IAL’s best of the worst – The Illowa APBA League

Elvis Andrus: 18 rbis is all-time low for starters

Aaron Hill: .189 average is 6th on all-time list

Every year when I calculate the al-time league leaders for the IAL, the temptation is too great for me to continue and figure out who was the best at being the worst.

Disqualifier: I’m using the word ‘worst’ in a tongue in cheek fashion. Each one of these players had to play a certain amount to qualify to get on these lists and for that matter, they managed to get to the MLB. For that, they get kudos.

Hitting Worsts

First up, the averages (based on 2000 career ab):

Player	AVG	Player	SLG	Player	OBP
Steve Yeager	.197	Duane Kuiper	.300	Steve Yeager	.225
Gene Tenace	.207	Larry Bowa	.308	Chris Speier	.261
Charles Johnson	.213	Bert Campaneris	.308	Ken Reitz	.261
J.J. Hardy	.214	Bill North	.312	Sal Bando	.265
Todd Hundley	.214	Jose Vizcaino	.313	Jerry Morales	.266
Sal Bando	.218	Bump Wills	.316	Bert Campaneris	.268
Chris Speier	.220	Ozzie Smith	.317	Lee May	.268
Jose Valentin	.221	Bucky Dent	.321	Graig Nettles	.269
Nick Swisher	.223	Brad Ausmus	.322	Alfredo Griffin	.269
Adam Dunn	.224	Chris Speier	.324	Tony Batista	.270

not surprisingly, there is some overlap in the BA, Slg, and OBP top ten lists. That said, only Chris Speier shows up in all three top ten lists.

This next list shows the lowest total among players with 2000 at-bats:

Player	HR	Player	SB	Player	BB
Duane Kuiper	1	Bucky Dent	0	Jerry Morales	33
Dave Cash	8	Brook Jacoby	0	Lou Brock	47
Alfredo Griffin	9	Adam LaRoche	0	Willie Montanez	60
Greg Gross	11	Tony Clark	0	Ralph Garr	68
Bill North	11	Rich Gedman	1	Rennie Stennett	68
Bert Campaneris	12	Cliff Johnson	1	Dave Cash	74
Walt Weiss	12	Benji Molina	1	Ken Reitz	81
Jose Vizcaino	13	Ramon Hernandez	1	Damaso Garcia	82
Lou Brock	13	Nick Swisher	1	Bert Campaneris	86
Rennie Stennett	14	Gene Tenace	1	Lee May	88
		Richie Zisk	1
		Tino Martinez	1
		Richie Sexson	1
		Mark McGwire	1

No big surprises in the HR category but I was little taken aback by seeing Dent, and Jacoby with no stolen bases.

I half expected to see Andre Dawson in the BB list.

I did a little filtering to find out which hitters didn’t make the most of their homers. These are the players with the least amount of career rbis among players with 200 or more homeruns

Player	HR	RBI
Chase Utley	201	573
Richie Sexson	205	575
Gorman Thomas	218	579
Jose Valentin	224	595
Pat Burrell	217	616
Kevin Mitchell	218	648
Greg Luzinski	212	649
Dean Palmer	233	650
Bob Horner	202	654
Ellis Burks	220	655

I initially thought there would be some leadoff hitters populating this list. Utley fits the description but I was a little surprised to see hitters like Sexson, Thomas, Luzinski. Essentially, these were players who hit the long ball but nothing else.

The Worst of the Single Season

Aaron Hill’s .189 average of 2011 joins the top ten list. He’s #6 worst.

Also, Elvis Andrus’ 18 rbis in 2011 breaks the all-time record for lowest number of rbis for a full time player (500 ab). I believe everyone on that list is a leadoff hitter.

Player	YEAR	CLUB	AVG	Player	YEAR	CLUB	SLG
Preston Wilson	2006	UPDKRS	.165	Ozzie Smith	1981	TCHIX	.255
Edgardo Alfonzo	2002	HLNDRS	.167	Bucky Dent	1977	SSTAR	.262
Mark McGwire	1990	TCHIX	.174	Omar Vizquel	2002	SLGRS	.267
Brady Anderson	1999	MRDRS	.182	Bobby Grich	1979	TCHIX	.276
Joe Carter	1994	CHAMPS	.183	Bill North	1981	A’s	.277
Aaron Hill	2011	BMBNOS	.189	Luis Castillo	2001	UPDKRS	.279
Dan Uggla	2008	BMBNOS	.189	Todd Zeile	1993	TCHIX	.280
Mike Cameron	2004	CHAMPS	.190	Don Kessinger	1976	FIRE	.280
Hank Blalock	2005	HTMN	.190	Chuck Knoblauch	1994	12TRS	.282
Bobby Grich	1979	TCHIX	.191	Elvis Andrus	2010	KERNEL	.283

