Most Sacrifice Flies Allowed in a Season Since 1956

Every once in a while a Google search that leads to my blog catches my eye. Someone looked up MLB pitchers with the most sacrifice flies, or something to that effect, and wound up here. I'm not sure whether they were looking for SF hit by pitchers (which I posted about in Sept. 2008) or SF allowed by pitchers, but I was intrigued. I decided to look up the most sacrifice flies allowed by pitchers. Sac flies weren't recorded until 1954 and Retrosheet data only goes back to 1956 anyway, so this record is for seasons since 1956.

Most Sacrifice Flies Allowed in a Season
(1956-2008)

• Larry Gura, 17 - 1983 Royals
• Jaime Navarro, 17 - 1993 Brewers
  
• Charlie Hough, 16 - 1991 White Sox
  
• Doc Medich, 15 - 1975 Yankees
• Randy Lerch, 15 - 1979 Phillies
• Dave Stewart, 15 - 1991 Oakland
  
• Dave Morehead, 14 - 1964 Red Sox
• Jim Palmer, 14 - 1976 Orioles
• Nolan Ryan, 14 - 1978 Angels
• Rick Reuschel, 14 - 1980 Cubs
• Charlie Hough, 14 - 1987 Rangers
• Rick Reuschel, 14 - 1988 Giants
• Rich DeLucia, 14 - 1991 Mariners
• David Wells, 14 - 1996 Orioles
• Jaime Navarro, 14 - 1997 White Sox
• Steve Trachsel, 14 - 1999 Cubs
• Barry Zito, 14 - 2008 Giants

While leading the league last year, Zito became the first pitcher to allow 14 or more sac flies in a season since 1999 and only the fourteenth pitcher since 1956. Time will tell if he'll join Jaime Navarro, Charlie Hough, and Rick Reuschel as guys who did it twice.

We know Zito had the most SF-prone season of the 2000's, but who else is up there on the list? Below are the twenty seasons with 11+ SF allowed since 2000.

1. Barry Zito, 14 - 2008 Giants
2. Paul Byrd, 13 - 2002 Royals
   
3. Kris Benson, 13 - 2006 Orioles
4. Chris Holt, 12 - 2000 Astros
5. Jose Lima, 12 - 2000 Astros
6. Jesus Sanchez, 12 - 2000 Marlins
7. Livan Hernandez, 12 - 20001 Giants
8. Paul Wilson, 12 - 2001 Devil Rays
9. Brian Anderson, 12 - 2003 Indians/Royals
10. Daniel Cabrera, 12 - 2008 Orioles
11. Greg Maddux, 11 - 2001 Braves
12. Jamie Moyer, 11 - 2001 Mariners
13. Frank Castillo, 11 - 2002 Red Sox
14. Jeff Suppan, 11 - 2002 Royals
15. Matt Kinney, 11 - 2003 Brewers
16. Ryan Franklin, 11 - 2004 Mariners
17. Mike Maroth, 11 - 2005 Tigers
    
18. Nate Robertson, 11 - 2005 Tigers
19. Jeff Suppan, 11 - 2007 Brewers
20. Miguel Batista, 11 - 2008 Mariners

Allowing ten sacrifice flies in a season has been done thirty-two times since 2000. Five different pitchers did so in 2008:

• Brian Bannister, Royals
• Aquilino Lopez, Tigers
• Gil Meche, Royals
• Kenny Rogers, Tigers
• Greg Smith, Oakland

There's just something about being a Royals or Tigers pitcher that means you give up sac flies, I guess. Lopez's place on the list is impressive given the fact he made all his appearances in relief. He's one of only two relievers to reach 10 SF allowed since 2000. The other was Paul Quantrill in 2005.

The Best Kind of Productive Out

Q: What do Jake Peavy, Dan Haren, Jorge de la Rosa, Todd Wellemeyer, Eric Stults, and Garrett Olson have in common?

A: They're the only six pitchers to hit a sacrifice fly in 2008.

