Plunk Everyone

There's still one game left in the 2009 season, but it's going to be played in the Metrodome, which I'm fairly certain is not named after a beer company. That means we're all set to award the 2009 award for most HBPs at parks named after beer. And this year it's Jason Kendall of the Milwaukee Brewers, appropriately enough. He got hit 12 times this year at parks with beer names, 11 times at Miller Park and once at Coor Field. That's tied for the 5th best season in beer park plunks in modern history (or rather, Jamie Moyer Era history). Fernando Vina holds the record with 15 in 2001 (for the Jamie Moyer Era... or, since 1986).

Here are this year's top HBP leaders in parks with beer names:

Jason Kendall (MIL) - 12
Ryan Braun (MIL) - 8
Clint Barmes (COL) - 7
Matt Diaz (ATL) - 5
Albert Pujols (STL) - 5
Brendan Ryan (STL) - 5
Chris Iannetta (COL) - 5
Dan Uggla (FLA) - 4
Hanley Ramirez (FLA) - 4
Mike Cameron (MIL) - 4

Especially impressive on that list is Matt Diaz who does not play his home games at a park named after beer. Also of note, in case you hadn't payed much attention to the Marlins this year, their landlord made a naming rights deal earlier this season which had them playing most of the year at a park under the name Land Shark Stadium. That's named after Land Shark Lager, so plunks occuring after May 15th in that park count toward the beer park standings.

This was the first season Jason Kendall has claimed the beer park HBP title, but he's up to 36 career beer park plunks. Only Albert Pujols is ahead of him among active players, with 43. 36 plunks in beer parks ties Kendall with Craig Biggio's total for such plunks, but the leader among the recently retired Moyer Era players is Larry Walker, who got hit 70 times in ballparks named for beers. Fernando Vina had 48, Geoff Jenkins had 41 and Andres Galarraga had 40. Matt Holiday is the next best active player at being plunked in parks named after beer, with 34.

On the pitching side, Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush both hit 7 batters at ballparks named after beer, which leaves them tied for the league title.

(Jamie Moyer Era note: since Jamie Moyer is the longest serving active player this season, and he started playing in 1986, I like to use 1986 as the starting point for the loosely defined "modern era". Since no one playing in 2009 played before 1986, that seems like a good starting point - and saves me from having too big a database of HBPs to manage. This approach may have to be adjusted next season, if Moyer does something crazy like retires.)

Labels: Jason Kendall

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

HBPs of note: September 26, 2009

Jason Kendall appears to be making a real push to showcase himself in the last few weeks of the season, going into his impending free-agency. He's now been hit 3 times in his last 4 games, including his 247th career plunk last night, of Kyle Kendrick who had not previously hit anyone this year. Kyle Kendrick is the first pitcher whose first and last name both start with a K to klock Kendall. But, Kendall has been hit 22 times overall by 16 pitchers with double initials. Matt Morris hit him 3 times, Antonio Alfonseca, Danny Darwin, Mike Maddux, and Woody Willaims twice each, and Kendall has one plunk from Brian Bannister, Brian Boehringer, Boof Bonser, Chris Capuano, Gary Glover, Jose Jiminez, Jeff Juden (say it with the Js pronounced like Jose Jiminez, it's more fun), Kyle Kendrick (most recently), Mike MacDougal, Mike Mussina, and Ramon Ramirez.

In New York, Kevin Youkilis broke the all-time record for career plunks against Mariano Rivera, with his third career HBP of Rivera. That moves him ahead of Kevin Millar, Ty Wigginton and Rickie Henderson, who have all managed to get hit twice by Rivera. That was Youk's 2nd plunk of the game after being plunked earlier by CC Sabathia. That gives him 16 on the season and tightens up the race for the American League Most Plunkable Player award, with Kelly Shoppach at 18, Brandon Inge at 17, Youkilis at 16 and Shin-Soo Choo at 15.

Rivera had not hit anyone this season, and he and Kyle Kendrick were among 5 pitchers who threw their first plunk of the season last night. Billy Wagner, Kyle Farnsworth, and Lenny DiNardo also got out of the "haven't hit anyone in 2009" club. 496 pitchers have hit a batter this year, so we're 4 pitchers away from the first season ever with 500 different pitchers throwing a plunk.

Also in New York, Daisuke Matsuzaka hit Derek Jeter, making that his 2nd plunking of Jeter. Jeter has now been hit 143 times in his career, which is just over half a Biggio if accept the use of The Biggio as the standard unit of measurement of HBPs. One Biggio = 285 plunks. Jeter continues to be the Yankees all time HBP record holder, but he's still 2nd among active players in being plunked by the Red Sox with 18. Jason Giambi has been hit 19 times by Boston, and is still active, even though he no longer plays in the American League East. But, the Red Sox have a two plunk lead on the Orioles as the team who has hit Jeter with the most pitches.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

HBPs of note: September 24, 2009

Jason Kendall was hit by yet another pitch last night, bringing his career total to 246. Plunk 246 was thrown by Tyler Walker of the Phillies in the 8th inning. That was Kendall's 214th plunk by a right-handed pitcher, and his 34th plunk in the 8th inning. The only inning in which he's been hit more often in his career is the 1st inning, when he's been hit 37 times.
Also, it was Kendall's 4th career plunk on September 24th - he had previously been plunked by Julian Tavarez (2001), RA Dickey (2005), and Ervin Santana (2006) on September 24th. He's been hit 4 times on 5 other days of the year, but he's been hit 5 times on April 30th and August 9th. He's now been hit 116 times on even days of the month and 130 times on odd numbered days. And he's been hit 114 times in odd numbered months and 132 times in even numbered months. That probably means something important.
On the downside for the Brewers, they lost the game and are just 5-7 this season when Jason Kendall gets hit by a pitch. Prior to last night, they were 2-0 when he got plunked in the 8th inning, but now they're 2-1.
Tyler Walker became the 194th pitcher to plunk Kendall. Pitchers whose last name starts with W have now tied those with M last initials for the most plunkings of Kendall, with 26 each. Kendall had not previously been plunked by a Walker, (but he has been hit 8 times by the Texas Rangers).
Kendall is up to 15 plunks this season, making this the first time since 2005 that he's reached that number. He was hit 20 times in 2005. Also, it was his 20th plunk at Miller Park. He joins Andres Galarraga as the only players who have been hit 20 times in three different ballparks since 1986 (the Jamie Moyer era).

