Sporcle Saturday: Top RISP since 2000
It’s been a rough week or so for Sox hitters, as we well know. They’ve really struggled with runners in scoring position, causing much consternation amongst the fans watching the games. As they say, things can only go up from here, or put another way, regress to the mean.
Happily for us, though, there are a lot of Sox players throughout franchise history who have had excellent seasons with runners in scoring position! In total, 135 player seasons have had a batting average of at least .300 with RISP (minimum 125 PA w/ RISP). While that is perhaps a Sporcle for another Saturday, today I’m asking you to name just the players who have done that since 2000. That’s 38 entries: good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- As alluded to above, the player must have logged at least a .300 average, and had a minimum of 125 plate appearances with RISP.
- As always, last names accepted in addition to first and last.
- I’ve given you 15 minutes to attempt completion.
- To make it a bit more challenging, I’m providing only the season and the batting average. No defensive position.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confound, and/or confuse your friends:
- Interestingly, no member of the 2005 team made this list, the only season that’s omitted.
- Unsurprisingly, the number one type of hit were singles, accounting for nearly 65% of all hits with RISP. Doubles were next with 18%, followed by home runs (14.7%) and triples (just 2%).
- The most RBIs on this list came from one of the players in 2000, with 106.
All data from baseballreference.com
38/38 but with a disappointing :20 seconds left. Boomer got 38/38 with 8:29 left. Fucking forgot that
38/38 with 10:40 left
38/38
I had completely forgotten that one of the guys from 2009 was even on the team that year.
I’d have forgotten that, too (assuming we’re talking about the same guy), but I started by typing in names I remembered as I thought of them rather than trying to go year-by-year.
38/38 with 9:52 left.
37/38. Eff the next Ozzie Smith.
WooHoo! 100% with 5:18 left. Wording of the parameters initially threw me off. I took the “no member of the 2005 team made this list” to mean that no one from that team was on the list (as in, ANYWHERE on it). Then I reread and life got lots easier. Was shocked that there wasn’t somebody on there I’d have completely forgotten about.
35/38
Missed on 01, 11, 14
Edit: might have screwed up spoiler. Feel free to deduct another point
Might want to edit that spoiler.
Game cancelled again. Gnash teeth, rend garments, and buy milb.tv.
Just discovered these Tim Anderson tidbits via The Athletic…
– He has the biggest increase in exit velocity of any player so far this season, gaining 8.6 MPH on average.
– His max sprint speed this season is 31 ft/second. That’s higher than any max speed in MLB last season (tie between Buxton and Hamilton at 30.1 ft/second).
Two lessons: be patient with Anderson, and subscribe to The Athletic.
Sources:
– https://theathletic.com/311811/2018/04/13/sarris-eight-bats-to-watch-in-the-early-going/
– https://theathletic.com/308369/2018/04/10/tim-andersons-breakout-on-the-basepaths-is-all-about-work-confidence-and-maybe-some-more-speed/
36/38 Missed one from 2014 and one from 2001. Given who they were, I am satisfied. Plus it’s in the 80s here in Virginia. Why is there no baseball? What is this winter that people keep speaking of?
38/38 with 10:19 left. The last two minutes were spent guessing one of the 2001 hitters.
37/38 with about 9 minutes to go, but couldn’t come up with the 0.309 hitter in 2014. Satisfied that I got the .302 hitter in 2001.
I got 31, not bad for me. A lot of repeats.
38/38 with 8:27 remaining. Got a bit hung up on the second 2001 player because I always tend to forget about him in these things.
Totally forgot Mr 2010/2012 was even on the team.
This spoiler s**t is silly. Take 10 minutes to do the quiz before reading the comments. It’s not like a movie where you don’t have immediate access to the film. It’s right there people. But Nooooo, everyone has to be coy and daintily dance around the obvious because someone – anyone? – wants to read the comments first? Nuts.
Who’s with me?
*crickets*