Greg Jeffries

[freddiefreeman5]

I was looking up some player stats today and a name made me think of Greg Jeffries. I collected Jeffries back in the day and thought he would be a great player because of all the hoopla surrounding him.
Well my last memories of Jeffries was as a bust. I guess I was wrong.

He had a decent career but what stands out is his strike out totals.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jeffegr01.shtml

In 6,072 plate appearances he only had 348 strike outs.

The only other player that I know of with similar strikeout ratio is Joe DiMaggio. Of course the career totals in all other areas is as wide as the grand canyon but Jeffries strikeout totals are amazing.

In an age where even .300 hitters strike out 100 times a season you have to wonder what Jeffries could have done if he could have put it all together for an entire career.

[AM]

Re: Greg Jeffries

I was a Jefferies fan and he was a fantastic hitter.

I am also a Mets fan and though I try to understand why they traded him (his attitude, hadn't reached potential and Saberhagen came back in the deal), I think they gave up on him too soon.

If they had kept Dykstra and McDowell, and then Jefferies, the Mets teams of the early 90's would have actually been pretty good. The bench was solid and the pitching staff was still good, especially with the emergence of Cone and solid back of the bullpen with John Franco in his prime.

I think there was a playoff run or two in that Mets team, pre-Bonilla & Generation K fiasco.

[CampWest]

Re: Greg Jeffries

The only other player that I know of with similar strikeout ratio is Joe DiMaggio. Of course the career totals in all other areas is as wide as the grand canyon but Jeffries strikeout totals are amazing.

I'll have to point out Tony Gwynn as probably the top next to never strike out guy of the modern era. I think there are a lot of early era players with very low strikeout totals though. But Gwynn stands out for me as the best in my lifetime at not striking out. I think one year Gwynn nearly hit .400 in two strike counts.

Tony Gwynn = 434 K in 9,288 AB = 4.67%
Jefferies = 5.73%
Dimaggio = 369k in 6,281 AB = 5.87%

I think Bill Buckner was really low as well.

If memory serves, Joe Sewell may be the lowest at like 1.5%.

BTW:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GREGG-JEFFERIES-Game-Used-Worn-Fielding-Glove-Mets-Cardinals-Tigers-Phillies-/190586649341?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5fd97afd

[freddiefreeman5]

Re: Greg Jeffries

Good point about Gwynn. I should have known that.

[CampWest]

Re: Greg Jeffries

Good point about Gwynn. I should have known that.

here we go...

Highest batting average with 2 strikes, past 20 years
PlayerYearBatting AverageTony Gwynn1994.397Tony Gwynn1997.358

++++++

Since the 1988 season, STATS Inc has kept a record of batting performance on the two-strike counts. They discovered the average non-pitcher sees his batting average decline by about 28% when down to his last strike, which means that most players hit under .200 in those at-bats.
In the twenty years worth of data, there is only one player who has been a .300 hitter when down to his last strike, and no one else is even close. It's Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

• The data covers his last 14 seasons and nearly 70% of his career plate appearances. In over 2000 plate appearances where he was down to his last strike, Gwynn hit .302.
• That's miles ahead of the next best player, Ichiro Suzuki, who trails Gwynn by nearly 35 points, way back at .268.
• When Gwynn was having his worst seasons hitting with two strikes, he was still better than anyone else. If you split Gwynn's 14 seasons into his best and worst seasons, in the bottom seven seasons he hit .272, still 4 points better than Ichiro's overall 2-strike average.
• Gwynn's most amazing accomplishment came in the five-year span from 1993 to 1997. In that period, Gwynn hit a remarkable .337 when he was down to his last strike. That two-strike average was only 8% less than his overall batting mark of .368.
• To emphasize even further how remarkable this was, consider: Gwynn had a higher batting average with two strikes on him during that five-year span than any other hitter achieved in all his at-bats! Mike Piazza came the closest, hitting .3367 in all his ABs.