That's a lot of stuff about Jason Kendall - good thing there were only 4 plunks yesterday (three were thrown by Californians). Manny Ramirez was hit for the 103rd time in his career, and Ricky Romero threw his 10th plunk of the season, and the 10th of his career, which puts him 3 hit batters ahead of Jeff Niemann for the season lead in hit batters by a rookie pitcher.

Labels: Jason Kendall

It's easy to find out what batter has been hit by the most pitches in a given season, by just counting the bruises, but how can we figure out who is truly skilled at the art of the HBP and who is just getting a lot of plate appearances against the criminally insane? Okay, there probably aren't more than a few pitchers who are actually criminally insane, but the truth is that it's much easier to get hit by Johnny Cueto or Joba Chamberlain this season, than by James Shields or Clayton Kershaw. So, what happens if we weight each plunk by level of difficulty?

To establish a level of difficulty for each plunk, we can just look at the season rate of batters face per plunk thrown for each pitcher. So, when Kevin Youkilis got plunked by Rick Porcello this year, that plunk was worth 323 difficulty points, because Porcello has only hit one out of every 323 batters he's faced this year. But when Youk go hit by Brandon League, that only counts for 49 points because league has hit 6 out of the 294 batters he's faced, or one out of every 49. Then once we assign difficulty scores to each plunk we can see that Youkilis has a season difficulty total of 1850 - which is third best in the league.

Obviously these number are subject to change, because each pitcher's plunk rate will change every time they pitch, and we're basing the difficulty scores on the pitcher's plunk rate for the whole season. But, here are the leaders in 2009 plunks by total difficulty score:

Batter	Total HBP Difficulty	HBP
Chase Utley (PHI)	2,605	22
Jason Kendall (MIL)	2,025	14
Kevin Youkilis (BOS)	1,850	14
Shin-Soo Choo (CLE)	1,734	15
Carlos Quentin (CWS)	1,669	12
Brandon Inge (DET)	1,620	17
Andre Ethier (LAD)	1,608	13
Ryan Braun (MIL)	1,597	12
Kelly Shoppach (CLE)	1,540	18
David Eckstein (SD)	1,312	9

As you can see, Utley still tops the league, and pulled off some notably difficult feats of plunkery like being hit twice by Chris Volstad, who has only hit one other batter among his 663 batters faced. He's still helped the most by shear volume of plunkings though, and his average difficulty per plunk was just 118.4 - 9th best among batters with 10 or more plunks.

Kelly Shoppach is 2nd in the majors in total HBPs, but when we rank them by difficulty he drops down to 9th, due to the number of high volume plunkers he's been hit by. The pitchers who hit Shoppach have hit, on average, one out of every 85.5 batters they've faced this year, and he's been hit by 4 different pitchers who hit at least one batter for every 50 they've faced - Dave Bush (34.6 BF per HBP), Luis Ayala (45), Jamey Wright (47.1) and Johnny Cueto (48.6). Shoppach's been hit by a lot of pitchers who have hit a lot of batters.

Among batters who have been hit at least 10 times this season, Jason Kendall has the highest average difficulty per plunk, at 144.6. He was helped greatly by receiving Aaron Cook's only plunk of the season, amon 627 batters faced. Clint Barmes had the lowest difficulty score among batters with 10 plunks, at just 65.4. Seven of the ten pitchers who plunked Barmes this year have plunked batters at a rate better than one plunk every 50 batters. So, don't go picking up Barmes for your HBP fantasy league next year, just because he had a career high this season.

Also of note, as of today, Shin-Soo Choo has been hit by 5 different pitchers who have only thrown 1 plunk this year. If none of those pitchers hits another batter (Damaso Marte, Fu-Te Ni, John Bale, Juan Cruz, and Marc Rzepczynski), Choo will be the first batter to get hit by 5 different one-plunk-wonders since 2000 when Fernando Vina did it. Nobody in the Jamie Moyer era has been hit by 6 pitchers who only threw one plunk in the season. The only others to do that 5 times in a season are Craig Biggio in 1998, FP Santangelo in 1997, Dave Hollins in 1992 and Don Baylor in 1986.


If Utley were to finish the season with his current HBP Difficulty score, it would rank 23rd among season scores in the Jamie Moyer era (since 1986). Don Baylor's '86 season is the highest, with a 6,314 score on 35 plunks. Baylor has the 2nd best season too, with a 4,479 in 1987 on 28 HBPs, but Jason Kendall's 31 plunk season in 1998 takes third place with a score of 4,284. Chase Utley's best season was last year, when he got a 2,707, but he could easily beat that if he just gets one more plunk from someone who hasn't hit many people.

Labels: Chase Utley, Jason Kendall

HBPs of note: August 26, 2009

Jason Kendall got hit by a pitch in the 4th inning last night, by Reds pitcher Kip Wells, bringing his career total to 243, tying him with Ron Hunt for 5th on the all time list. But, that tie only lasted about 45 minutes before Kendall got hit again in the 6th, moving him into sole possession of 5th place, with a total of 244. Jared Burton threw that one, as well as Kendall's 230th plunk on September 9th of last year. That was the 12th 2-plunk game of Kendall's career, and the 2nd time he's been hit twice in a game by the Reds. The Reds are lead all teams in the field of plunking Jason Kendall with a total of 26 now, including 6 on Wednesday. The Reds have plunked Jason Kendall at least twice on every day of the week. Kendall has been hit more than the entire 2009 roster of 3 major league teams, although the Rays are up to 245 since I last noted this.