Player	YEAR	CLUB	BB	Player	YEAR	CLUB	RBI
Larry Bowa	1979	FIRE	8	Elvis Andrus	2011	KERNEL	18
A. J. Pierzynski	2004	SLGRS	10	Jason Kendall	2006	BMBNOS	22
Alfredo Griffin	1981	A’s	12	Ozzie Smith	1992	TCHIX	22
Kenji Johjima	2007	GMBLRS	12	Omar Vizquel	2002	SLGRS	24
Carlos Baerga	1999	TCHIX	12	Tommy Herr	1983	A’s	24
Paul Molitor	1979	CARDS	13	Rudy Law	1984	12TRS	25
Raul Mondesi	1997	POSSE	13	Vince Coleman	1988	HTMN	25
Raul Mondesi	1995	POSSE	13	J. D. Drew	2008	BMBRS	25
Carlos Baerga	1995	BMBRS	13	Joe Morgan	1980	BMBRS	25
Adam Jones	2011	UPDKRS	14	Willie Randolph	1985	CARDS	25


Player	YEAR	CLUB	R	Player	YEAR	CLUB	HR	RBI
Brian Downing	1982	STKYD	33	Glenn Davis	1991	CHAMPS	25	44
Jim Sundberg	1978	TCHIX	34	Eric Davis	1989	CHAMPS	27	46
Ken Reitz	1977	BUMS	34	Eric Hinske	2009	TCHIX	26	51
Garry Templeton	1990	MERCS	36	Dean Palmer	1992	12TRS	26	51
Brook Jacoby	1989	TCHIX	36	Jeff Hammonds	2000	HTMN	25	54
Kevin Seitzer	1996	DRMTM	36	Kent Hrbek	1994	POSSE	27	55
A. J. Pierzynski	2010	KERNEL	36	Mark McGwire	2002	TCHIX	30	57
Mike Easler	1987	BMBRS	37	Todd Walker	2005	SLGRS	25	57
Carlos Baerga	1999	TCHIX	37	Glenn Davis	1986	CHAMPS	30	58
Omar Vizquel	2002	SLGRS	38	Nick Swisher	2010	CHAMPS	25	58

I did something similar with this last list. It lists those players who had the fewest rbis among those who hit at least 25 homeruns in a season. Interesting that Glenn Davis not only leads with 44 rbis and shows up twice on the list but does so the second time by hitting 30 homeruns.

Some pitching Worsts

Who has the worst career ERA in the IAL? Using 1000 innings pitched as a minimum, here’s the list:

Pitcher	YEAR	CLUB	ERA
Oliver Perez	2006	UPDKRS	9.09
Charles Hudson	1987	PHNX	7.81
Carl Pavano	1999	CARDS	7.67
Pedro Astacio	2003	SLGRS	7.62
Danny Patterson	2000	BMBRS	7.59
Neal Heaton	1989	MERCS	7.57
Justin Masterson	2011	KERNEL	7.52
Masato Yoshii	2001	CHAMPS	7.52
Rolando Arrojo	2001	TCHIX	7.51
Jason Bere	1996	DRMTM	7.47

Funny, Oliver Perez is also one of best career strikeout pitchers per IP in the IAL, too. In 1083 IP, he’s struck out 1079. Also, his Hits/9 IP is a pretty decent 9.12.

With some exceptions, we’re going back to the 80s and 90s for the high volume losses.

Pitcher	YEAR	CLUB	W	L
Erik Hanson	1997	CARDS	10	29
Ed Whitson	1988	PHNX	16	28
Livan Hernandez	2010	BMBRS	13	26
Bob Knepper	1981	A’s	10	25
Rodrigo Lopez	2004	GMBLRS	8	25
Jose Rijo	1987	PHNX	14	25
LaMarr Hoyt	1985	MERCS	8	24
Ferguson Jenkins	1984	TCHIX	8	24
Chris Bosio	1988	PHNX	11	24
Ken Holtzman	1976	CARDS	6	23

I was manager of Bob Knepper and his 25 losses. Knepper was the Roy Campanella of my pitching staff. He be great every other year. That was obviously one of his bad years.

Here are the top ten walks per 9 IP in a single season among qualifiers:

Pitcher	YEAR	CLUB	BB/9
Tom Gordon	1995	DRMTM	6.36
Carlos Zambrano	2008	BMBRS	6.28
Matt Cain	2007	CHAMPS	5.99
Barry Zito	2007	UPDKRS	5.95
Tom Gordon	1990	MERCS	5.91
Jerry Reuss	1978	CARDS	5.89
Yovani Gallardo	2010	UPDKRS	5.87
Chan Ho Park	2001	CHAMPS	5.73
Francisco Liriano	2010	BMBRS	5.65
Mike Hampton	2003	MRDRS	5.59

Some good pitchers with control problems… and then just some bad pitchers.

Finally, the lowest K/9 IP in a single season.

Pitcher	YEAR	CLUB	K/9
John Lannan	2010	GMBLRS	2.97
Mike Boddicker	1992	HTMN	3.06
Kirk Rueter	2006	GMBLRS	3.15
Tommy John	1977	SSTAR	3.17
Livan Hernandez	2008	BMBRS	3.22
Doc Medich	1977	TCHIX	3.22
Phil Niekro	1982	STKYD	3.34
Rudy May	1982	HTMN	3.39
Bill Laskey	1983	BMBRS	3.43
Jim Lonborg	1977	TCHIX	3.45