Wainwright: The Club among Aces
By Derrick Goold
04/17/2008
DOWNTOWN — In the eighth inning of a rather usual July game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen stepped into the box and faced Bucs lefty Joe Beimel. Isringhausen had come in to close out what was a 9-6 ballgame, but a turn of the lineup had put a bat in his hand with the bases loaded.
So, naturally he ripped a triple, and the box score reads:
Rolen Scores; Renteria Scores; Matheny Scores
And that, that hit by Isringhausen, those three bases that he got in one of only two at-bats that season — one of only five at-bats in his career as a Cardinal — is the reason why Adam Wainwright does not lead the current pitching staff in slugging.
Isringhausen’s slugging percentage as a Cardinal is .800.
After the home run on the first pitch he saw tonight, Wainwright’s is .500.
Of course, when it comes to an actual representative sampling of at-bats — somewhere north of six — no Cards ace can club like Wainwright.
With the assistance of colleague Bernie Miklasz and Magical Mystery Numbers Machine, we — and by we, I mean he — looked up the best slugging percentages all-time by a Cardinals pitcher. Including his 2-for-3 tonight with five total bases, Wainwright upped his career numbers to 38 total bases in 76 career at-bats. The home run was his third career shot, tying him momentarily with Skip Schumaker.
(Wainwright’s chum avoided ridicule a few innings later with a solo shot.)
Wainwright’s .500 career slugging percentage easily outpaces any other pitcher in Cardinals history with, say, about 50 at-bats or more. The top of the list is heavy with contemporary pitchers, including a Silver Slugger. The best baker’s dozen after Wainwright, topped by a name few would ever guess and including a former pitcher who has done a little work on that career slugging percentage recently:
* Kip Wells … 52 AB … .385 SLG
* Allen Watson … 100 AB … .380 SLG
* Jason Marquis … 218 AB … .358 SLG
* Woody Williams … 183 AB … .339 SLG
* Bob Forsch … 859 AB … .327 SLG
* Rick Ankiel … 84 AB … .321 SLG
* Tom Urbani … 63 AB … .317 SLG
* Scott Terry … 92 AB … .315 SLG
* Omar Olivares … 187 AB … .310 SLG
* Bob Gibson … 1,328 AB … .301 SLG
* Darren Oliver … 91 AB … .297 SLG
* Brett Tomko … 61 AB … .295 SLG
* Bryn Smith … 107 AB … .290 SLG
Forsch and Gibson would be considered the best hitting pitchers in Cardinals history — next two a couple former pitchers who eventually made a mark as hitters, natch — and Wainwright lines up well there, though he’s hundreds and hundreds of at-bats behind them.
Forsch … .215 BA/.238 OBP/.327 SLG … 12 HR
Gibson … .206 BA/.243 OBP/.301 SLG … 24 HR
Wainwright … .329 BA/.355 OBP/.500 SLG … 3 HR
Wainwright now has as many home runs in his career as walks. Seven of his 25 career hits are extra-base hits. Not one is a triple. After all, he’s no Izzy.