Not to be overshadowed though, Kevin Kouzmanoff got plunked for the 35th time in his career, tying the Padres career record. He joins Gene Tenace as the only two players who have been hit by 35 pitches in a Padres uniform. While it's true that that's only 4 more plunks than Jason Kendall has had on Wednesdays alone, it's still the record for the Padres. Kouzmanoff has only played 3 seasons though, so he's got plenty of time to extend the record, and maybe move the Padres out of last place in terms of franchise career records.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall, Kevin Kouzmanoff

HBPs of note: August 15, 2009

Jason Kendall was one of 12 batters hit by a pitch yesterday, but he was the only one who moved within 1 plunk of 5th place on the all time HBP list. Kendall's plunk, thrown by Brian Moehler of the Astros, was the 242nd of his career. He need one more to tie Ron Hunt on the all time HBP list. Moehler became the 191st pitcher to plunk Kendall, but just the 2nd born in North Carolina. And, the Astros have now plunked Kendall 20 times, becoming just the 2nd team to reach that mark - the Reds have hit him 24 times. Kendall has been plunked by pitchers born in 35 US states or territories and 10 foreign countries, and that was his 3rd plunk on August 15th. That was also the 499th plunk ever recorded at Miller Park.

David Wright and Ian Kinsler both got plunked in the head yesterday in moments that remind everyone why helmets are good, and why there are some pitches that you should get out of the way of. The Gameday Pitch f/x data listed those pitches as moving at 85, and 84.8 mph when they reached the batter. Wright appears to be okay after being taken to the hospital, but Kinsler stayed in the game.

5 of the 12 batters plunked yesterday were born in 1983.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

HBPs of Note: August 9, 2009

Jason Kendall may have been sending a message to, or receiving a message from modern HBP record holder Craig Biggio yesterday. Either that or he just got plunked twice. Biggio's team, the Astros, hit Kendall twice at the ballpark where Biggio recorded 56 of his 285 career HBPs. Kendall brought his career total to 241 and is now just 2 plunks behind Ron Hunt for 5th place on the all time list. The Brewers catcher has been hit 10 times this season, making this the 12 season he's reached double digits in HBPs. That ties Biggio's career total for double digit plunk years - only Tommy Tucker (13) and Don Baylor (14) were hit 10 or more times in more seasons. Wandy Rodriguez threw number 240 to Kendall, and Jose Valverde threw number 241. Neither had plunked Kendall before yesterday.

241 HBPs, by the way, is the same number of plunks that you'd get if you added up the career HBP totals of everyone who has batted for the Tampa Bay Rays this year (24 players). And, there are three other major league teams whose entire 2009 roster hasn't been hit as many times as Kendall - the Rockies (208), Diamondbacks (216), and Twins (238).

Adrian Beltre got hit by Jeff Bennett bringing his career total to 50. That's a decent total, but during the span of Beltre's career, 103 other batters have been hit by 50 or more pitches. Jason Kendall holds the Adrian-Beltre-Era-Record with 195

Jeremy Hermida got his 20th career plunk, which was made more interesting because Jamie Moyer threw it. Moyer has now thrown 3 of Hermida's 20 career plunks. For Moyer, it was his 136th plunk thrown.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

HBPs of note: July 16, 2009

There were 2,378 pitches thrown toward batters yesterday, but only two of them hit those batters they were thrown toward. One of them was thrown by Homer Bailey and found the body of Jason Kendall. That was the 239th of Kendall's career, and his 21st with the Brewers. That was also the 30th time he's been hit on a Thursday in his career. Of the 820 players who have batted in the Majors this year, and who aren't Jason Kendall, only 122 of them have been hit by 30 pitches ever, but Kendall has that many just on Thursdays. For Homer Bailey, that was the 5th plunk of his career.

In Washington, Cubs starter Rich Harden threw yesterday's other plunk to Josh Bard. That was the 15th plunking of a Josh this season, but more importantly it was the 100th HBP in Nationals Park history. Congratulations on that important milestone, Washington!

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

HBPs of Note: July 11, 2009

Jason Kendall got hit by another pitch yesterday, bringing his career total to 238. He just needs 50 more to break the all time record, but he probably won't make it this season. Chad Billingsley contributed this one, and it was Kendall's 42nd recorded on a Friday. Kendall needs 5 more to tie Ron Hunt for 5th place on the all-time list. For Billingsley, it was the 20th plunk he's thrown in the majors.

5 other batters were hit by a pitch yesterday but their combined career totals of all of them add up to only 31% of Kendalls career plunks. If you throw in the plunks thrown by the pitchers who hit someone yesterday, you get up to about two thirds of Kendall's total.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

HBPs of Note: June 11, 2009

Aaron Cook hit Jason Kendall with a pitch yesterday, becoming just the 186th pitcher in major league history to plunk Jason Kendall at least once. Kendall has now been hit 237 times in his career, which leaves him just 6 HBPs behind Ron Hunt for 5th place on the all time list.

John Lannan of the Nationals hit Jonny Gomes of the Reds, and that made Lannan the first pitcher to hit 10 batters at Nationals Park. It was Gomes 36th career HBP, which doesn't make him anything, but he still holds the career franchise record for his old team, the Rays, so that's pretty good. That was Gomes first HBP for the Reds.

Alex Rodriguez got hit for the 144th time in his career, which moves him ahead of Carlton Fisk, into sole possession of 20th place all time. But Fisk is still the most plunked batter ever born in Vermont, while Rodriguez is only the 2nd most plunked player born in the state of New York. Brad Penny threw that one, making him the 118th pitcher to plunk Rodriguez. He's been hit 16 times by the Red Sox, which is one behind Derek Jeter and 3 behind Jason Giambi on the list of active players who the Red Sox have plunked the most.

Jamie Moyer hit a Mets batter for the 8th time in his career, which makes him tied for 1st place among active pitcher in hitting Mets, but it was also the 134th of his career, which is a lot.

Kurt Suzuki of the A's was hit by a pitch for the 18th of his career, but this one was in the bottom of the 9th inning of a tie game, as a pinch hitter. His plunk moved pinch runner Chris Denorfia to 2nd base, setting up a Daric Batron bunt moving the runners over, and a Rajai Davis game winning single, scoring Denorfia. But the pinch-hit HBP was the key to that game winning rally.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

Jason Kendall got plunked last night, for the 236th time in his career. He got hit by Carlos Martinez, who had never hit anyone before. Kendall has been hit by a pitch 37 times on Tuesdays. Only 90 other active players - 15.6% of players who have batted in 2009 - have 37 total HBPs, but Kendall has that many on Tuesdays. Carlos Delgado is 2nd among active players in Tuesday plunks with 24, but Craig Biggio had 47 HBPs on Tuesdays. The Marlins, who threw Kendalls 236th plunk, have a total of only 180 career HBPs among every guy who has batted for them this year. So, if you take every player who's batted for the Marlins this year, and add their total career plunks together, and then somehow get another player with 55 HBPs onto their team, they still wouldn't have as many career HBPs as Jason Kendall. 6 other teams also don't have as many career plunks on this year's team as Kendall, and Kendall is only 6 behind the combined total of all this year's Texas Rangers.