Yes, a pitcher plating a runner via sacrifice fly is a rare occurrence. Simply because precise conditions have to be met to make a sacrifice fly a possibility (runner on third, less than two outs), sacrifice flies by any player aren't all that common. Of the 161,908 MLB plate appearances through September 4, only 9,190 of them took place with a runner on third and less than two out. Of those plate appearances, 1,167 resulted in a sacrifice fly. So when conditions are right, a sacrifice fly results an eighth of the time. Overall, that's one out of every 139 plate appearances.

Pitchers have a tougher time hitting sacrifice flies because, well, they aren't paid to hit in the first place and managers are more willing to call for the squeeze, figuring their pitchers won't get a hit. To hit a sac fly, you have to a) make contact with the ball and b) drive it to the outfield. The first requirement is a major hang-up for many pitchers. You can tell that just by looking at strikeout totals. So, if a sacrifice fly results in one out of every eight plate appearances with a runner on third and less than two out for all major leaguers, how much less often does it happen for pitchers?

It turns out that pitchers have come up to bat 262 times with a runner on third and less than two outs. There were thirty-eight sacrifice bunts in those times up, so pitchers really had 224 opportunities for a sacrifice fly. Six in 224 is pretty close to one every 37 plate appearances, or about 4.5 times less often than all other hitters.

Those are all 2008 numbers. It turns out that it's sort of a down year for pitchers and sacrifice flies. Pitchers were responsible for a dozen sac flies both in 2006 and in 2007. In 2005, they had 16. In 2004, they had 19. In fact, I know there's still a month to play this year, but pitchers haven't had fewer than 10 SF in a full season since 1991, when there was no interleague play and the National League had four fewer teams than it does today. Regardless, pitchers hitting sacrifice flies is still pretty uncommon.

So now that I've rambled on and on about how uncommon it is to see a pitcher hit a sacrifice fly this season, what pitchers have the most career sac flies and who are the active career leaders? Note that sacrifice flies have only been recorded since 1954.

Most Career SF by a Pitcher, 1954-2008

• Bob Gibson, 18
• Warren Spahn, 14
• Steve Carlton, 13
• Phil Niekro, 12
• Johnny Podres, 11
• Woody Williams, 10
  Juan Pizarro, 10
• Bob Knepper, 9
  Claude Osteen, 9
  Dick Hall, 9 (EDIT 10/3/08: Done as outfielder, not pitcher)
  
• Joe Nuxhall, 8
  Jack Harshman, 8
• Fergie Jenkins, 7
  Jim Kaat, 7
  Juan Marichal, 7
  Gary Peters, 7
  Mudcat Grant, 7
  Vern Law, 7

Most Career SF by an Active Pitcher

• Randy Wolf, 5
• Mike Hampton, 4
• Tom Glavine, 3
  Livan Hernandez, 3
  Pedro Martinez, 3
• Shawn Estes, 2
  Jeff Francis, 2
  Cole Hamels, 2
  Jason Isringhausen, 2
  Jon Lieber, 2
  Derek Lowe, 2
  Greg Maddux, 2
  Mark Mulder, 2
  Chan Ho Park, 2
  Jake Peavy, 2
  Oliver Perez, 2
  Javier Vazquez, 2
  Carlos Zambrano, 2

Obviously, some of those active players are in a good position to move quite a ways up the list in the future. Other guys, like Jason Isringhausen and Chan Ho Park, not so much.

Final note: Garrett Olson's sacrifice fly this year made him one of only four American League pitchers to hit a sac fly since interleague play started in 1997. The others are Chad Durbin (DET in 2007), Jaret Wright (NYY in 2006), and Mark Mulder (OAK in 2003).

Scoring From Second...on a Sac Fly?

Strange as it sounds, runners have scored from second base on a sacrifice fly. It's not terribly common; the last time it happened was September 20, 2005. Actually, given the recent trend of one or two such plays per season, MLB is overdue for a wacky play like that. When a runner scoring from second on a sacrifice fly does happen, I would guess it happens on plays involving a fielder diving for the ball or, less likely, in parks with expansive outfields. In any case, here are the plays, from most recent back ten seasons to 1998, with runners scoring from second base on a sacrifice fly without the aid of errors.

