It was Korean Night at the Rogers Centre, and Chan Ho Park was even scheduled to pitch. So what does Texas do? They trade him to San Diego an hour before the game starts.
Then they send John "Way-Back" Wasdin to the mound, and Wasdin and Doug Brocail completely shut down the Toronto offense. The hitters, one assumes, must have been really, really tired, although Buck Showalter had no sympathy whatsoever:
We got to our hotel room at 4 a.m. two days in a row. I don't want to hear about 18 innings when they are at home and get to sleep in their own bed.
The Rangers expect Phil Nevin to be on hand in time for Dustin McGowan's major league debut this afternoon. And speaking of rookies, as promised (and because I have no better ideas), here is part two of my romp down memory lane - this time, we'll look at the performance of the Jays' rookie hitters over the years.
It has often been a challenge determining which is the appropriate season to consider. Here is the official definition:
A player shall be considered a rookie, unless during a previous season or seasons, he has a) exceeded 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched in the major leagues, or b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a major league club or clubs during the period of a 25 man limit...
So, for example, Cecil Fielder had a nice cup of coffee in 1985, but still qualified as a rookie in 1986. He used up his eligibility that year, even if he was mostly sitting on the bench. And Vernon Wells doesn't have a rookie season - most of his major league service in 1999 and 2001 was as a September call-up, but he accumulated more than 130 at bats and no longer qualified as a rookie anymore by 2002. Ernie Whitt and Garth Iorg don't really have rookie years either - Whitt last qualifies in 1977, Iorg in 1978.
So how do the new boys stack up? Pretty well. At this pace, I think both will put together seasons that will stand among the top ten ever by a Blue Jays rookie. That list, in my mind, looks like this:
1. Eric Hinske, 2002 - He was the AL rookie of the year, and it's pretty clearly the best season ever by a Blue Jays rookie. Hinske was both productive and in the lineup every day, all year long. Established almost every single season record for a Jays rookie that was available.
2. Josh Phelps, 2002 - It was only half a season, but he was so bloody good in those 74 games that he vaults past everyone else on the list. Josh, Josh, Josh. What happened?
3. Fred McGriff, 1987 - McGriff was with the team all year, but played in a strict platoon arrangement at DH - his partner was Cecil Fielder. McGriff had just 26 at bats against LH pitchers in 1987. He beat the crap out of RH pitching (.257, .388, .520) though.
4. Shawn Green, 1995 - By the time Green arrived, platooning the rookies was a well-established Jays tradition. Green got off to a very slow start, a pattern he would repeat for the next two years, before playing like the star he would become in the second half. As a rookie, he hadn't quite learned how to turn all those doubles into home runs, and he was a pretty bad outfielder. But you could already see what he could become.
5. John Olerud, 1990 - Quiet John spent his first season used mostly as the DH against RH batters. This is a very impressive year for a 21 year old out of college. He slumped in August, and didn't play much in September because George Bell's injury problems forced him to take over at DH. After the season, the McGriff trade opened up first base for him.
6. Jesse Barfield, 1982 - Jesse spent three years as a platoon outfielder, playing mostly against LH pitching, hitting home runs, striking out a million times, and throwing out baserunners at will.
7. Junior Felix, 1989 - Junior was supposed to be 21 years old as well, not that anyone believes it. He hit the very first pitch he saw over the fence, and gave the Jays an exciting, exasperating year. He had amazing tools, and sometimes he put them to good use. Utterly uncoachable.
8. Reed Johnson, 2003 - In terms of production as a player, Sparky is a little like Junior Felix. Which is strange in some ways - Johnson's skills aren't nearly as impressive - he's not nearly as fast, his arm isn't as strong, he doesn't have as much pop in his bat. But his hustle and work ethic more than makes up for it.
9. Alfredo Griffin, 1979 - Alfredo shared the rookie-of-the-year award for this season, when he set career highs in BAVG (.287) and walks (40). As always, he flashed the leather at short, made lots of errors, and ran the bases like a maniac.
10. Damaso Garcia, 1980 - Damo hadn't learned how to steal bases yet, and he never would learn how to draw a walk. But he turned the DP as well as anyone, and hit lots of singles and doubles.
