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Pitcher hitting is one of the most often overlooked aspects of player performance. Not unfairly overlooked, mind you—with so many other more important factors to examine, perhaps we can be excused for failing to focus on most pitchers’ futile flailing at the plate. Many moundsmen simply don’t have much to offer in the way of offense; the average NL pitcher has batted .152/.187/.190 this season, and AL pitchers hit significantly worse during interleague play, posting a collective .105/.134/.120 line. Very rarely do pitchers earn anything close to a win in either direction solely with their work at the plate, so we might be tempted to dismiss their offensive contributions as a group altogether.

Still, at each end of the offensive spectrum, a pitcher can do some real damage with the lumber, either to the opposing team or to his own. As Nate Silver noted a couple years back, “If you aren’t accounting for pitcher hitting, you’re unambiguously cheating some guys out of their value.” No one likes a cheater, so let’s take a look at the top five hitting pitchers this season, ordered by descending TAv:

Name

Team

PA

AVG

OBP

SLG

TAv

RARP

Dan Haren

Diamondbacks

55

.377

.389

.547

.316

8.2

Mike Leake

Reds

45

.389

.450

.417

.311

6.4

Yovani Gallardo

Brewers

41

.237

.293

.526

.284

5.1

Felipe Paulino

Astros

29

.292

.346

.333

.258

2.7

R.A. Dickey

Mets

22

.294

.333

.294

.250

2.0

 

Traditional, superficial statistics suggest that Haren has had a down year on the mound, but his underlying rates tell a much happier tale. Unfortunately for him, that hasn’t prevented any of the runners who’ve crossed the plate during his outings from scoring, but Haren has recouped significant value with the blows he's struck in the batter’s box. In fact, he’s accrued the 4th-highest VORP on the Diamondbacks, ranking behind only Kelly Johnson, Chris Young, and Stephen Drew in that department. If Haren had hit like an average pitcher this season, he’d have had to lower his ERA from its current 4.60 to 4.22 in order to match the overall production he’s provided.

Without an iota of minor-league seasoning, Leake has taken well to all aspects of major-league life. The righty hit .299/.402/.485 in 97 at-bats over three seasons at Arizona State, but he’s found MLB pitchers’ offerings even more to his liking thus far. Nate projected Gallardo as the 4th-best hitting hurler back in 2008, so he has a track record of making opposing pitchers pay. This season, he’s hit half as many home runs as he’s allowed. Dickey’s never hit well before, but as a career American Leaguer prior to this season, he hasn’t had a chance to. He’s never pitched particularly well before 2010, either, so we’ll just call this a season of firsts for the knuckleballer from Nashville. We’ve looked at this season’s offensive leaders, which means that the trailers (so to speak) can’t be far behind:

Name

Team

PA

AVG

OBP

SLG

TAv

RARP

Ted Lilly

Cubs

31

.000

.103

.000

-.155

-2.2

John Lannan

Nationals

26

.080

.115

.080

-.162

-1.9

Roy Halladay

Phillies

51

.098

.098

.098

-.162

-3.9

Paul Maholm

Pirates

37

.029

.057

.029

-.181

-3.6

Luis Atilano

Nationals

26

.040

.040

.040

-.191

-2.8

 

Despite those ugly slash stats, none of this year’s pitchers has been record-breakingly abysmal at the plate. Even the lowly Luis Atilano, who’s hitting .040 in every way conceivable, doesn’t qualify as one of the worst ever (we’ll highlight those who do in just a minute). Ted Lilly’s managed to draw two walks despite going 0-for-the-season, perhaps a sign of lingering respect from NL pitchers who remember his 5-for-57 outburst last season. Don’t look now, but it looks like we’ve found something Roy Halladay can’t do—the longtime American Leaguer hasn’t drawn a free pass in 92 career plate appearances, which might make even Adam Jones stop and think about whether he’s truly been the worst walker he can be.

The following are the best offensive performances in our database by pitchers with a minimum of 50 plate appearances:

Name

Team

Year

PA

AVG

OBP

SLG

TAv

RARP

Don Newcombe

Dodgers

1955

125

.359

.395

.632

.331

16.4

Micah Owings

Diamondbacks

2007

64

.333

.349

.683

.319

10.2

Dan Haren

Diamondbacks

2010

55

.377

.389

.547

.316

8.2

Brooks Kieschnick

Brewers

2003

76

.300

.355

.614

.314

9.7

Don Drysdale

Dodgers

1965

138

.300

.331

.508

.309

19.1

 

Newcombe finished in the NL’s top 20 in VORP in 1955. Owings’ offensive fireworks are still fresh in our minds, but his pitching hasn’t been able to keep pace; Kieschnick was another notable two-way player whose act didn’t last long. The aforementioned Haren would make a little history if he called it a season today. As promised, here’s the all-time good-pitch, no-hit quintet:

Name

Team

Year

PA

AVG

OBP

SLG

TAv

RARP

Doug Davis

Brewers

2004

71

.016

.031

.016

-.189

-7.0

Ron Herbel

Giants

1965

52

.020

.040

.020

-.191

-5.3

Carl Willey

Brewers

1961

58

.019

.036

.019

-.196

-6.9

Aaron Harang

Reds

2005

78

.027

.027

.027

-.197

-8.4

Mark Redman

Marlins

2003

66

.016

.033

.016

-.206

-7.7

 

Given 71 MLB plate appearances, could you top 1-for-64 with a walk? If so, congratulations: you’re better than 2004-era Doug Davis. Except for the bit about the 129 ERA+ in over 200 innings.

Thank you for reading

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kmbart
7/19
And as soon as you post the phrase "Don’t look now, but it looks like we’ve found something Roy Halladay can’t do—the longtime American Leaguer hasn’t drawn a free pass in 92 career plate appearances", Halladay ups and draws a walk.
Kongos
7/19
I was playing with the Team Audit page for the Jays yesterday, and noticed what happens if you sort the hitters by OBP:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/team_audit.php?team=TOR&batter_sort=OBP

The top three hitters by OBP are Shawn Camp, Yunel Escobar, and Shaun Marcum. Yeah, tiny sample and all that, but I thought it was pretty funny.
uptick
7/19
in 1962 Bob Buhl was 0-70, giving him a stat trifecta of .000/.090/.000
NYYanks826
7/19
Where does Mike Hampton's 2001 season with Colorado rank? That year he hit .291/.309/.582 with 7 homers in 86 PA.
bornyank1
7/19
Lower than you'd think. Looks like the adjustments are dinging him pretty hard for the Coors Field effect. Actually, his 2002, when he hit .344/.354/.516, holds up better, and even that season ranks only 29th.
louisbarash
7/20
There are 56 NL pitchers (let's ignore AL pitchers because of the generally smaller PA sample size -- only one AL pitcher has more than 7 PAs) who have a higher OPS than the .405 that Cleveland left fielder Michael Brantley is sporting after almost 100 plate appearances. I can understand sticking with him and playing him every day in left field, as the guy seemed to be a legitimate prospect (I could also see sending him to Columbus to get his confidence back). But it is truly mind-boggling that the Tribe is batting him lead-off every game. Don't they owe it to their fans to try a little better than that?