It’s time for the 2014 Awards for outstanding achievement in the field of HBPs, and assorted other awards which amuse me. Actually it was time a couple of months ago, but this is when I got to it.

Most Plunkable Player Award (most HBPs by a batter):

National League: Jon Jay (STL) – 20 HBPs

American League: Mike Zunino (SEA) – 17 HBPs

The Phil Knell Award (most batters plunked by a pitcher):

American League – Justin Masterson (CLE) – 16 HBPs

National League – Charlie Morton (PIT) – 19 HBPs

That’s back to back Phil Knell awards for both Masterson and Morton

Mitch Williams Award (most hit batters by a relief pitcher):

National League – Oliver Perez (ARI) – 7 HBPs

American League – Darren O’Day (BAL) – 8 HBPs



Plunked Rookie of the Year (most HBPs by a rookie):

American League – Brandon Guyer (TB), Jose Abreu (CHW) – 11 HBPs

National League – Charlie Culberson (COL) – 5 HBPs

The Gus Weyhing Award (most plunks thrown by a rookie):

National League – Brett Bochy (SF) – 1 HBPs

American League – Cesar Cabral (NYY) – 3 HBPs

Sandy Alomar Award (most plate appearance without an HBP):

American League – Coco Crisp – 542 Plate Appearances, 0 HBPs

National League – Matt Kemp – 599 Plate Appearances, 0 HBPs

The General Crowder Award (most batters faced without hitting anyone)

American League – Anthony Swarzak (MIN) – 378 Batters Faced, none plunked

National League – Mike Fiers (MIL) – 274 Batters Faced, none plunked

(John Lackey faced 572 batters in the AL without hitting anyone, but then he got traded to St Louis and hit 1 batter there)

Most Plunked Team (the plunk pennant):

National League – St Louis Cardinals – 86 HBPs

American League – Boston Red Sox – 68 HBPs

Least Plunked Team:

National League – Miami Marlins – 35 HBPs

American League – Toronto Blue Jays – 41 HBPs

Most Plunks Thrown:

National League – Pittsburgh Pirates – 88 HBPs

American League – Chicago White Sox – 69 HBPs

Fewest Plunks Thrown:

National League – Atlanta Braves – 37 HBPs

American League – Detroit Tigers – 42 HBPs

American League All Plunk Team:

1st Base: Jose Abreu (CWS) – 7 HBPs at 1B, 11 total

2nd Base: Brian Dozier (MIN) – 9 HBPs

Shortstop: Asdrubal Cabrera (CIN) – 7 HBPs

3rd Base: Evan Longoria (TB) – 9 HBPs

Left Field: Alex Gordon (KC) – 11 HBPs

Center Field: Adam Jones (BAL) – 13 HBPs

Right Field: tie – Jose Bautista (TOR), George Springer (HOU) – 9 HBPs, 8 as RF

Catcher: Mike Zunino (SEA) – 17 HBPs

Designated Hitter: Shin-Soo Choo – 12 HBPs, 8 as DH

National League All Plunk Team:

1st Base: Anthongy Rizzo (CHC) – 15 HBPs

2nd Base: Chase Utley (PHI) – 13 HBPs

Shortstop: Ruben Tejada (NYM) – 8 HBPs

3rd Base: Aramis Ramirez (MIL) – 13 HBPs

Left Field: Matt Holiday (STL) – 16 HBPs as left fielder, 17 total

Center Field: Jon Jay (STL) – 22 HBPs, 19 as Center Fielder

Right Field: Jason Werth (WAS) – 9 HBPs, 8 as Right Fielder

Catcher: Russell Martin (PIT) – 15 HBPs

Pitcher: Travis Wood (CHC) – 2 HBPS

2014 BACON Title:

American League – Jose Altuve (HOU) – .817 BACON

National League – Josh Harrison (PIT) – .794 BACON

2014 BACON x HBP Title:

National League – Jon Jay (STL) – 15.8

American League – Adam Jones (BAL) – 9.4

2014 BACON x Hits Title:

American League – Jose Altuve (HOU) – 183.8

National League – Hunter Pence (SF) – 139.2

Most Swings (not including bunt attempts):

American League – Adam Jones (BAL) – 1,394

National League – Freddy Freeman (ATL) – 1,396

Most Swings that Missed (not including bunt attempts):

