16, and Oliver Perez who is similarly 5 plunks from tying the Mets record, set by Pedro Astacio in 2002. Back in July, Micah Owings was on pace to challenge Randy Johnson's single season record with the Diamondbacks, but he has since been sent to the minors, and is rumored to be the player to be named later in the Adam Dunn deal, which would send him to the Reds. Owings could possibly still be brought back up to the majors before the end of the year, and hit 7 more batters to break Johnson's record, but you have to wonder if Randy is pulling some GM strings to protect that record.

Here's the full list of 2008 team leaders in hitting batters, along with the single season franchise records:

Team	2008 Leader	Hit batters	Franchise Record
Orioles	Daniel Cabrera	17	20 by Barney Pelty in 1904
D-backs	Micah Owings	12	18 by Randy Johnson in 2001
Mets	Oliver Perez	11	16 by Pedro Astacio in 2002
Blue Jays	Roy Halladay	11	16 by Chris Carpenter in 2001
White Sox	Gavin Floyd	8	16 by Clark Griffith in 1902, and Jim Scott in 1909
Royals	Brian Bannister	6	13 by Jim Colborn in 1977, Mike Boddicker in 1991, and Zack Greinke in 2005
Padres	Randy Wolf	8	16 by Matt Clement in 2000
Astros	Roy Oswalt	7	16 by Jack Billingham in 1971, and Darryl Kile in 1996
Rays	James Shields	10	20 by Victor Zambrano in 2003
Rangers	Vicente Padilla	9	19 by Charlie Hough in 1987
Red Sox	Tim Wakefield	9	20 by Howard Ehmke in 1923, and Bronson Arroyo in 2004
Rockies	Jorge De La Rosa, Ubaldo Jimenez	7	17 by Pedro Astacio in 1998
Braves	Dave Bush	9	20 by Jamey Wright in 2001
Mariners	Jarrod Washburn	7	18 by Randy Johnson in 1992
Tigers	Justin Verlander	10	23 by Howard Ehmke in 1922
Nationals	Odalis Perez, John Lannan	6	18 by Ramon Ortiz in 2006
Twins	Nick Blackburn	7	20 by Bill Carrick in 1901, Case Patten in 1904, and Walter Johnson in 1923
Angels	John Lackey	7	21 by Tom Murphy in 1969
Indians	Aaron Laffey	9	24 by Otto Hess in 1906
Phillies	Kyle Kendrick	12	28 by JackTaylor in 1897
Marlins	Ricky Nolasco, Mark Hendrickson	5	19 by DontrelleWillis in 2006
Cubs	Jason Marquis, Kerry Wood	7	24 by NixeyCallahan in 1899
Cardinals	Braden Looper	8	27 by WillieSudhoff in 1898
Yankees	Mike Mussina, Andy Pettitte	6	26 by JackWarhop in 1909
Pirates	Paul Maholm	7	27 by PinkHawley in 1897
A's	Dana Eveland	9	32 by ChickFraser in 1901
Reds	Edinson Volquez	11	35 by WillWhite in 1884
Braves	Jeff Bennett	6	30 by Vic Willis in 1898 and 1899
Giants	Keiichi Yabu	6	37 by Ed Doheny in 1899
Dodgers	Chad Billingsley	6	41 by Joe McGinnity in 1900

Labels: Daniel Cabrera, Pitching Records