Best sub-.200 BA position player ever?

[WizCards26]

Was checking out Mike Zunino stats the other day and saw he's batting exactly .200 career. I thought that he might be one of the best .200 or less hitters in history and that this could be a fun random thread question.

I don't really have scientific analysis on Zunino, but he's been key with Rays pitchers and on defense for a while now and had some huge HRs in the playoffs last year. Overall, he's a classic three true outcomes/1-4 with an HR-type hitter who can't be ignored completely because of power, and I feel works counts pretty well and takes pitches and walks sometimes. He also seems like a good and respected teammate by all accounts.

Anyone have thoughts on the best sub-.200 (non-pitcher) career BA position players ever? Probably mostly catchers?

[LCM1223]

What’s Gallo’s career BA? Odor? Chris Davis?

[rman112]

Originally Posted by LCM1223

What’s Gallo’s career BA? Odor? Chris Davis?

.209

He's leading the league in walks and strikeouts this year. He has 1 homer. What a weird year.

[lambeauleap87]

From 1970 to 2021, the only players with at least 1000 PAs (qualifying for two seasons) and under the Mendoza Line for their career:

Drew Butera
Austin Hedges
Jeff Mathis
Bill Plummer

From an fWAR perspective, Hedges is your leader at 5.6 with Mathis at 3.8. Plummer and Butera were both well into the negatives.

[callou2131]

Originally Posted by LCM1223

What’s Gallo’s career BA? Odor? Chris Davis?

Davis is still at .233 he had some 270 and 280 years before the drop. Its crazy to think how good of a hitter he was for a few years. .286 With 53 Homers 42 doubles and 138 rbi. Nuts. Has to be the biggest production drop in history.

[imbluestreak23]

Originally Posted by callou2131

Davis is still at .233 he had some 270 and 280 years before the drop. Its crazy to think how good of a hitter he was for a few years. .286 With 53 Homers 42 doubles and 138 rbi. Nuts. Has to be the biggest production drop in history.

Ryan Howard comes to mind. .313 58 bombs 25 doubles 146 rbi

Although even in his later years he still hit 20 bombs lol

[xTri]

Probably Jeff Mathis

[bubbs11]

foolish baseball does a video on youtube about mathis. good video

[jefflasvegas]

I'm going with Hall of Famer, Bob Uecker

[mallowciraptor]

Somehow Rafael Belliard played 1154 games between 1982-1998 and logged 2524 PA during a career in which he posted a triple slash of .221/.270/.259.

I'm not sure if I should be impressed by such a putrid line but he showed up in some big moments and got himself a ring with the Braves.

[towerymt]

Originally Posted by jefflasvegas

I'm going with Hall of Famer, Bob Uecker

146 hits / 731 ABs =
.
.
.
.
0.1997264021887825

That'll play.

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by rman112

.209

He's leading the league in walks and strikeouts this year. He has 1 homer. What a weird year.

HR #2 today!

But yeah. Who would have thought by looking at his minor league numbers that Gallo would become a gold glove winning slap hitter.

[goldfly]

Originally Posted by mallowciraptor

Somehow Rafael Belliard played 1154 games between 1982-1998 and logged 2524 PA during a career in which he posted a triple slash of .221/.270/.259.

I'm not sure if I should be impressed by such a putrid line but he showed up in some big moments and got himself a ring with the Braves.

i'll always love him too

he was the best

[J1L]

Think he hit like 230 or 240 for career but my personal fav Rey Ordonez

[Uwfootball1]

Going with Mendoza himself, not everyone gets something named after them + he had a pitching appearance as well in his career! However since he isnt under 200, gotta ride with Jeff Mathis!

[Andrew1969]

I always thought the answer was Ray Oyler.

[rngrdanny22]

Originally Posted by mallowciraptor

Somehow Rafael Belliard played 1154 games between 1982-1998 and logged 2524 PA during a career in which he posted a triple slash of .221/.270/.259.

I'm not sure if I should be impressed by such a putrid line but he showed up in some big moments and got himself a ring with the Braves.

He hit what, 2 home runs?

[smapdi]

Rob Deer is worth mentioning. Not sure what you'd all "the best" but before the 90s power surge he was just about the purest slugger in the game. He had 853 hits in his career, and 230 were homers. He was probably the guy who did the most to make 180 Ks a season OK if you get 30 homers out of it. He only hit under .200 in one full season, but he made the most of it at .179 with 175 Ks. And yes, he was a position player, rarely DH even though he spent almost his whole career in the AL.