In Anaheim, David Ortiz got plunked with the bases loaded, so Red Sox fans can be re-assured that even though Ortiz has no home runs this year, a bases loaded HBP is just as good as a solo homer. Although usually it's not as good as a bases loaded homer, depending on your perspective. Ortiz was the 11th batter this year to get an RBI plunk.

67 batters have been plunked on Tuesdays this year, including 12 yesterday, giving Tuesday a commanding lead on Sundays (54) for the most plunk-full day of the week. It's only slightly ahead of Thursdays in terms of plunks per plate appearance, but Tuesday still leads that category for now. A batter has been plunked once every 94.5 plate appearances this year.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

... at getting hit by pitches.

Below is the list of the top 50 active batters, by their rate of HBPs per plate appearance. The last column is the number of plate appearances they'd need, at their current rate, to reach 288 HBPs, which would be the all time record, breaking Hughie Jennings 287 mark. All data is as of the morning of May 4, 2009, and a 5 HBP minimum is required to make this list.

	Player	HBP	PA	HBP per PA	PA per HBP	PA needed for record
1	Carlos Quentin(CWS)	45	1,126	0.0400	25.0	7,206
2	J.R. Towles(HOU)	8	220	0.0364	27.5	7,920
3	Jason LaRue(STL)	103	2,941	0.0350	28.6	8,223
4	Reed Johnson(CHC)	95	2,722	0.0349	28.7	8,252
5	Ryan Garko(CLE)	43	1,385	0.0310	32.2	9,276
6	Rickie Weeks(MIL)	62	2,015	0.0308	32.5	9,360
7	Jason Kendall(MIL)	235	7,768	0.0303	33.1	9,520
8	Corky Miller(CWS)	12	407	0.0295	33.9	9,768
9	Ryan Doumit(PIT)	34	1,227	0.0277	36.1	10,393
10	Chase Utley(PHI)	87	3,221	0.0270	37.0	10,663
11	Lastings Milledge(WSH)	27	1,004	0.0269	37.2	10,709
12	Ian Stewart(COL)	11	413	0.0266	37.5	10,813
13	Josh Willingham(WSH)	45	1,693	0.0266	37.6	10,835
14	David Eckstein(SD)	126	4,751	0.0265	37.7	10,859
15	Ramon Santiago(DET)	31	1,170	0.0265	37.7	10,870
16	Aaron Rowand(SF)	96	3,642	0.0264	37.9	10,926
17	Chris Iannetta(COL)	21	799	0.0263	38.0	10,958
18	Chris Coste(PHI)	18	706	0.0255	39.2	11,296
19	Alex Cora(NYM)	81	3,187	0.0254	39.3	11,332
20	Nick Green(BOS)	21	861	0.0244	41.0	11,808
21	Kelly Shoppach(CLE)	18	768	0.0234	42.7	12,288
22	Chris Burke(SD)	31	1,374	0.0226	44.3	12,765
23	Mike Redmond(MIN)	52	2,323	0.0224	44.7	12,866
24	Jose Guillen(KC)	124	5,576	0.0222	45.0	12,951
25	Nick Johnson(WSH)	57	2,636	0.0216	46.2	13,319
26	Edwin Encarnacion(CIN)	41	1,912	0.0214	46.6	13,431
27	Kenji Johjima(SEA)	32	1,499	0.0213	46.8	13,491
28	Matt Treanor(DET)	18	846	0.0213	47.0	13,536
29	David DeJesus(KC)	61	2,874	0.0212	47.1	13,569
30	Jason Giambi(OAK)	160	7,864	0.0203	49.2	14,155
31	A.J. Pierzynski(CWS)	85	4,243	0.0200	49.9	14,376
32	Nate McLouth(PIT)	31	1,563	0.0198	50.4	14,521
33	Carlos Delgado(NYM)	169	8,627	0.0196	51.0	14,702
34	Melvin Mora(BAL)	102	5,211	0.0196	51.1	14,713
35	Emmanuel Burriss(SF)	7	358	0.0196	51.1	14,729
36	Jerry HairstonJr.(CIN)	63	3,238	0.0195	51.4	14,802
37	Chris Duffy(MIL)	15	773	0.0194	51.5	14,842
38	Kevin Youkilis(BOS)	46	2,375	0.0194	51.6	14,870
39	Angel Berroa(NYY)	53	2,762	0.0192	52.1	15,009
40	Ryan Freel(BAL)	42	2,190	0.0192	52.1	15,017
41	Jason Bartlett(TB)	34	1,795	0.0189	52.8	15,205
42	Xavier Nady(NYY)	46	2,463	0.0187	53.5	15,421
43	Prince Fielder(MIL)	41	2,196	0.0187	53.6	15,426
44	Travis Hafner(CLE)	57	3,073	0.0185	53.9	15,527
45	Kevin Kouzmanoff(SD)	25	1,361	0.0184	54.4	15,679
46	Shane Victorino(PHI)	33	1,807	0.0183	54.8	15,770
47	Matt Diaz(ATL)	19	1,047	0.0181	55.1	15,870
48	Alex Gordon(KC)	21	1,197	0.0175	57.0	16,416
49	Mike Napoli(LAA)	16	927	0.0173	57.9	16,686
50	Fernando Tatis(NYM)	51	3,054	0.0167	59.9	17,246

Labels: Carlos Quentin, Chase Utley, Jason Kendall, Kevin Kouzmanoff

Here's the list of all the current major league ballparks, and their HBP record holders in games at those parks. As of April 28, 2009.

