Plunk Everyone

109 for Rickie Weeks! Rickie Weeks picked up his 109th career plunk, and timed it nicely in the 10th inning of the Brewers game against Colorado. That plunk put Weeks on base to score the winning run on a walkoff sac-fly. 109 plunks extend Weeks’ Brewers franchise record, and he also extended his Miller Park record total to 53. On the all time list for career HBPs, he’s tied for 58th with Manny Ramirez and Sherry Magee.

In Cincinnati, Angels pinch hitter Hank Conger took a two out plunk in the top of the 13th inning to load the bases, setting up Chris Iannetta‘s two run single that held up as the game winning rbis. Conger didn’t score himself, but it was still a clutch 13th inning HBP. JJ Hoover threw that one for the Reds, and it was his first plunk as a major league pitcher. He’s the 599th pitcher to throw a plunk for the Reds.

AJ Burnett threw the 108th plunk of his career yesterday, hitting Nate Schierholtz. Burnett is tied for 64th on the all time list for hitting batters, tied with Tim Hudson, Gaylord Perry, and Billy Rhines. Burnett and Hudson are behind only Jamey Wright among active pitchers.

Shin-Soo Choo extended his South Korean record plunk total to 56, and Mark Ellis extended his record total for players born in South Dakota to 62.

April 2nd is the birthday of 19th century plunk master Hughie Jennings – the all time leader with 287 career HBPs – so it’s a good day for everyone to take some plunks.

Rickie Weeks has now tied Fernando Vina for third place in National League Central division HBP history, getting hit by 108 pitches.  Vina got hit 108 times while playing for the Brewers in 1998 and 1999, and the Cardinals from 2000 to 2003.  Weeks has gotten all 108 of his career plunks with the Brewers, and holds that club’s franchise record.  On the all time list Weeks 108 plunks rank 60th, tied with Mo Vaugh and Bill Joyce.  Corey Hart also got hit in that game (Kyle McPherson hit them both in the 2nd inning), and that means the Brewers have been hit 23 times on Fridays this year.  That’s the most plunks on a single day of the week in live ball era history.  Since 1920, the only other team to get hit 22 times in a season, on one day of the week was the 1997 Pirates, who got hit 22 times on Sundays.  The Brewers still have 4 more games on Fridays to add to their record.  The Brewers are also now at 76 HBPs this year, and their franchise record for plunks in a season is 82.

Weeks has been hit 13 times this season, and he’s 3 behind Carlos Quentin for the NL most plunkable player award.

Prince Fielder also got hit yesterday, for his 13th of the season, and his 91st overall.  Fielder is one plunk behind Josh Willingham for the American League lead.

Rickie Weeks has now been hit 16 times by the Cubs and 91 times by every other team in the league, after Cubs starter Travis Wood hit him in the first inning yesterday. He now has 9 HBPs as a visitor to Wrigley Field, and that ties him with Prince Fielder for the lead in that particular split. Weeks’ 16 plunks against the Cubs give him a 5 plunk lead over any other active player in the getting hit by Cubs category. Craig Biggio only got hit 19 times against the Cubs. 107 career plunks puts Weeks in 62nd place on the all time list, tied with Pete Rose, Jason LaRue, and Wally Schang. Travis Wood hit Weeks one other time, on October 1, 2010, pitching for the Reds. The Brewers are now up to 74 HBPs, 8 short of their franchise record for plunks in a season.

Josh Willingham took another HBP yesterday, bringing him to 14 plunks on the season, and putting him one ahead of Kevin Youkilis for the American League lead. Willingham is up to 89 HBPs for his career.

Danny Espinosa is up to 12 plunks this season after Ricky Nolasco hit him yesterday, and that was the 31st career HBP for both Espinosa and Nolasco. Nolasco also hit Espinosa on August 5th this year.

Rickie Weeks picked up the 106th plunk of his career last night, getting hit by Jared Hughes of the Pirates. That was the 21st time this year that a Brewer has been hit by a pitch on a Friday, and since 1920, no other team has done that. The only other teams to get hit 21 times on a single day of the week in one season are the 2011 Nationals (21 on Sundays), 2008 Indians (21 on Tuesdays), 2003 Rangers (21 on Saturdays), 2003 Dodgers (21 on Tuesdays), 2001 A’s (21 on Thursdays), and the 1997 Pirates (22 on Sundays). The Brewers have a 21 plunk lead on the rest of the league, but their are only two days of the week on which the Brewers have been hit the most, Fridays and Tuesdays.
Rickie Weeks’ 106 HBPs put him in 65th place on the all time list, tied with Barry Bonds. He’s 2 plunks behind Fernando Vina for 3rd place in the NL Central division, but he’s 107 plunks behind Jason Kendall for 2nd place in the division.

Matt Moore of the Rays hit Oakland’s Derek Norris with a pitch, and that throw was the 1000th plunk ever thrown by the Rays. Since joining the Rays joined the league in 1998, only the Red Sox have hit more batters with 1062.

Derek Jeter got hit by Cory Kluber in the Yankees game against the Indians, and that brings his career total to 163. He’s two plunks away from tying Don Baylor for the American League East division HBP record. And he’s 17th on the all time HBP list.

Torii Hunter got his 75th HBP yesterday, and Edwin Encarnacion got his 60th.

Rickie Weeks and Ryan Braun of the Brewers and Scott Moore and Matt Downs of the Astros were all hit by pitches in yesterdays Astros-Brewers game, making that the first four plunk game between those two teams since April 19, 2003 when Craig Biggio added plunk number 217 to his collection.  Weeks was hit for the 105th time in his career, pushing him into 66th place on the all time list for career plunks, tied with Mark Grudzielanek and Dan Brouthers.  He’s up to 10 plunks this season, but so is teammate Ryan Braun after also taking a plunk yesterday.  Braun’s plunk was the 2nd time he’s been hit by Francisco Cordero.  The Brewers have been hit by a pitch in five consecutive games now, making this just the 8th time in franchise history they’ve have a plunk streak that long.  They’ve only gotten to 6 consecutive games with a plunk once – in July of 2001, when their streak made it to 7 consecutive games.

Hanley Ramirez picked up his first HBP for the Dodgers yesterday, and it was the 4,400th in Dodgers history.  Hanley is the 678th player to get hit by at least one pitch for the Dodgers.

Andruw Jones got his 95th career plunk, his second plunk delivered by Luis Ayala.  Danny Espinosa got his 9th plunk of the year, and Shin-Soo Choo got his 8th.  Bronson Arroyo hit Kip Wells yesterday, making him the 9th pitcher to get hit by a pitch this year.

Rickie Weeks got hit by a pitch again yesterday, making it the 13th time in his career that he’s taken an HBP on two consecutive days.  His longest streak was August 28-30, 2007 when he got plunked on three consecutive days (with 4 total plunks).   Weeks has now been hit by 103 pitches in his career, which is tied for 68th on the all time list with Vladimir Guerrero and Tris Speaker.  That was also the 34th time Rickie Weeks scored a run after reaching base on an HBP, and Henry Rodriguez is the 84th pitcher to plunk Weeks.

James Shields hit another batter for the Rays yesterday, extending his franchise record total to 45.  If Shields could hit one more batter, the Rays could be tied with the Padres for the lowest record total for plunks thrown, instead of having the lowest record to themselves.  The Rays and Padres are the only modern franchises which haven’t had a pitcher hit 50 batters for them.