Plunk Everyone

HBPs of note: October 1, 2009

Jason Kendall has now been hit by 248 pitches, following yesterdays plunking by Aaron Cook. But, that was the first time Kendall has ever been plunked in the month of October. Aaron Cook has now plunked Kendall twice this season, having previously plunked him on June 11th. Cook is the 6th pitcher to plunk Kendall in two different games in the same season joining Dave Weathers, Mike Maddux, Jamey Wright, Chris Young and Wayne Franklin - although Franklin got in a total of 3 plunks in the two game he plunked Kendall in 2003. Kendall's plunk was the 898th HBP ever recorded at Coors Field, and Troy Tulowitzki was hit later in the game for the 899th.

In other plunk action yesterday, Jeremy Bonderman, Rich Thompson and Clay Condrey all threw there first plunk of the 2009 season - which means that Condrey is the 500th pitcher to plunk a batter this season. This is the first year ever in which 500 pitchers have plunked at least one batter. 664 different players have thrown a pitch this year, which is two short of the record for most pitchers used in a season.

Scott Rolen got plunked again for the Reds, bringing his career total to 112. Chris Carpenter threw that one, putting Rolen in sole possession of 47th place on the all time list, but he's first among batters from Indiana. Carpenter has hit 64 batters in his career.

Shin-Soo Choo got his 17th plunk of the season, putting him one plunk behind teammate Kelly Shoppach for the AL lead in the race for the American League most plunkable player award. Daniel Bard threw that one, but it was only moving 86.5 mph when it left his hand. Bard's other two plunks this year were the two highest velocity HBPs of the season, both over 98 mph. The top ten fastest plunks this season can always be found on the interactive bruise board on the right of this page. Choo is the all time leader in plunks by player born in South Korea, which means that the plunk record holders from Indiana (Rolen), California (Kendall), South Korea (Choo), and the Netherland Antilles (Andruw Jones) were all plunked yesterday.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall