This is the last in a series of four articles. Check out the other 2011 By the Numbers posts. I’ve been having fun writing these articles breaking down the 2011 set. While I don’t have the cards in my hand yet, I feel I have a sense of what to expect.
This last post is filled with miscellaneous mishmash. It was actually one of the more fun ones to do. You’ll see what I mean.
Let’s start with something simple. Who was rated as the fastest players in 2011 by APBA?
| Player | Highest Speed # |
| Emilio Bonifacio | 20 |
| Jacoby Ellsbury | 19 |
| Brett Gardner | 19 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 19 |
| Nyjer Morgan | 19 |
| Curtis Granderson | 19 |
| Jose Constanza | 19 |
| Rajai Davis | 19 |
| Carlos Gomez | 19 |
| Eric Young | 19 |
| Dee Gordon | 19 |
| Reggie Willits | 19 |
| Eugenio Velez | 19 |
| Everth Cabrera | 19 |
| Darren Ford | 19 |
…and conversely, who was slowest?
| Player | Lowest MG Speed# |
| Yadier Molina | 2 |
| Jim Thome | 2 |
| Tommy Hunter | 2 |
| Paul Konerko | 3 |
| Jose Molina | 3 |
| Bartolo Colon | 3 |
| Pat Burrell | 3 |
| Bobby Jenks | 3 |
| Kam Mickolio | 3 |
It seems we always find Yadier Molina at the top of this list.
Anomalies are always fun. Were there any slow players who still had a first column 11 on their card? Well, there were two:
| Player | 15 | Speed |
| Dusty Brown | 11 | 6 |
| Eric Fryer | 11 | 6 |
Which hitters had the most homeruns without getting a first column 1? Melky Cabrera and Brandon Phillips just missed the cut. They both had 18.
| Player | Most HRs with no first column 1 |
| Melky Cabrera | 18 |
| Brandon Phillips | 18 |
| Johnny Damon | 16 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 16 |
| Nick Markakis | 15 |
| Alexei Ramirez | 15 |
| Danny Valencia | 15 |
| Alex Gonzalez | 15 |
| Drew Stubbs | 15 |
| Seth Smith | 15 |
Let’s look at hit numbers and batting average. Who had the highest batting average without getting a 44-7 or better?
| Player | 44 | Highest BA with 44-8 (min 100 ab) |
| Alejandro De Aza | 8 | .329 |
| Matt Kemp | 8 | .324 |
| Jacoby Ellsbury | 8 | .321 |
| Dustin Pedroia | 8 | .307 |
| Nyjer Morgan | 8 | .304 |
| Dee Gordon | 8 | .304 |
| Jemile Weeks | 8 | .303 |
| Alex Gordon | 8 | .303 |
| Jose Constanza | 8 | .303 |
| Jose Bautista | 8 | .302 |
Now granted, I think most of these benefitted from at least one speed number at 15.
But what about this list? These players had the highest batting average with a 7 or better at 44.
| Player | 44 | Lowest BA with 44-7 (or better) |
| Jason Giambi | 0 | .260 |
| Chris Davis | 7 | .266 |
| Eliezer Alfonzo | 7 | .267 |
| Derrek Lee | 7 | .267 |
| Ronny Paulino | 7 | .268 |
| Jeff Baker | 7 | .269 |
| J.J. Hardy | 7 | .269 |
Giambi’s .260 average might be hard to recreate with his 44-0. Rest assured, APBA only gave him two 8s.
These next players will enjoy the 66. Who had the most 1s in the second column? Kyle Phillips has a whopping 29.
| Player | Most 1s in second column |
| Kyle Phillips | 29 |
| Victor Martinez | 25 |
| Ben Francisco | 25 |
| Dan Johnson | 24 |
| Zack Greinke | 24 |
| Ryan Langerhans | 24 |
Most of these players have their second column 1s behind just 0. Not Ryan Langerhans. He’s got two.
These next players are ones you may not get too excited if you get into the extras. They have the most second column singles.
| Player | Most singles (7-11) in second column |
| Emmanuel Burriss | 27 |
| Billy Butler | 23 |
| Jack Wilson | 22 |
| Alfredo Amezaga | 21 |
| Tony Cruz | 21 |
Finally, I thought I’d see what lies at 53. I filtered out the usual numbers (15-21) plus 13 since so many pitchers strike out at that result. This is what was left.
| Player | 53 |
| Andy Parrino | 14 |
| Brian Dinkelman | 22 |
| Alex Cora | 22 |
| Ramon Santiago | 22 |
| Andy La Roche | 22 |
| Brooks Conrad | 22 |
| Jorge Cantu | 22 |
| Justin Sellers | 22 |
| Chris Nelson | 22 |
| Matt Tolbert | 22 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 22 |
| Andy Dirks | 22 |
| Chase D’Arnaud | 22 |
| Darren Oliver | 22 |
| David Cooper | 22 |
| Jose Lopez | 22 |
Parrino has a good number of walks, five. And no error number. I still think that was unusual. Perhaps it was an error.
Hope you enjoyed the 2011 By the Numbers series. I had fun writing it up. Again, here are the posts if you want to read them all.
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