Sunday, November 18, 2007

Lowest OPS by a RF in a Season Since 1920

As for all the positions: the explanation of why I chose to look at seasons since 1920 can be found here. The short story is I wanted to avoid the low-power years of the deadball era while compiling lists of poor-hitting position players.

Qualifiers also remain the same: the player must have qualified for the batting title during the season while playing 75% or more of his games in right field.

The Top 20:

NameYearTeamPAAVGOBPSLGOPS
Stan Benjamin1941PHI508.235.266.325.591
Nemo Liebold1920CHW480.220.316.281.597
Dave May1974MIL515.226.273.325.598
Mike Hershberger1964CHW510.230.308.290.598
Max Marshall1943CIN555.236.287.313.600
Mike Hershberger1965KCA541.231.289.312.601
Cliff Heathcote1923CHC431.249.298.308.606
Cory Snyder1989CLE518.215.251.360.611
Ron Fairly1967LAD554.220.295.321.616
Tommy Thompson1934BSN369.265.300.318.618
Earl McNeely1928SLB552.236.299.319.618
Johnny Barrett1943PIT329.231.316.303.619
Don Mueller1956NYG474.269.290.333.623
Adam Comorosky1934CIN491.258.315.312.627
Tommy Griffith1924BRO531.251.300.330.630
Mike Hershberger1967KCA537.254.314.317.631
Ron Northey1942PHI433.251.300.331.631
Chuck Workman1944BSN473.208.287.344.631
Steve Finley1990BAL513.256.304.328.632
Lou Finney1935PHA434.273.307.329.636

Mike Hershberger is the only repeat offender, showing up three times. He had a career OPS of .644, a number that was better than only twenty-six single seasons. Over the entire time period, 105 seasons had an OPS under .700 but only four of these took place since 2000. These players are the futile four:
  • Jeromy Burnitz, 2002, .676
  • Terrence Long, 2003, .678
  • Bobby Higginson, 2003, .689
  • Roger Cedeno, 2003, .698
The lowest OPS put up by a qualifying right fielder in 2007 was the .724 put up by rookie (barely) Delmon Young of the Devil Rays. He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting anyway, so I guess it didn't have a big impact on the perception of him as a player.

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