Plunk Everyone

HBPs of note: August 24, 2009

Ken Griffey Jr. got hit by a pitch in the Mariners game yesterday, thrown by A's pitcher Vin Mazzaro. That was Griffey's 81st career plunk and his first since August 7th last year. That was the only HBP recorded this season by someone who made his Major League debut in 1989 - although the only other player who debuted in 1989 who has batted this year is Omar Vizquel. However, Gary Sheffield and Jamie Moyer both joined the league before 1989 and have been plunked this year.

Paul Konerko got hit by the 75th plunk of his career yesterday, and it was also the 20th plunk this season by a player born in Rhode Island. He got hit by Daniel Bard who had hit only one other batter this year. Konerko's plunk was clocked at 98.2 MPH by MLB's gameday pitch f/x computers, which makes it the second fastest plunk of this season. The fastest was Bard's other plunk, when he hit Raul Ibanez at 99.1 MPH. Actually though, those pitches slow down between when they leave the pitchers hand and when they hit the batter so Konerko's 75th career plunk had decelerated to 88.4 MPH by the time it hit him - which does not rank in top.

Kevin Youkilis collected his 12th plunk of the season, and the 54th of his career. That ties him with Harry Hooper for 8th place on the career list for the Red Sox. That was the 2nd of his career thrown by Jose Contreras.

Labels: HBPs of note