The candidates:
Pos Player GPL AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BAV OBP SLG SB CS 77 Doug Ault 129 445 44 109 22 3 11 64 39 68 .245 .310 .382 4 4 77 Bob Bailor 122 496 62 154 21 5 5 32 17 26 .310 .335 .403 15 6 77 Al Woods 122 440 58 125 17 4 6 35 36 38 .284 .336 .382 8 7 78 Rick Bosetti 136 568 61 147 25 5 5 42 30 65 .259 .299 .347 6 10 79 Alfredo Griffin 153 624 81 179 22 10 2 31 40 59 .287 .333 .364 21 16 79 Danny Ainge 87 308 26 73 7 1 2 19 12 58 .237 .269 .286 1 0 80 Damaso Garcia 140 543 50 151 30 7 4 46 12 55 .278 .296 .381 13 13 80 Lloyd Moseby 114 389 44 89 24 1 9 46 25 85 .229 .281 .365 4 6 81 George Bell 60 163 19 38 2 1 5 12 5 27 .233 .256 .350 3 2 81 Willie Upshaw 61 111 15 19 3 1 4 10 11 16 .171 .252 .324 2 1 82 Jesse Barfield 139 394 54 97 13 2 18 58 42 79 .246 .323 .426 1 4 84 Tony Fernandez 88 233 29 63 5 3 3 19 17 15 .270 .317 .356 5 7 85 Manuel Lee 64 40 9 8 0 0 0 0 2 9 .200 .238 .200 1 4 85 Lou Thornton 56 72 18 17 1 1 1 8 2 24 .236 .267 .319 1 0 86 Cecil Fielder 34 83 7 13 2 0 4 13 6 27 .157 .222 .325 0 0 86 Kelly Gruber 87 143 20 28 4 1 5 15 5 27 .196 .220 .343 2 5 87 Fred McGriff 107 295 58 73 16 0 20 43 60 104 .247 .376 .505 3 2 87 Nelson Liriano 37 158 29 38 6 2 2 10 16 22 .241 .310 .342 13 2 88 Pat Borders 56 154 15 42 6 3 5 21 3 24 .273 .285 .448 0 0 88 Sil Campusano 73 142 14 31 10 2 2 12 9 33 .218 .282 .359 0 0 89 Junior Felix 110 415 62 107 14 8 9 46 33 101 .258 .315 .395 18 12 90 John Olerud 111 358 43 95 15 1 14 48 57 75 .265 .364 .430 0 2 90 Glenallen Hill 84 260 47 60 11 3 12 32 18 62 .231 .281 .435 8 3 90 Greg Myers 87 250 33 59 7 1 5 22 22 33 .236 .293 .332 0 1 90 Mark Whiten 33 88 12 24 1 1 2 7 7 14 .273 .323 .375 2 0 91 Ed Sprague 61 160 17 44 7 0 4 20 19 43 .275 .361 .394 0 3 92 Derek Bell 61 161 23 39 6 3 2 15 15 34 .242 .324 .354 7 2 92 Jeff Kent 65 192 36 46 13 1 8 35 20 47 .240 .324 .443 2 1 93 Randy Knorr 39 101 11 25 3 2 4 20 9 29 .248 .309 .436 0 0 94 Carlos Delgado 43 130 17 28 2 0 9 24 25 46 .215 .352 .438 1 1 95 Alex Gonzalez 111 367 51 89 19 4 10 42 44 114 .243 .322 .398 4 4 95 Shawn Green 121 379 52 109 31 4 15 54 20 68 .288 .326 .509 1 2 95 Sandy Martinez 62 191 12 46 12 0 2 25 7 45 .241 .270 .335 0 0 95 Domingo Cedeno 51 161 18 38 6 1 4 14 10 35 .236 .289 .360 0 1 95 Tomas Perez 41 98 12 24 3 1 1 8 7 18 .245 .292 .327 0 1 96 Robert Perez 86 202 30 66 10 0 2 21 8 17 .327 .354 .406 3 0 97 Jose Cruz 55 212 31 49 7 0 14 34 28 72 .231 .316 .462 6 2 97 Shannon Stewart 44 168 25 48 13 7 0 22 19 24 .286 .368 .446 10 3 98 Felipe Crespo 66 130 11 34 8 1 1 15 15 27 .262 .342 .362 4 3 00 Chris Woodward 37 104 16 19 7 0 3 14 10 28 .183 .254 .337 1 0 01 Felipe Lopez 49 177 21 46 5 4 5 23 12 39 .260 .304 .418 4 3 01 Vernon Wells 30 96 14 30 8 0 1 6 5 15 .312 .350 .427 5 0 01 Cesar Izturis 46 134 19 36 6 2 2 9 2 15 .269 .279 .388 8 1 02 Ken Huckaby 88 273 29 67 6 1 3 22 9 44 .245 .270 .308 0 0 02 Eric Hinske 151 566 99 158 38 2 24 84 77 138 .279 .365 .481 13 1 02 Josh Phelps 74 265 41 82 20 1 15 58 19 82 .309 .362 .562 0 0 02 Orlando Hudson 54 192 20 53 10 5 4 23 11 27 .276 .319 .443 0 1 03 Reed Johnson 114 412 79 121 21 2 10 52 20 67 .294 .353 .427 5 3 04 Alexis Rios 111 426 55 122 24 7 1 28 31 84 .286 .338 .383 15 3 04 Kevin Cash 60 181 18 35 9 0 4 21 10 59 .193 .249 .309 0 0 05 Aaron Hill 58 216 29 64 16 3 2 29 18 21 .296 .357 .426 1 0 05 Russ Adams 82 267 41 70 14 4 6 44 28 34 .262 .326 .412 5 1
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