How about Sandy Koufax? Unhittabble for his 6 prime years, but struck out nearly every time up. Bob Buhl-Brave pitcher- would regularly go zero for 100 w/ about 95 k’s. Clete Boyer Yankee 3rd baseman-early 60’s as good as Robinson /Schmidt in the field ,but no stick at all. Roy McMillan vacuum cleaner for Reds at SS, no stick at all.
Ahem! J.T. Snow is the exception to that rule, however he’s inconsistent at best at the plate. The Giants probably lose about the same number of runs from his bat and he saves them from his glove.
Not true. JT Snow w/ San Francisco and mostly retired Mark Grace w/ Arizona are examples of very good defensive first basemen.
As to pitchers and hitting, there have been a couple of theories put forth here that don’t really pan out. Some people have said that the reason high school and college pitchers who are good hitters stop being good in the pros is because they concentrate on pitching instead. The fact is, in high school and college, the pitchers are often simply the best athletes on the team and are good hitters not due to technique, but out of pure athletic ability. However, when they reach the pros, the level of pitching is ratcheted way up and requires more than just superior speed and hand-eye coordination.
The other thing about hitting is something that any player will tell you. To hit well, you need to do it every day. Many pitchers work hard at hitting, but they only get a chance to hit against live pitching one day out of five - it’s really hard to get into any kind of a groove that way (and for those that will respond with “batting practice”, while BP helps, facing live pitching is a whole 'nother animal) That’s why those players who can pinch-hit and do it well will never have trouble finding work in the majors. They may never be a star, but they’ll have nice long careers.
Lastly, you’ll be much more likely to find good hitters who can’t field than good fielders who can’t hit in the majors. Good fielding players are a dime-a-dozen in the minors. With very few exceptions, what will get a position player to the majors is the ability to hit. If a player is an extrordinary fielder, especially at a middle infield position, or a catcher who plays great defense/handles pitchers well, they might make a career out of it as only an OK hitter.
The one exception I’m aware of is Mike Hampton, who now pitches for the Braves. He was a first baseman in college, but was moved to pitcher in the minors. He’s not having a great year at the plate, but normally he’s the best hitting pitcher going, and he’s good for a couple of home runs a year.
Correct; Stubby usually played second base.
And I use the past tense because he’s not here anymore; after last season his contract with the Cards ran out, and he is (last I heard) playing for the AAA Richmond Braves.
By the way, I happened to attend Stubby’s first game after he came back down from the majors, in 2001. He didn’t fare too well up there, but he was such a fan favorite that he got a LONG standing ovation when he came back down.
And as an almost unrelated side note, Stubby’s call-up to the majors occasioned an interesting article by King Kaufman of Salon.com about cool baseball names. My favorite baseball name: Mookie Wilson.
Just in case anybody doesn’t already know: Sidd Finch is fictitious
Stubby Clapp’s AAA team is the Cardinal farm system.
Stubby Clapp plays for the Richmond Braves, AAA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. Through the 2002 season, he played for the Memphis Redbirds, AAA affiliate of the Cardinals, but now he’s moved on.
Oops, that link’s not going to work. Click on “Roster” and you’ll see him.
Plus John Olerud, Travis Lee, Doug Mientkiewicz and Sean Casey. And Todd Helton isn’t too shabby with the glove either. All of them are at least as good as Keith Hernandez.
The first player I thought of who fit the category of “good field/no hit” was Mark Belanger who had played 18 seasons despite hitting only 20 home runs and having a lifetime batting average of .228.
BTW, Belanger was a shortstop. Until recently with players like Cal Ripken and A-Rod, this was a position where a lot of slick fielders who were lackluster hitters thrived.
First post.
I just saw Jose Offerman in a minor league game a few weeks ago. He’s playing for Bridgeport in the non-affiliated Atlantic League. He can still hit for power, but I can’t comment on his fielding since he was the DH.
Baseball fans have heard of “the Mendoza Line”. Was Mendoza a good fielder? What were his career offensive stats?
This post has been puzzling me. Is this supposed to be a list of good-fielding, poor-hitting players? Olerud won a batting title, and his career BA is .297, OBP .402 and SLG .471. All much better than JT Snow. He’s having an off year in 2003, but over his career he has been a fine hitter.
Ugly. See Mark Belanger above, only much, much worse.
9 Years (74-82) .215 BA 4 HR .262 Slugging 101 RBI 12 SB
Looking at his fielding stats at Basebase Reference he wasn’t better than the league average in the field. (Career fielding percentage as a SS: .960, League average for his 9 seasons: .964)
Not fast, no power, no bat, average glove. My only reason for why he hung on so long was that perhaps there was a critical shortstop shortage during that time, or perhaps he some intangibles to be a good guy to have on the bench…sorta like Marvin Bernard.
Fittingly, his career postseason batting average is .200 (1-5).
sorry if this double posts, but a refresh didn’t show anything…
Manduck - I believe that post was in response to the statement that there hasn’t been a good fielding 1st baseman since Keith Hernandez. It’s not a reflection on those players’ hitting skills, just that there are 1st basemen out there who can play the position well regardless of how they hit.
There’s a great quote about Dave Kingman diving for a fly ball:
“An empty paint can being thrown from a car at sixty miles per hour.”
- John Schulian
BTW, here’s a good baseball message board full of people who know waaaaaaay to much about the sport…
Baseball Fever