Incredibly, more on double plays

I didn’t think it was possible, but after writing more than most people would ever want to know about batters hitting into double plays, a few intrepid readers asked for more. Specifically, they wanted to see the all-time best and worst batters at avoiding the GDP, ranked not by total double plays avoided, but by the rate at which they hit into GDPs, based on opportunities.

Here is the leader board for GDP rate (500 opps min):

+-------------------+------+------+---------+
| Name              | Opps | GDP  | DP_rate |
+-------------------+------+------+---------+
| Daulton_Darren    |  865 |   35 | 0.040   | 
| Deer_Rob          |  913 |   38 | 0.042   | 
| Rivers_Mickey     |  956 |   45 | 0.047   | 
| Buford_Don        |  677 |   33 | 0.049   | 
| Morgan_Joe        | 2046 |  102 | 0.050   | 
| Suzuki_Ichiro     |  833 |   42 | 0.050   | 
| Patterson_Corey   |  626 |   32 | 0.051   | 
| Strawberry_Darryl | 1220 |   64 | 0.052   | 
| Damon_Johnny      | 1373 |   75 | 0.055   | 
| Anderson_Brady    | 1179 |   65 | 0.055   | 
| Wagner_Leon       | 1077 |   60 | 0.056   | 
| Gibson_Kirk       | 1309 |   73 | 0.056   | 
| Johnson_Howard    | 1084 |   61 | 0.056   | 
| Blasingame_Don    |  797 |   45 | 0.056   | 
| Maxwell_Charlie   |  754 |   43 | 0.057   | 
| Butler_Brett      | 1049 |   61 | 0.058   | 
| Mantle_Mickey     | 1766 |  103 | 0.058   | 
| Ashburn_Richie    |  804 |   47 | 0.058   | 
| Mathews_Eddie     | 1784 |  106 | 0.059   | 
| Valentin_Jose     | 1109 |   66 | 0.060   | 
+-------------------+------+------+---------+

In fact, we see the catcher “who had knee surgery almost every year” atop the list. Here are the trailers:

+---------------+------+------+---------+
| Name          | Opps | GDP  | DP_rate |
+---------------+------+------+---------+
| Adair_Jerry   |  730 |  149 | 0.204   | 
| Coomer_Ron    |  657 |  131 | 0.199   | 
| Alou_Jesus    |  746 |  141 | 0.189   | 
| Valle_Dave    |  561 |  105 | 0.187   | 
| Molina_Ben    |  798 |  145 | 0.182   | 
| Lanier_Hal    |  758 |  136 | 0.179   | 
| Bateman_John  |  670 |  120 | 0.179   | 
| White_Sammy   |  570 |  102 | 0.179   | 
| Wathan_John   |  505 |   90 | 0.178   | 
| Diaz_Bo       |  634 |  113 | 0.178   | 
| Pena_Tony     | 1321 |  235 | 0.178   | 
| Johnson_Lamar |  580 |  102 | 0.176   | 
| Lo Duca_Paul  |  785 |  138 | 0.176   | 
| Konerko_Paul  | 1197 |  209 | 0.175   | 
| Scott_George  | 1606 |  279 | 0.174   | 
| Torre_Joe     | 1611 |  277 | 0.172   | 
| Cater_Danny   |  952 |  163 | 0.171   | 
| Boswell_Ken   |  538 |   91 | 0.169   | 
| Carty_Rico    | 1181 |  199 | 0.169   | 
| Dauer_Rich    |  760 |  128 | 0.168   | 
+---------------+------+------+---------+

Jerry Adair fun fact: on June 13, 1966 Adair was traded from the Baltimore Orioles to the Chicago White Sox. Without him, the Orioles went on to win the AL pennant and sweep the Dodgers in the World Series. About one year later, on June 2, Adair was again traded, but this time he went to a pennant-winner, the Boston Red Sox.

Adair was a pretty decent fielding second baseman, but he couldn’t hit and man did he hit into a lot of double plays.