Park	Record
Angel Stadium of Anaheim	Brian Downing - 50
AT&T Park (Giants)	Barry Bonds - 27
Busch Stadium (Cardinals)	David Eckstein - 13
Chase Field (Diamondbacks)	Luis Gonzalez - 30
Citi Field (Mets)	Jason Kendall - 1, Gary Sheffield - 1, Wil Nieves - 1, Ryan Church - 1, Josh Willingham - 1, Hanley Ramirez - 1
Citizens Bank Park (Phillies)	Chase Utley - 35
Comerica Park (Tigers)	Brandon Inge - 24
Coors Field (Rockies)	Larry Walker - 55
Dodger Stadium	Alex Cora - 26
Dolphin Stadium (Marlins)	Alex Gonzalez - 32
Fenway Park (Red Sox)	Carlton Fisk* - 45
Great American Ball Park (Reds)	Jason LaRue - 33
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (Twins)	Chuck Knoblauch - 39
Kauffman Stadium (Royals)	Mike Macfarlane - 44
Miller Park (Brewers)	Geoff Jenkins - 32
Minute Maid Park (Astros)	Craig Biggio - 56
Nationals Park	Nick Johnson - 5
Oakland Coliseum (A's)	Jason Giambi - 38
Oriole Park at Camden Yards	Brady Anderson - 66
PETCO Park (Padres)	Khalil Greene - 13
PNC Park (Pirates)	Craig Wilson - 52
Progressive Field (Indians)	Travis Hafner - 33
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington	Alex Rodriguez - 29
Rogers Centre (Blue Jays)	Carlos Delgado - 61
Safeco Field (Mariners)	Ichiro Suzuki - 21
Tropicana Field (Rays)	Jonny Gomes - 26
Turner Field (Braves)	Andruw Jones - 42
U.S. Cellular Field (White Sox)	Frank Thomas - 35
Wrigley Field (Cubs)	Ernie Banks* - 35
New Yankee Stadium	Johnny Damon - 1, Mark Teixeira - 1, Hideki Matsui - 1, Shin-Soo Choo - 1, Nick Swisher - 1, Kelly Shoppach - 1

*- Not confirmed. There is a chance that someone might have been plunked more at these oldest parks, just not a very good chance. This is at least the post-1960 People just didn't get hit by a lot of pitches for the major portion of the 20th century.

Kevin Kouzmanoff is one plunk behind Khalil Green for the PETCO record. Rickie Weeks could catch Geoff Jenkins for the Miller Park record with anothe 6 plunks at home. Several players are within one plunk of the Nationals Park record, including Chase Utley, who only visits that park. Kenji Johjima is also fairly close behind Ichiro for the Safeco record, with 17.

Labels: Chase Utley, Jason Kendall, Kevin Kouzmanoff

HBPs of Note: April 27, 2009

Jason Kendall got plunked twice yesterday, bringing his career total to 235, but he had never before been plunked by his former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. He's now been plunked by all 30 major league teams - the only other player to accomplish that feat was Rondell White. That was Kendall's 10th career game with 2 HBPs, and his first 2 plunk game since July 17, 2005. Jesse Chavez became the 183 pitcher to plunk Jason Kendall, and Tyler Yates became the 184th.

Chase Utley collected his 86th career plunk yesterday, leaving him 2 short of tying the Phillies franchise record. Washington's Michael Hinkley contributed that plunk.

Tim Wakefield threw his 167th career plunk, breaking the Red Sox franchise record for career plunking, which was 166 by Tim Wakefield. He hit Cleveland's Shin-Soo Choo, who became the first Korean born player plunked by Wakefield. Tim Wakefield has now plunked batters from 10 different countries.

Labels: Chase Utley, HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

HBPs of Note: April 26, 2009

David Eckstein got hit by a Ross Ohlendorf pitch yesterday, bringing his career total to 126. The moves him ahead of Jeff Kent and Honus Wagner on the all time plunk list to 38th all time. Jose Guillen also got plunked yesterday, giving him 124 for his career. He needs one more to break into the top 40 on the all time list.

Jason Kendall got also got plunked yesterday, for the 233rd plunk of his career. It was his second plunk by Russ Ortiz, his 2nd plunk on April 26th, and his 17th plunk against the Astros.

Jason Bay got hit by a pitch as well yesterday, which was thrown by Mark Melancon in his first major league outing. Bay has now been hit 3 times for the Red Sox, which ties the franchise record for plunks by players born in Canada. Frank O'Rourke and Bunk Congalton where the only other Canadians to get plunked 3 times for the Red Sox.

Labels: Jason Kendall

Jason Kendall got hit by a pitch for the first time in his 2009 season yesterday, making a total of 232 for his career. Nelson Figueroa became the 182nd pitcher to hit Jason Kendall with a pitch. Kendall needs 11 more to tie Ron Hunt for fifth on the all time list.

Johnny Damon got hit by Carl Pavano pitch, bringing Damon's career total to 40, and bringing the Yankees franchise total to 4,100. Damon needs 203 more to tie Ron Hunt for fifth on the all time list. But unlike Kendall, he doesn't have a very good chance of doing that this year.

Chipper Jones got hit by a pitch, which was the 17th of his career, which means you've probably missed your one chance to see Chipper Jones get and HBP, if you wanted to do so this season.

Carlos Quentin moved into a tie for the league lead, getting his 3rd of the season.

Kelly Shoppach got plunked for the Indians, which gives the team a major league leading 9 HBPs, and puts them on pace for 112 this year, which would break the record they set last year. But, last year they had 10 HBPs after an equal number of games (13).

Overall, HBPs per plate appearance are up 0.6% from their rate in April of 2008.

Labels: HBPs of note, Jason Kendall

You've probably been sitting around wondering since the retirement of Jeff Kent, who is the active leader in HBPs as second basemen? And for that matter, who leads all the other positions in getting hit by pitches while playing at those positions?

Well, okay. I'll look into it.

Designated Hitters:
Jason Giambi passed Frank Thomas last season, to become the active leader in being plunked as a Designated Hitter, which puts into question the title of "Big Hurt". Thomas wasn't that active last season anyway, and now he's technically listed as a free agent, so he could contend for the active lead if someone actually signs him. But Giambi has already been hit twice as a DH this year, so Thomas better hurry up if he wants to get back in that race. Travis Hafner is the next closest with 48 DH plunkings.