• September 20, 2005 - BOS @ TBD (box/PBP) - Trailing 7-1 in the bottom of the third, Jorge Cantu hits a fly ball to center field, scoring Carl Crawford from second.
• August 27, 2004 - MIN @ ANA (box/PBP) - David Eckstein transferred his hustle power to Adam Kennedy after flying out to left; Chone Figgins only moved up from first to second.
  
• June 2, 2004 - STL @ PIT (box/PBP) - A Daryle Ward flyout to left scored Jason Kendall.
• July 30, 2003 - DET @ SEA (box/PBP) - Craig Monroe plated Bobby Higginson on a sacrifice fly to right field. I didn't realize Higginson still played that year (he actually lasted into 2005!).
• June 21, 2002 - CLE @ MON (box/PBP) - Wil Cordero picked up an RBI and lost an at bat thanks to teammate Brad Wilkerson.
• June 20, 2002 - TOR @ LAD (box/PBP) - The first of two consecutive days of sac flies plating runners from second saw Tom Wilson fly out to right, scoring Raul Mondesi.
• May 29, 2002 - DET @ CLE (box/PBP) - Who is Jacob Cruz? None other than the guy that got an RBI courtesy of Damian Jackson hustling home on his fly to center.
• May 8, 2001 - CIN @ ARI (box/PBP) - Alex Ochoa managed to get two RBI on one sacrifice fly as both Jason LaRue and Donnie Sadler scored in the eleventh inning.
• April 3, 2001 - PHI @ FLA (box/PBP) - Doug Glanville flew out to center but Brian Hunter managed to score from second anyway.
• August 19, 2000 - ANA @ NYY (box/PBP) - I don't know who Clay Bellinger was, but if he managed to get Jorge Posada home from second on a sacrifice fly, he did something right.
• May 28, 2000 - MIL @ ARI (box/PBP) - A blast from the Charlie Hayes days in Milwaukee as Marquis Grissom brings him home from second on a fly ball to right.
  
• April 6, 2000 - PHI @ ARI (box/PBP) - Lenny Harris, actually starting a game for once, scored Steve Finley on a sac fly to center.
• July 27, 1999 - CIN @ LAD (box/PBP) - Back-to-back days! Todd Hollandsworth brought Gary Sheffield home from second by flying out to right.
  
• July 26, 1999 - MIL @ ATL (box/PBP) - Chipper Jones scored Bret Boone on a sac fly to center.
• August 31, 1998 - NYM @ LAD (box/PBP) - Apparently hitting a fly ball to "short left" was enough for Mark Grudzielanek to score Bobby Bonilla from second base.
• August 26, 1998 - CHC @ CIN (box/PBP) - Being one of the last batters to wear a helmet without ear flaps probably didn't help Gary Gaetti score Mark Grace from second on a fly to right.
• August 17, 1998 - MIN @ BAL (box/PBP) - Rafael Palmeiro continues the busy season for scoring from second on sac flies with a flyout to left field that brought Brady Anderson home safely.
  
• July 24, 1998 - FLA @ PHI (Game 1) (box/PBP) - A youngster named Scott Rolen hit a fly ball to center off Kirt Ojala that was enough to score Doug Glanville from second.
• June 5, 1998 - NYM @ BOS (box/PBP) - Edgardo Alfonzo brings John Olerud home on a fly to right-center.
• April 6, 1998 - TEX @ CHW (box/PBP) - Albert Belle kicks off the busiest season of the past decade with a first inning fly ball to center field that brought Mike Cameron around to score.

Even more bizarre than six runners scoring from second on sacrifice flies in 1998 was what happened the following year. Apparently, a runner scored all the way from first tagging up on a fly ball.

On August 11, 1999, the Oakland Athletics hosted the New York Yankees (box/PBP). Tony Phillips led off the bottom of the first by drawing a walk from Orlando Hernandez. A wild pitch moved Phillips to second but he was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Randy Velarde's single. Jason Giambi then hit a fly ball to center field, apparently deep enough to score Velarde all the way from first after it was caught. I didn't think Velarde was that fast, but unless the play-by-play is missing a wild pitch and/or another way Velarde moved to second, I guess I'll have to believe that's how it happened. Pretty crazy stuff from the Bay Area.

EDIT: Velarde didn't score from first. See the comments for what really happened.