baseball: who's best vs. Pedro?

Factual Questions
1

who has the best lifetime AVG against Pedro? let’s say minimum 30 ABs. who has the best SLG?

i was just wondering.

also, i was wondering the same thing about Randy Johnson…

2

Here are his overall stats…

3

The figures in the link only cover 1998 through 2000. I think if someone has a more detailed source, they could come up with a more definitive answer.

I would assume that the best BA or SLG against Pedro Martinez is likely to be someone like Paul O’Neill.

The figures for Randy Johnson are updated through his last start and some guys have hit him fairly hard. In 21 ABs since 1998 (when Johnson joined the NL), Chipper Jones has batted .429 and slugged 1.333. He has 6 homers and a double in those 9 hits.

4

Such a stat like lifetime B.A vs Pedro Martinez would be hard to reference for average person because of limitations to such stats. A sportwriter for instance has a whole data-base specifically for such stats, which most people don’t have the luxury to.

If this helps any, i was reading in the Boston Globe’s Sport’s Page today that the Yankee’s Scott Brosius had the best AVG against Pedro, which happens to be under .300–i think it was something like .280. Three of those hits happened to be home run though.

I wish you luck on you quest for knowledge about lifetime BA’S against Pedro.

5

Here are updated stats…

http://espn.go.com/mlb/profiles/splits/2001/pitching/4875.html

6

Try this book:

http://www.stats.com/store/store.asp?page=bp01

I don’t own it, otherwise I’d just look it up for you. (Obviously the stats wouldn’t count this year’s performances)

7

OK, I obviously put too much time into this (well, 1/2 an hour). From the website http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/ml/players/4875/CareerBatVsPit.html

I dragged it into a spreadsheet. I added OPS, since that, I think, is the relevant stat, and chopped off everyone who had less than 10 at-bats vs. Pedro. Nobody had many more than 50.

The hardest decision is deciding what the cut-off point is.
10 ABs? 20?

So, here are the top 3 hitters, by OPS, at various cut-off points:

At least 10 AB:
Carlos Baerga (12) 1.917
Marquis Grissom (21) 1.561
Luis Lopez (10) 1.455

At least 20 AB:
Marquis Grissom (21) 1.561
Ryan Klesko (26) 1.371
Mike Piazza (20) 1.231

At least 30 AB:

Gregg Jeffries (32) 1.216
Barry Bonds (30) 1.158
Craig Biggio (33) 1.081

Only 4 players, Fred McGriff, David Justice, Paul O’Neill, and Derek Jeter, had 40 or more at-bats against Pedro Martinez. The best of that group was Fred McGriff, with 52 at bats and an OPS of .751

Anyway, if you want to play around with the numbers yourself to get AVG and SLG, you can grab the spreadsheet at http://members.home.net/yeswell/pedro_raw.zip

8

I just noticed the OP specified 30 ABs… so here is the answer to best avg and best slg:

Average:
Greg Jeffries 15 for 32 .469

Slugging:
Greg Jeffries .688

Best OBP with 30 at-bats:
Greg Jeffries .528

9

Well, curiosity got the best of me. Here’s Randy Johnson. 30 ABs minimum:

Average:
Randy Velarde 19 for 42 .452

Slugging:
Chris Hoiles .710
He’s 9 for 31 against RJ, but 4 of those hits were home runs.

OBP:
Randy Velarde .500

OPS:
John Valentin 1.066

Most career home runs:
Chipper Jones 6

Most career strike outs:
Dean Palmer 25

http://members.home.net/yeswell/randy_raw.zip

10

Sorry to keep blathering, but it appears Gregg Jeffries hasn’t played in over a year. Out of curiosity, I checked for active players with at least 30 ABs vs. Pedro:

Avg:
Luis Gonzales 12 for 31 .387

Slugging:
Barry Bonds .633

OBP:
Barry Bonds .525

OPS:
Barry Bonds 1.158

Active Players with at least 30 ABs vs. RJ:

Avg:
Randy Velarde 19 for 42 .452

Slugging:
Ellis Burks .656

OBP:
Randy Velarde .500

OPS:
John Valentin 1.066

Also, I was incorrect earlier. John Valentin has the highest OPS for active players, but Chris Hoiles had an OPS of 1.131 against RJ.

I’ll now try to do something productive.

11

zuma, my compliments!

Now all you have to do is tell me whether I should take a marginal prospect, a duff relief pitcher, a catcher hitting better than he ever has before (and who will never hit this well again) or a glove man at short who can’t hit his way out of a wet paper bag, with my next supplemental draft pick (in my fantasy league).