I'd love to see a list of recent pitchers who have hit pinch-hit home runs... Anyone?

Owings hit a slider on a 0-0 count, down and away. Just reached out and hit a line drive over the fence in RF. Amazing.

A baseball reference PRI report revealed that Owings now is tied with ERV Brame for the most career homeruns (5) of any second year pitcher who played at least 50% of his games at pitcher. He was tied for second with Babe Ruth and several others at 4 before today ;)

Link

It's a bit strange to see a pitcher pinch-hit in regulation. It's strange to see a manager head out to the mound to chat when the opposing pitcher comes to the plate. It's stranger to see him bring in a reliever to face the pitcher. Then there's this. Oh, and Owings was limping while running the bases because his ankle obviously isn't 100% yet.

Ah, convenient endpoints. Wes Ferrell hit only one HR in his rookie year and none his second year, but he then hit 9 HR his third year. Ferrell ended his career with 38 HR, a .280/.351/.446 line, and a 100 OPS+.

There were several other good hitting pitchers in Ferrell's generation, but the others, like Red Ruffing or Red Lucas, didn't have Ferrell's HR power.

Moe, according to the Houston broadcasters, the last pitcher with a pinch-hit homer was Brooks Kieschnick in 2004. No word yet on others, before Kieschnick. And of course Kieschnick, while definitely a pitcher in '04, is sort of a special case.

It’s the moment of the season so far to cap off a nineteen win April.

That's their 20th win.

One of the twenty wins came in March.
Micah is a stud. I suspect he limped a bit harder on the base paths, just for emphasis.

The first was on March 31, I think.

That's their 20th win.

But their first win was in March.

I originally wrote a "20 win month", but decided it against out of fear of nitpicks.

I think Cooper didn't like today's loss very much. From mlb.com:

Cooper called the Astros' 8-7 loss to the Diamondbacks "by far" the most frustrating of the year. "This won't go away soon," he said.

It was infuriating enough to blow a game that featured a very mediocre Randy Johnson, whom the Astros knocked around quite convincingly and was gone after four innings. But to give up the lead by allowing a home run to a pitcher? To Cooper, that was simply unacceptable.

"We can't get the stinking pitcher out, we're in trouble," Cooper said. "My goodness. Two-run lead and we can't even get out of the stinking inning. That's unacceptable, and it won't happen again, I can promise you that. You get these guys down, you've got them, 4-0, 6-2, and we let them back in the game. It won't happen again. It definitely won't happen again."

I have a feeling Cecil Cooper won't be long for this job.

I have a feeling Cecil Cooper won't be long for this job.

He isn't longing for it either.

As best as I can tell, Kieschnick has hit the last 4 ,going back to 2001.

Ah, convenient endpoints.

Well, we are all of 1 month into Owings second season.......we'll talk again 17 months and see where things stand. ;)

I remember seeing Don Robinson of the Giants PH a home run. Could be June 19, 1990 off Bruce Hurst of the Padres.

Gene Stechschulte, 2001.

If Owings was on the Mets he'd hit cleanup.

Actually Willie would say he hasn't proven himself yet and he would sit, my mistake.

"Rick Camp of the Braves in the memorable game against the Mets in 1985"

Except that Camp wasn't a pinch-hitter.

He was in the game as the pitcher of record having relieved Gene Garber in the top of the 17th inning with the score tied, 10-10. After pitching a scoreless 17th, Camp allowed a run to NY in the top of the 18th (due mainly to his own throwing error), which gave the Mets an 11-10 lead. Then Camp homered in the bottom of the 18th to (re-)tie the game at 11-11.

He then proceeded to give up 5 more runs to the Mets in the top of the 19th to make the score 16-11, Mets. The Braves mounted a rally in the bottom of the 19th to cut it to 16-13 NY, but with two men on and the tying run at the plate - you guessed it - mighty Rick Camp struck out, thus ending the marathon 4th of July game...

He's hitting .421. His career OPS+ is over 150. I'd expect a regression, given his minor league OPS+ was closer to 125. Whats the list of the top ten best hitting pitchers of all time? Obv, Ruth is #1. Does Micah have a shot at $2?

Does Micah have a shot at $2?

If he makes it to arbitration, he might.

He's hitting .421. His career OPS+ is over 150. I'd expect a regression, given his minor league OPS+ was closer to 125. Whats the list of the top ten best hitting pitchers of all time? Obv, Ruth is #1. Does Micah have a shot at $2?

Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, Played 50% of games at P, (requiring At least 500 plate appearances), sorted by greatest OPSp

PRI Link since 1920 Wes Ferrel 100 OPS+

PRI Link since ww2 Don Newcombe 85 OPS+

PRI Link since 1972, advent of DH Mike Hampton 66 OPS+

Career-wise, Owings has a long way to go to catch the likes of Wes Ferrell and Bob Lemon.

Of course he does....hence the 500 Min PA's in the reports I linked. But if you've watched him play, and take a look at his minor league and college track record, you know this guy is legit...not some fluke. Sure he won't have a career 150 OPS+. But this dude has some serious power and he can really hit.

