Last Tuesday’s story focused on single-game heroics that rarely receive much publicity.
You might recall that I sifted through 2022’s box scores, searching for the players who reached six benchmarks with the greatest frequency. Here again is the list of batters and pitchers who emerged as last season’s leaders in their respective leagues:
American League batters
Three or more hits in a game: Amed Rosario, Guardians, and Luis Arraez, Twins, 17 games.
Two or more homers in a game: Aaron Judge, Yankees, 11 games.
Five or more RBIs in a game: Jose Ramirez, Guardians, three games.
National League batters
Three or more hits in a game: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers, 20 games.
Two or more homers in a game: Kyle Schwarber, Phillies, eight games.
Five or more RBIs in a game: Pete Alonso, Mets, four games.
American League pitchers
Two or fewer earned runs in seven or more innings: Shane Bieber, Guardians, 12 games.
Ten or more strikeouts in a game: Shohei Ohtani, Angels, 10 games.
No baserunners in a save: Emmanuel Clase, Guardians, 22 games.
National League pitchers
Two or fewer earned runs in seven or more innings: Sandy Alcantara, Marlins, 20 games.
Ten or more strikeouts in a game: Carlos Rodon, Giants, 11 games.
No baserunners in a save: Kenley Jansen, Braves, 21 games.
All of the above were positive accomplishments. But this newsletter wouldn’t be true to itself — or to its name — if it didn’t give equal time to the negative side of life. That’s the subject of today’s entry.
I’ll admit to making one holiday-related concession. There were six positive categories last week (three for batters, three for pitchers), but I’m including only four negative stats today (two for each side), which leaves us with an overall balance that tips slightly toward the affirmative side.
Scroll below for a breakdown of each league’s tailenders. Additional details — including every club’s leaders in all of the positive and negative categories — can be found in the 418-page print companion to this newsletter: Baseball’s Best (and Worst) 2023 Yearbook.
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American League batters
No hits in five or more at-bats: Marcus Semien, a second baseman for the Texas Rangers, went hitless in five or more at-bats on 10 occasions in 2022, an unhappy distinction unpassed by anyone else in the American League.
Four or more strikeouts in a game: Two free-swinging designated hitters tied for the AL lead in this category. Franmil Reyes of the Guardians and Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees both struck out at least four times in five different games.
National League batters
No hits in five or more at-bats: The Milwaukee Brewers were a free-swinging team in 2022, as evidenced by their one-star rating for contact hitting. It was an approach that didn’t always pay off. Milwaukee first baseman Rowdy Tellez topped this list by going hitless in five or more trips on 12 different occasions. Teammate Andrew McCutchen, a designated hitter, was the runner-up with nine such games.
Four or more strikeouts in a game: Five players had the misfortune of tying for first place on this list. Each of them suffered at least four strikeouts in four games: Austin Riley of the Braves, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies, Lane Thomas of the Nationals, Oneil Cruz of the Pirates, and Luke Voit, who split his season between the Padres and Nationals.
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American League pitchers
Ten or more baserunners in a game: Seattle’s Marco Gonzales, Toronto’s Jose Berrios, and Kansas City’s Kris Bubic all endured difficulties in 2022, as suggested by their respective earned run averages of 4.13, 5.23, and 5.58. Gonzales was tagged with 15 losses, the most for any AL pitcher. He also finished as the tailender in this category by allowing at least 10 baserunners in 11 separate games. Berrios and Bubic were runners-up with 10 such appearances apiece.
One or more earned runs in a save: This could be named the messy save, an instance in which a reliever is credited in the SV column despite giving up at least one earned run. Liam Hendriks of the Chicago White Sox and Ryan Pressly of the Houston Astros topped the American League with five messy saves each.
National League pitchers
Ten or more baserunners in a game: The basepaths often became congested in 2022 for German Marquez of the Colorado Rockies and Patrick Corbin of the Washington Nationals, each of whom allowed 10 or more baserunners in 12 separate starts.
One or more earned runs in a save: Kenley Jansen picked up seven messy saves for the Atlanta Braves, allowing an earned run on each occasion, yet still getting credit for a save. Craig Kimbrel of the Los Angeles Dodgers was right behind Jansen with six.