Player	HBP at DH	Status
Jason Giambi	59	Active
Frank Thomas	57	Free Agent
Travis Hafner	47	Active
Mike Sweeney	32	Active
Josh Phelps	29	Minors (SF)
Jonny Gomes	24	Minors (CIN)
Manny Ramirez	21	Active
David Ortiz	19	Active
Jim Thome	19	Active

Right Field:
Jose Guillen has had the active lead in getting hit as a right fielder since he passed Gary Sheffield on May 12, 2007. There does not appear to be another right fielder who is likely to catch Guillen, so he should hold this lead until he leaves the game.

Player	HBP at RF	Status
Jose Guillen	99	Active
Gary Sheffield	80	Active
Vladimir Guerrero	76	Active
Jermaine Dye	55	Active
Magglio Ordonez	43	Active
Austin Kearns	43	Active
Manny Ramirez	36	Active

Center Field:
Aaron Rowand has been hit 91 times while playing center field (or at least while he was batting in between playing center field... you get the point). He passed Andruw Jones for that lead on May 28, 2008.

Player	HBP at CF	Status
Aaron Rowand	91	Active
Andruw Jones	82	Active
Mike Cameron	75	Active
Ken Griffey	72	Active
Juan Pierre	55	Active
Grady Sizemore	52	Active
Torii Hunter	51	Active
David DeJesus	49	Active

Left Field:
Luis Gonzalez hasn't officially announced his retirement yet, but the 30 major league teams seem to be pretty sure he's retired. He's still calling himself a free agent, but since he's not playing at the moment, the active lead among left fielders falls to Cliff Floyd. Floyd is on the DL for San Diego, which limits his activity, so if you want an active leader who has actually played left field this season, it's Matt Holliday.

Player	HBP at LF	Status
Luis Gonzalez	111	Free Agent
Cliff Floyd	70	Active
Shannon Stewart	64	Free Agent
Geoff Jenkins	64	Free Agent
Matt Holliday	47	Active
Reed Johnson	46	Active
Adam Dunn	45	Active
Josh Willingham	40	Active
Manny Ramirez	39	Active

Short Stop:
Derek Jeter has been hit by a lot of pitches as a Short Stop, with 136 so far, and he's been the active leader since taking his 51st plunk at Short on August 2, 2001. That put him ahead of Pat Meares among active shortstops. David Eckstein has been close behind Jeter for a long time, but since the Yankees will keep playing Jeter at short stop for the rest of time, and Eckstein is playing 2nd base this year, Jeter will probably hold this lead until he retires.

Player	HBP at SS	Status
Derek Jeter	136	Active
David Eckstein	120	Active
Miguel Tejada	96	Active
Alex Rodriguez	72	Active
Alex Gonzalez	64	Active

Third Base:
Scott Rolen has what you'd call a commanding lead among active third basemen. He's been the active leader since July 17th, 2002 when he passed Matt Williams.

Player	HBP at 3B	Status
Scott Rolen	106	Active
Alex Rodriguez	67	Active
Aramis Ramirez	65	Active
Aaron Boone	64	Retired
Mike Lowell	52	Active

Second Base:
Jeff Kent retired after last year, with 113 plunks at 2nd Base, and Damion Easley doesn't have a job this year, so that leaves Chase Utley as the active leader for second basemen. If he keeps up his rate of being hit by pitches from the last two years (leading the majors both years), he should hold onto this lead for a long time.

Player	HBP at 2B	Status
Jeff Kent	113	Retired
Damion Easley	103	Free Agent
Chase Utley	83	Active
Ray Durham	68	Free Agent
Rickie Weeks	62	Active
Adam Kennedy	59	Minors (TB)
Mark Grudzielanek	59	Free Agent
Placido Polanco	55	Active
Alfonso Soriano	46	Active
Jerry Hairston	45	Active

First Base:
Carlos Delgado has another one of those commanding leads at this position. He's held the active lead since the beginning of the 2006 season - he finished 2005 in a tie with Jeff Bagwell for the active lead at first base, but Bagwell never played again. Delgado is 37, and Giambi is behind him at age 38, so Derrek Lee, Paul Konerko or Mark Teixeira could inherit this lead in the next couple of years.

Player	HBP at 1B	Status
Carlos Delgado	154	Active
Jason Giambi	93	Active
J.T. Snow	63	Retired
Sean Casey	59	Retired
Derrek Lee	57	Active
Paul Konerko	57	Active
Mark Teixeira	50	Active

Catcher:
This falls closer to the category of preposterously insurmountable leads. Jason Kendall has been the active HBP leader among catchers since May 5, 2000 when he got hit for the 91st time as a catcher, and passed Mike MacFarlane. Jason LaRue and AJ Pierzynski are pretty good at getting hit by pitches, but they don't come close to Kendall, even added together.

Player	HBP at C	Status
Jason Kendall	227	Active
Jason LaRue	101	Active
A.J. Pierzynski	84	Active
Brad Ausmus	66	Active
Jorge Posada	60	Active

Pitchers:
Mike Hampton is active? You might not have seen much of him recently, but he's playing for the Astros this year, and he's the sole owner of the active lead among pitchers getting hit by pitches, now the Greg Maddux has retired and Scott Elarton is still a free agent. But, a whole lot of pitchers could catch him without too much effort. Brad Penny and Jake Peavy have even been hit twice in the same season, so they could catch Hampton if they match their career highs - though Penny being in the American League would make that unlikely for him. Elarton and the recently retired Matt Clement were the only active pitchers with a 3 HBP season to their credit, but now no active pitcher has been hit more than twice in as season.

Player	HBP at P	Status
Greg Maddux	5	Retired
Mike Hampton	5	Active
Scott Elarton	5	Free Agent
Livan Hernandez	4	Active
Roy Oswalt	4	Active
Brad Penny	3	Active
Jake Peavy	3	Active
Darren Oliver	3	Active
Jeff Suppan	3	Active
John Smoltz	3	Active
Pedro Martinez	3	Free Agent
Adam Eaton	3	Active
Shawn Estes	3	Active

Labels: Jason Kendall

There are Major League records, and there are American League records, and there are National League records, and sometimes there are Modern Records, and Wind-Aided Olympic Records, and Records by Weight Class, and Rhino Records. So lets see what happens if we break it out by Division. Wouldn't it add more interest to this season to know that AJ Pierzynski needs only 5 more HBPs to break the American League Central HBP record, moving ahead of Matt Lawton? And why limit it to HBPs? Might it help Andre Dawson's Hall of Fame campaign if someone knew that he's the all time leader in National League East hits? Although, Chipper Jones only needs 303 more hits to match Dawson's total.