Reliever Joe Borkowski entered the game just before Owings stepped to the plate.

I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Dave Borkowski. Although it would explain a lot about what's happened to JoeBo this year if the two pitchers had somehow merged and become the same guy.

Terry Forster has a career OPS+ close to 150+. Nobody will ever beat that combination. Ever. A pitcher. 15-year career. 150 OPS+. Never. I guarantee it.

Until Owings does it, I guess.

Except nobody will ever call Owings a 'fat tub of goo.'

Whats the list of the top ten best hitting pitchers of all time? Obv, Ruth is #1. Does Micah have a shot at $2?

Well, that depends. If guys who began their careers as pitchers and then became outfielders count, then Owings has no hope of ever topping Lefty O'Doul. If you use an innings threshold that includes Ruth and excludes the O'Doul/Ankiel cases, he probably does.

Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, Played 50% of games at P, (requiring At least 500 plate appearances), sorted by greatest OPSp

These conditions exclude Babe Ruth. Conditions that include Babe Ruth would likely put Joe Wood (111 OPS+) somewhere near the top (since he, like Ruth, was an accomplished pitcher who ended up in the outfield for a number of seasons). Right now, neither Wood nor Ruth make the list because, despite pitching fairly large number of games/innings by a young age, they proceeded to play more than half their careers in the outfield.

And Lefty O'Doul

And Bob Lemon.

Gee, it's too bad that the NL doesn't have designated hitters. It's just terrible, having to watch pitchers hit like that.

Has anyone heard of a pitcher pinch hit for a position player (in a non-injury situation)?

Bob Lemon was probably perceived as a better hitter than the Indians' catcher, Jim Hegan; and Al Lopez never minded embarrassing his players, but I have never heard of Lemon pinch hitting for Hegan.

Has anyone heard of a pitcher pinch hit for a position player (in a non-injury situation)?

Yes, but it was to bunt.

Justin Zeth Posted: April 30, 2008 at 11:57 PM (#2764792)

I have a feeling Cecil Cooper won't be long for this job.

- unless he resigns, we're stuck with him. he is as clueless about pitchers/bullpens as garner and he seems to have every one of garners weaknesses except his obsession of having every position player play every position.
- if he benches the 3 young guys, towles, bourn and pence in order to play ausmus/quintero, erstad and cruz, jr, any rope i gave him to show he isn't a complete moron done been used

hack,

i disremember seeing a pitcher pinch hit in the 6th like that, but i've seen them sent in to sac-bunt, or pinch hit in the later innings if the bench had been used up. last year, jason jennings got sent in to pinch hit in the 9th and hit the winning run. best thing he did all year...

These conditions exclude Babe Ruth. Conditions that include Babe Ruth would likely put Joe Wood (111 OPS+) somewhere near the top (since he, like Ruth, was an accomplished pitcher who ended up in the outfield for a number of seasons). Right now, neither Wood nor Ruth make the list because, despite pitching fairly large number of games/innings by a young age, they proceeded to play more than half their careers in the outfield.

Yeah, there are so many different criteria you can set, it just depends how you want to ask the question and what you want to compare.

If you want to look at the importance of Owings hitting ability in the here and now, in the modern game, then the 1972 and after report probably gives the best context. All of that aside though, he's just such a fun baseball player to watch. He makes some amazing defensive plays too. But I have a gut feeling he is going to be somewhat injury prone. He's dealing with a sprained ankle right now of course, missed some time last year with a strained hamstring after running the bases, and the way he hurls himself around the field and on the bases, I think it's likely that he will continue to get dinged up fairly regularly.

Sportscenter last night had a list of highest OPS of all time, minimum 75 PAs. The list went Bonds, Williams, Gehrig, Foxx (I think, I'm not looking this up), Owings, Pujols. That's damned impressive company for a ####### pitcher.

Three cheers for "Parisian Bob" Caruthers.

Does anybody else think pitchers-as-hitters are going to see a bit of a renaissance? Adam Wainwright's been pretty vocal lately about thinking that pitchers should work in the cage so that they can help themselves. (His career line, for what it's worth, is .310/.330/.464.) It's the new market inefficiency!

37, the list from espn

Player OPS
Babe Ruth 1.164
Ted Williams 1.116
Lou Gehrig 1.079
Barry Bonds 1.051
Micah Owings 1.044*
Albert Pujols 1.042
* -- .373 OBP, .671 Slug pct.

Owings, combined VORP = 12.9 (7.4 pitching, 5.5 hitting)

Some conclusions I came to in the debate over the Hall of Merit candidacy of Wes Ferrell:

The quality of Ferrell's hitting in the games in which he pitched was much more important to his case than the quality of his pinch-hitting. For one thing, more of his hitting (including 37 of his 38 HR) happened in the games he pitched. He had more games as a pitcher than as a pinch-hitter, and he'd have 3 or more AB when he pitched as compared to one (usually) as a PH. Also the baseline of comparison for his use as a PH would be the world of 4th outfielders, utility infielders and so on - it's a significantly higher standard that the baseline of comparison for a pitcher at the plate. (Many teams would not have had a 4th OF who could outhit Ferrell - but some would have.)