American League – Chris Carter (HOU) – 390

National League – Ryan Howard (PIT) – 413

Save a Tree Award (most plate appearances in which the batter did not risk damaging his bat by swinging it, not including intentional walks… In other words, most plate appearances with 0 swings):

National League – Matt Carpenter (STL) – 77

American League – Jose Bautista (LAA) – 62

“Hey, I could do THAT” award (most strikeouts in plate appearance in which the batter did not bother swinging the bat)

American League – Brett Gardner (NYY) – 13

National League – Matt Carpenter (STL), Alex Wood (ATL) – 13

“Hey, I could do THAT Too” award (most strikeouts with three swings that missed):

American League – Josh Hamilton (LAA), Chris Carter (HOU) – 19

National League – Carlos Gomez (MIL) – 18

Most Foul Balls:

National League – Pablo Sandoval (SF) – 616

American League – Mike Trout (LAA) – 525

Most Foul Balls (Team):

National League – LA Dodgers – 4,609

American League – Detroit Tigers – 4,538



Most Foul Balls (Ballpark):

National League – Dodger Stadium – 4,562

American League – Target Field – 4,606



Most Foul Balls given up by a pitcher:

American League – Phil Hughes (MIN) – 808

Natioanl League – Johnny Cueto (CIN) – 757

Fastest plunk

Interleague – Aroldis Chapman (CIN) hit Jackie Bradley (BOS) – 100.1mph, August 13th

National League – Erik Cordier (SF) hit Matt McBride (COL) – 98.9mph September 3rd

American League – Yordano Ventura (KC) hit Daniel Nava (BOS) – 98.9mph, September 12th

Most plunks by day of the Week

Sunday – Russell Martin (PIT), Chase Utley (PHI), Albert Pujols (LAA) – 4

Monday – Starling Marte (PIT) – 5

Tuesday – Mike Zunino (SEA) – 7

Wednesday – John Jay (STL), Brandon Guyer (TB), Matt Holiday (STL) – 5

Thursday – Mike Trout (LAA) – 4

Friday – Jon Jay (STL) – 5

Saturday – Brian Dozier (MIN), Matt Holiday (STL) – 5

Most plunks against a single team

National League – Jon Jay (STL) – 6 plunks against Cincinnati, Carlos Gomez (MIL) – 6 plunks against St. Louis

American League – Brandon Moss (OAK) – 5 plunks against the Astros

Most teams plunked by

National League – Matt Holiday (STL) – 13 teams

American League – Mike Zunino (SEA) – 11 teams

Most teams plunked

American League – James Shields (KC) – 11 teams

National League – AJ Burnett (PIT) – 12 teams

Most foul balls in one plate appearance

6 players had plate appearances where they hit 10 foul balls

Most foul balls with a runner going (season total)

American League – Joe Mauer (MIN) – 20

National League – Casey McGehee (MIA) – 22

Most pickoff attempts to first by a pitcher:

American League – Justin Verlander (DET) – 209 (Verlander threw to first base 59 more times than any other pitcher in 2014)

National League – Stephen Strasburg (WSH) – 150



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Most slump-free award (SPAM leaders)

National League – Justin Morneau (COL) – 2.23 SPAM

American League – Victor Martinez (DET) – 2.02 SPAM

(SPAM measures a batters slump-proneness by calculating the batter’s average hitless streak per plate appearance – more here)

Most Streak prone (HAM leaders)

National League – Ben Revere (PHI) – .427

American League – Jose Altuve (TEX) – .476

(HAM is a stat pioneered by the Japanese team known as the Nippon Ham fighters – either that or it’s another stat I made up, and it’s explained here. Basically it measures how good a player was at stringing together hits in consecutive plate appearances.)

Best starting pitcher at getting outs (by PORK, which measures who each pitcher faced, how hard they are to get out, and who the pitcher got outs from):

American League – Felix Hernandez (SEA) – .785

National League – Clayton Kershaw (LAD) – .765

(Kershaw got .786 outs per batter faced, but the batters he faced were below average)

Best relief pitcher at getting outs (by PORK, minimum 100 batters faced):

American League – Delin Betances (NYY) – .806

National League – Ken Giles (PHI) – .838