I remember in 1991 Mark McGwire was in a terrible slump, and Larussa eventually benched hitting .201 so he wouldn't go under .200. Glad Mark figured out the hole in his swing there.

[whitmm]

Originally Posted by mallowciraptor

Somehow Rafael Belliard played 1154 games between 1982-1998 and logged 2524 PA during a career in which he posted a triple slash of .221/.270/.259.

I'm not sure if I should be impressed by such a putrid line but he showed up in some big moments and got himself a ring with the Braves.

I never realized his numbers were that bad. Remember him being with the Braves forever it seemed. He had a career WAR of -.1, never won any award. I see he only had over 300 PA is a season 4 times in a 17 year career. And only started 100 games in a season once.

He got himself a ring in a postseason that he hit .094 (3 for 32). Boy, that 1995 Braves middle infield was terrible at the plate. Blauser hit .211, Lemke hit .253, and Belliard hit .222

Dan Uggla would have been my choice, but he had a .241 career average. Will never forget his 33 game hit streak where he raised his average from .178 to .232.

[salas1991]

Originally Posted by smapdi

Rob Deer is worth mentioning. Not sure what you'd all "the best" but before the 90s power surge he was just about the purest slugger in the game. He had 853 hits in his career, and 230 were homers. He was probably the guy who did the most to make 180 Ks a season OK if you get 30 homers out of it. He only hit under .200 in one full season, but he made the most of it at .179 with 175 Ks. And yes, he was a position player, rarely DH even though he spent almost his whole career in the AL.

I remember in 1991 Mark McGwire was in a terrible slump, and Larussa eventually benched hitting .201 so he wouldn't go under .200. Glad Mark figured out the hole in his swing there.

Lol, I remember that Rob Deer year! In the end, Sparky had to sit him a bit b/c he didn't want Deer to break the strikeout record, but indeed the BA never really had anything to do with that, since he still hit 25 bombs and was really pretty passable in RF. I thought it actually would have been kinda cool for him to be able to play out the string, and if he broke the record, whatever, but either way he actually did bounce back pretty well the next season. Too bad it basically took the Tigers 15 more years after that!

[Promethius88]

Originally Posted by jefflasvegas

I'm going with Hall of Famer, Bob Uecker

I would agree, the most famous of them all! Huge fan here!

[chilly55]

Another pure power hitter that I got to see was Gorman Thomas. Had over 5,000 PA in his career and hit a paltry .225 over 13 seasons. Struck out 25% of the time, but was somewhat of a power hitter. 5 seasons of 30+ HR with a high of 45 in 1979. If it wasn't for his HR power, probably would have had a shorter career than he did. Had 6 seasons under .200, but none of them were full seasons. Ended up with 268 career HR's.

[WizCards26]

Bumping my own thread for a Zunino's 5th HR this year in a 0-0 game where he's also catching Tyler Glasnow. (Hoping this doesn't jinx the Rays lol)

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by smapdi

Rob Deer is worth mentioning. Not sure what you'd all "the best" but before the 90s power surge he was just about the purest slugger in the game. He had 853 hits in his career, and 230 were homers. He was probably the guy who did the most to make 180 Ks a season OK if you get 30 homers out of it. He only hit under .200 in one full season, but he made the most of it at .179 with 175 Ks. And yes, he was a position player, rarely DH even though he spent almost his whole career in the AL.

I remember in 1991 Mark McGwire was in a terrible slump, and Larussa eventually benched hitting .201 so he wouldn't go under .200. Glad Mark figured out the hole in his swing there.

Originally Posted by salas1991

Lol, I remember that Rob Deer year! In the end, Sparky had to sit him a bit b/c he didn't want Deer to break the strikeout record, but indeed the BA never really had anything to do with that, since he still hit 25 bombs and was really pretty passable in RF. I thought it actually would have been kinda cool for him to be able to play out the string, and if he broke the record, whatever, but either way he actually did bounce back pretty well the next season. Too bad it basically took the Tigers 15 more years after that!

I once saw Rob Deer hit 3 HR in a minor league game.

[Browns1981]

Speaking of Rob Deer, Adam Dunn was a much better slugger who also struck out a ton. Lifetime BA around .240, multiple seasons around or below .200 . But he tore the damn cover off the ball.