Anyway, here are the all time leaders in HBPs by Division. Keep in mind that the Central Divisions in each league have been around since 1994 and the East and West Divisions were invented in 1969.

AL West Brian Downing - 129 Don Baylor - 102 Edgar Martinez - 89 Carlton Fisk - 84 David Eckstein** - 76	AL Central Matt Lawton - 74 A.J. Pierzynski* - 70 Damion Easley - 70 Mike Sweeney** - 66 Paul Konerko* - 63	AL East Don Baylor - 165 Brady Anderson - 152 Derek Jeter* - 138 Carlos Delgado** - 122 Jason Giambi** - 109
NL West Larry Walker - 98 Barry Bonds - 86 Luis Gonzalez - 85 Jeff Kent - 79 Andres Galarraga - 66 Robby Thompson - 66	NL Central Craig Biggio - 257 Jason Kendall* - 196 Fernando Vina - 108 Jeff Bagwell - 100 Jason LaRue* - 98	NL East Ron Hunt - 116 Andres Galarraga - 102 Andre Dawson - 94 Mike Lieberthal - 88 Andruw Jones** - 83 Chase Utley* - 83

*- Active
** - Active, but not in that division.

Check out Don Baylor - 1st in the AL East, 2nd in the AL West. The closest active contender for the AL East plunk record is Jason Giambi with just 49. Todd Helton is the closest active player in the NL West to that record, but he's only half way their with 49.

Sac Fly leaders by division:

AL West George Brett - 120 Amos Otis - 99 Ruben Sierra - 94 Hal McRae - 79 Edgar Martinez - 77	AL Central Frank Thomas - 80 Omar Vizquel** - 62 Magglio Ordonez* - 57 Joe Randa - 56 Mike Sweeney** - 54	AL East Cal Ripken - 127 Robin Yount - 123 Wade Boggs - 96 Don Mattingly - 96 Jim Rice - 94
NL West Steve Garvey - 90 Dave Concepcion - 86 Tony Gwynn - 85 Johnny Bench - 81 Dusty Baker - 80	NL Central Jeff Bagwell - 73 Craig Biggio - 65 Aramis Ramirez* - 59 Sammy Sosa - 58 Mark Grace - 49	NL East Andre Dawson - 110 Mike Schmidt - 108 Gary Carter - 95 Chipper Jones* - 79 Bobby Bonilla - 72

*- Active
** - Active, but not in that division

Garrett Anderson left the AL west one sac fly away from the top 5 with 76, but Griffey is the next active in that division at only 56. Vernon Wells is the top active in the AL East with 48 sac flies. Todd Helton has sacrificed the most fly in the NL West among actives, with 61.


Hit leaders by division:

AL West George Brett - 3,154 Rod Carew - 2,777 Garret Anderson** - 2,368 Edgar Martinez - 2,247 Willie Wilson - 2,145	AL Central Magglio Ordonez* - 1,833 Jim Thome* - 1,628 Omar Vizquel** - 1,616 Frank Thomas - 1,536 Paul Konerko* - 1,493	AL East Cal Ripken - 3,184 Robin Yount - 3,142 Wade Boggs - 3,010 Paul Molitor - 2,789 Derek Jeter* - 2,539
NL West Tony Gwynn - 3,141 Steve Garvey - 2,599 Dave Concepcion - 2,326 Pete Rose - 2,249 Steve Finley - 2,182	NL Central Craig Biggio - 2,261 Jeff Bagwell - 1,820 Sammy Sosa - 1,761 Jason Kendall* - 1,583 Albert Pujols* - 1,536	NL East Andre Dawson - 2,578 Chipper Jones* - 2,279 Mike Schmidt - 2,234 Larry Bowa - 2,191 Keith Hernandez - 2,156

*- Active
** - Active, but not in that division

I was going to to homers next, but after using all those asterisks to mark active players, it would get really confusing with the number of asterisks I'd have to put all over the juiced up homer totals. Lets just get over homers being an important stats. Too many players are too big and too many parks are too small. HBPs have always been a better stat for baseball greatness.

Labels: Jason Kendall

Chase Utley has taken 25 plunks for the team this season, but unfortunately the Phillies haven't been able to put them to very good use. Those 25 plunks have come in 21 games, and the Phillies have just 10 wins against 11 loses in games when Chase Utley has been plunked. Of the 24 players with over 10 hbps this year (as of Sept. 9th), only 2 have a worse winning percentage in games with an hbp. The Phillies are, however 2-1 when Utley gets hit at least twice, and 1-0 when he gets hit 3 times in a game, so obviously he needs to get hit more to help his team win.

Aramis Ramirez has been the best at insuring victory for his Cubs by getting hit by pitches. The Cubs are 10-1 in the 11 games in which Ramirez has been plunked. So he's won just as many games when he's been plunked as Utley, but has had 10 less losses while being struck by pitches.
Nate McLouth has seen his efforts at getting hit by pitches wasted the most, with the Pirates winning pct dipping to .272 in the 11 games in which he's been hit by a pitch. Finding a way to make the Pirates winning percentage even worse is an impressive feat in itself.