By RA+ and IP, Ferrell pitched well enough to compute (on a season-by-season basis) an equivalent record of 167-124. Add in his own hitting had on his run environment, and I re-estimate his Pythag. equivalent record as 177-115 - so it's about a 9 or 10 game swing in the equivalent record. Furthermore, some of his best hitting years corresponded to his best hitting years, raising the height of his peak. For instance, his 1930 season changes from 21-12 to 23-10, and his 1935 from 23-13 to 24-11.

With his hitting value while pitching estimated as adding something like 10 wins to his equivalent record, I would then estimate his value as a PH/OF (he did play a dozen or so games out there one year) as adding maybe 2 wins, if that.

Ferrell did eventually get elected to the HOM, essentially as a peak candidate. His candidacy was lengthy and noisy, and many arguments were exchanged about him. We also elected Bob Caruthers (see danup's post) after an even longer and noisier candidacy, and Al Spalding, but not Tony Mullane or Jim Whitney. And, yes, good-hitting pitchers were much more common before 1893 than after 1893.

Owings is unlikely to get enough PA over his career to have as large an impact as Ferrell; however, the baseline of what most pitchers hit is lower now than it was in the 30's.

Does anybody else think pitchers-as-hitters are going to see a bit of a renaissance?

I think so, largely because of the trend toward smaller benches and larger bullpens.

-- MWE

Owings's career W/K ratio (as a batter) is still 3/20 in the majors, 0/18 in the minors. I gotta think that as an everyday hitter he'd be a lot closer to Shawon Dunston than to Albert Pujols or even Wes Ferrell. Of course, there have been many thousands of hitters worse than Shawon Dunston ...

People always mention Wes Ferrell. George Uhle was a teammate of his who was almost as good a hitter, but without the power. Although his career dates back to the days when Ruth and Wood alternated between pitching and the outfield, he was never used at any position other than pitcher.

Terry Forster has a career OPS+ close to 150+. Nobody will ever beat that combination. Ever. A pitcher. 15-year career. 150 OPS+. Never. I guarantee it.

Esteban Yan. 11-year career. 769 OPS+.

Of course that's only in three plate appearances, as opposed to Forster's 86.

Ah - I knew about Ruffing and Lucas, but not about Uhle. Uhle seems to have a lot in common with Ruffing as a hitter, and I would guess that Uhle's hitting is worth a 6-8 game boost in his estimated equivalent record. Perhaps he's less well known because he wasn't quite as good a pitcher as Ruffing or Ferrell.

Carlos Zambrano just hit his 13th career homer.

Esteban Yan. 11-year career. 769 OPS+.

Of course that's only in three plate appearances

Actually only two, unless you count sacrifice bunts as plate appearances. Most people do not, but Baseball Reference does.

That 2.000 OPS in 2003 killed his career line...

Owings is my favorite non-Angel. He is the chosen one who will banish the Dh rule to where it belongs, the 666th layer of the Abyss.

AROM Posted: May 01, 2008 at 03:43 PM (#2765666)

Owings is my favorite non-Angel. He is the chosen one who will banish the Dh rule to where it belongs, the 666th layer of the Abyss.

- how BEAUTIFULLY expressed!!!!
such ELOQUENCE!!!!

may your baby daughter be the ONE who finally banishes the bigoted dottie kamenshek rule along with the D freaking H

I suspect he limped a bit harder on the base paths, just for emphasis.

It was a Kirk Gibson homage.

Owings's career W/K ratio (as a batter) is still 3/20 in the majors, 0/18 in the minors. I gotta think that as an everyday hitter he'd be a lot closer to Shawon Dunston than to Albert Pujols or even Wes Ferrell. Of course, there have been many thousands of hitters worse than Shawon Dunston ...

The bb/k ratio has not escaped my attention. I wonder how much of that is a guy that just doesn't want to get cheated when he does get a chance to hit. If he were an every day player, I think he would have to make an adjustment in his approach and take more pitches and work the count more.

It still boggles my mind that they still give him anything good to hit....as if...you know....he were a pitcher. Knowing how anxious he is to swing the bat, pitchers should never give him anything close. They'll probably get him out, because he doesn't want to take a walk right now. Of course, if he makes the adjustment, then opposing managers and fans will go ballistic over walking the pitcher.

While we are all talking about Owings as a hitter, of course the thing that is most important, and makes his hitting interesting is that he is a valuable pitcher. Somewhat above league average last year, (albeit a bit lucky with his ERA), and except for one start, well above league average this year. I think it's the fact that he's an effective pitcher that makes this so newsworthy in the first place.

If he sucked as a pitcher and struggled to keep his rotation spot, the hitting would just be an interesting footnote.

may your baby daughter be the ONE who finally banishes the bigoted dottie kamenshek rule along with the D freaking H

Maybe we should combine the rules - and say you can have a DH to bat for your pitcher, but it has to be a woman.

If he sucked as a pitcher and struggled to keep his rotation spot, the hitting would just be an interesting footnote.

Oh well......footnote it is.

I started reading this topic and it took me a while to realize what date all the posts were.