Here's all the players with over 10 hbps (as of Sept 9th), and the win-loss records in games when they get hit:

Player	HBP	W-L	PCT
Aramis Ramirez (CHC)	11	10-1	0.909
Prince Fielder (MIL)	11	7-2	0.778
Kevin Kouzmanoff (SD)	12	9-3	0.75
Jason Kendall (MIL)	12	9-3	0.75
Melvin Mora (BAL)	11	8-3	0.727
Kevin Youkilis (BOS)	11	8-3	0.727
Reed Johnson (CHC)	12	8-3	0.727
Jeff Francoeur (ATL)	10	7-3	0.7
Chris Iannetta (COL)	13	9-4	0.692
Aaron Rowand (SF)	14	8-4	0.667
Alex Rodriguez (NYY)	14	8-5	0.615
Kurt Suzuki (OAK)	10	6-4	0.6
Edwin Encarnacion (CIN)	10	6-4	0.6
Scott Rolen (TOR)	10	6-4	0.6
Carlos Quentin (CHW)	20	12-8	0.6
Josh Willingham (FLO)	12	6-4	0.6
Rickie Weeks (MIL)	14	7-5	0.583
Jason Giambi (NYY)	20	11-8	0.579
Lastings Milledge (WAS)	13	7-6	0.538
Carlos Pena (TB)	11	5-5	0.5
Ryan Garko (CLE)	14	7-7	0.5
Chase Utley (PHI)	25	10-11	0.476
David Dellucci (CLE)	11	5-6	0.455
Nate McLouth (PIT)	12	3-8	0.273

Mark Grudzielanek (KC), Jose Molin (NYY), Mike Napoli (LAA), Marco Scutaro (TOR) and Gerald Liard (TEX) are all tied with the most HBPs this year without having lost a game in which they got hit by a pitch. Surely getting plunked is that much more painful when you lose, but those 5 guys are all 5-0 in the games in which they've been hit by pitches.

Labels: Carlos Quentin, Chase Utley, Jason Kendall, Kevin Kouzmanoff

Jason Kendall got hit by a pitch last night, making it 230 for his career, moving him into a tie for 6th place on the all-time list with Dan McGann. McGann got hit 230 times from 1896 to 1908, while Kendall's career so far has included just as many plunks a century later, from 1996 to 2008.

Also last night, Jason Giambi got hit by the 155th pitch of his career, which moves him past Brady Anderson for sole possession of 16th place on the all time list. He's just two away 15th place, which is currently held by Fernando Vina with 157 hbps.

And, Josh Hamilton got his 10th career HBP last night, which moves him into a 156 way tie for 2,336th place on the all time HBP list.

Okay, that last one wasn't so great, but two out of three is pretty good in baseball.

Labels: Jason Kendall

Gary Sheffield and the Detroit Tigers played their final game of the season against the Yankees yesterday, but Sheffield failed to get plunked by a Yankee pitcher. If he had, he would join Rondell White as the only players to get hit by a pitch by all 30 major league teams.
Jason Kendall also had a chance to claim that distinction over the weekend, but he failed to get hit by the Pirates in a three games series with them. He'll have another chance in September, though. Sheffield will have to wait until next year. David Eckstein and Jose Guillen have also been plunked by 29 of 30 major league teams, with Eckstein only missing the Angels for the complete set and Guillen only missing (or missed by) the Atlanta Braves. Guillen is the only one of the 4 active players who have been hit by 29 teams who has never played for the one team that hasn't plunked him.

So far, no pitcher has hit a batter on all 30 teams, but Pedro Martinez is only missing a Colorado Rocky for the full collection. Randy Johnson has hit everyone but Atlanta and Arizona, but he's going to have a tough time hitting a Diamondback at this point in his career. Javier Vasquez is only missing the White Sox and Rangers, and Vicente Padilla has hit everyone except the Reds and Pirates.

Labels: Jason Kendall

Any day now, the Colorado Rockies are going to throw their 1000th plunk in franchise history. However, now that they're so close to the historic milestone, they've suddenly decided on a unilateral cease fire, and they're stuck at 998. The Rockies are in the midst of their 7th slowest month ever, in terms of handing on HBPs per batter faced. They've hit just 5 batters this August. They've only had 3 full months in franchise history in which they hit fewer than 5 batters - two were in 1993, their first year in existence, and one was September of 2001 when they might have been feeling particularly pacifistic. They haven't hit anyone since August 15th, and only the White Sox have gone longer without hitting an opposing batter.

If the Rockies can hold out another 7 years without hitting two more batters, they can avoid becoming the quickest expansion franchise to hit 1,000 batters, and probably the quickest ever. Previously, the quickest 1000 plunks among the post-1960 expansion teams was thrown by the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners hit their 1000th opponents on July 22, 1999 (John Jaha), in their 23rd season in existence, but the Rockies will make it in just 16 seasons - again, assuming they can't make it the rest of the year without hitting 2 batters. Even without Craig Biggio's help (34 hbps vs the Rockies), they would have probably done it in 17 seasons. Of the senior citizen franchises, the quickest was the Detroit Tigers, who reached 1000 plunks thrown in 1919 - their 19th season. It's probably no coincidence that all-time HBP king Hughie Jennings managed the Tigers from 1907 to 1920. HBP stats for pitchers weren't kept very accurately back then, but they're probably close enough to go with 1919 as the season the Tigers reached 1000. It's a little more difficult with the NL teams that existed prior to HBPs being tracked at all, but particularly given the shorter schedules of the 19th century seasons, we can be pretty sure that the Rockies will be the first franchise to hit 1000 batters in their first 16 seasons.


The Rockies aren't the only ones having trouble getting over an HBP hump though. The Astros are creeping slowly toward 2,000 HBPs collected by it's batters in franchise history - but they've only been hit 39 times this year, and they're stuck at 1,994 at the moment. They've actually picked up the pace a little, getting hit 13 times so far this month, after only 10 in June and July combined.
Kevin Kouzmanoff is one plunk away from tying the Padres single season HBP record, but he's been one plunk away from tying the Padres single season record since July 8th. He has the longest active plunk drought of any player with 10 or more HBPs this season by 15 days. Jason Kendall, who's supposed to be chasing the all time HBP record, has the second longest drought among those with double digit plunks, having been left un-plunked since July 23rd. He's stuck at 229 HBPs, which is one short of tying Dan McGann for 6th place on the all time list.

Maybe they've all been waiting for the right time though. Starting Friday, the Rockies will be playing the Padres, so maybe the Rockies could cross the 1000 plunk mark by hitting Kouzmanoff twice, for the Padres record. Or, if the Rockies can hold out another week, and the Astros can make up some ground by September 5th, they could coordinate the Astros 2000th batter hit with the Rockies 1000th plunk thrown.

Labels: Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Jason Kendall, Kevin Kouzmanoff