You have probably never heard of Chris Saenz, but he is a member of a very exclusive club of Major League Baseball players. The only member.
Saenz was never much of a prospect. Although born and raised in Tuscon, Arizona he never managed to get into University of Arizona or Arizona State University, the hotbeds of talent that gave MLB the likes of Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Kenny Lofton, Sal Bando and ahem, Brett Wallace. Instead he went to Pima Community College in Tuscon, the institution of education that was attended by only nine MLB players.
He barely got drafted, getting picked in the 28th round of the 2001 MLB June Amateur Draft by the Brewers, or as the A’s fans know it – we now draft the relatives of our manager round.
He had mixed results once he started playing pro ball. He pitched in Rookie level in 2001, A level in 2002 and split his time between High A and AA in 2003, when he went back to starting. In that year his ERA topped 5 for the first time and his previously strong peripherals took a hit.
When Chris Capuano got injured on April 18th 2004, Milwaukee needed a spot starter and they recalled Saenz from Alabama. Although he did well, he was sent back to AA, where something seemed to click for him. Although his ERA wasn’t stellar, he showed very good control of the strike zone, striking out more than four times as many as he walked. His season on that 2004 Huntsville team, stacked with talent was cut short due to an elbow injury. He missed 2005 due to it, too. And 2006.
In 2007, the Angels gave him a try, but he was horrible. There was no control left in his arm, as he walked more than 30 batters in just over 40 innings. He gave it another try in the independent leagues, but he was done. Finally, in 2008 he retired for good.
So what is so special about him?
Saenz retired after appearing in only one single MLB game in his entire life. He was a starter in that game. He won. He didn’t allow any runs. Nobody before him or after him had such a brief and immaculate career. He had only one game, but he faced Albert Pujols (and hit him with a pitch, talk about not being intimidated) <em>and </em>Jim Edmonds. He had only one game, but he made it count and retired as the only person ever to start in his only game in the Majors, win it and not allow a single run.
Question 1
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Pima Community college in Tuscon, Arizona was attended by nine future MLB players. Only two of them had a career WAR of more than 5. Both of them (a pitcher and a hitter) ended their careers playing in green and gold in the naughts. Who are they?
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Mike Piazza?
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Todd walker
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Bret tomko
Question 2
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Saenz got his win with only six innings pitched. In last ten years three Athletics had a season in which they pitched at least 45 innings, yet failed to record a single win. Who are they?
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Komeni, Godfrey, Braden
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Excluding relievers…
Braden, Gio, Godfrey
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Including relieves….
Fuentes , Rhodes, Colby Lewis
There was a guy who got absolutely crushed in his 1 start with the A’s 6-7 years ago but he moved to the pen and did well in 10-15 appearances before being sent down and never heard from again. Anybody know who I’m talking about?
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One start and 15 relief appearances will probably not give you the required 45 innings. So, we are looking for someone who was not dreadful. OK the starter/reliever was not really that good.
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Oh I knew the guy wasn’t the answer to this question, I just wanted to see if it triggered anyone’s memories.
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One start pitchers: Mike Wood 2003, Colby Lewis 2007, Kirk Saarloos 2008, Dan Giese, Chad Reineke (only appearance), Brad Kilby (last game of season) 2009
None really fits your description
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Mike Fyhrie 2002 – 6.65 ERA in 4 starts, 2.45 in 12 relief appearances – almost matches.
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Going through the 1 start guys, I think I may have been thinking of Colby Lewis. Though his 4.46 bullpen ERA is not nearly as impressive as I seem to have remembered.
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Blevins
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Mecir
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Ding, we have a first winner!
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Mike Nu
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fuck i just looked… he was 3 Innings short of 45
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good guess, tho
I was thinking Rich Sauveur myself, until I remembered he was from more than 10 years ago.
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Russ Springer, Edgar Gonzalez, Kameron Loe
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The middle one is correct
Question 3
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Saenz ended his career with 0.5 WAR. There are three pitchers in history of baseball who pitched at least 1,500 innings and rank behind Saenz in career WAR. One of them is a two-time All-Star who played for Oakland. Who is he?
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Jerry Ruess
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I thought it would be funny if it was Barry Zito.
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That’s who I was rooting for for #4a (using a deliberately obtuse reading of the question).
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Daniel Cabrera, Mark Redman
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We are looking for a player who spent a vast majority of his career with the A’s
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TVP?
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You did read “a two time All-Star” part, didn’t you?
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I read it. Later I forgot it.
Anyway, though not the right answer 907 IP with -1.7 WAR is fairly impressive.
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He sure is.
Question 4
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Saenz had a perfect ERA. Since the Athletics moved to Oakland, 96 pitchers pitched at least 200 innings for them. Which one of those has the highest ERA (it’s a starter), which one has the lowest (it’s a reliever)?
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Prieto, Street
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12th worst, 10th best
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Van Poppel, Eck
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Impressive! Correct on the first one, just a tiny bit off on the second one (your choice has the second best ERA)
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I impressed E/C! Halcyon day!
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Karsay, Fingers
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oops, should used the spoiler tag.
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fixed it for you and no on both
Jim Cosman came close – started strong with a single complete game shutout for the Cards in ’66 but spoiled it with 10 games in ’67 and 0.2 abysmal innings for the Cubs in ’70.
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I have to mention Larry Yount here, who played one game in the majors and threw zero pitches, because he hurt himself warming up after the lineups were turned in to the umps.
César Tovar pitched his only ever inning starting this game for the ’68 Twins during which he played every position – no hits, one walk, a balk and the strikeout of Reggie Jackson for 0.1 WAR.
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There was a guy called Carlos Tovar, a pitcher from Venezuela who was our pitching coach on the national team. I don’t know if the two are related
Just a quick update, all tries so far were misses
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Does Q2 exclude relievers?
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No, it doesn’t. Actually all three were relievers, although one of them had 6 starts that season
Here’s something over which I stumbled: according to an impeachable-source-not*-*, five MLB players have one plate appearance, a walk, and never played in the field. Three were early 20th century. One of the most recent two did so as an Athletic, and might yet return to the Majors. The other is in the Hall of Fame. Name those two.
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I’ma be busy, so Eddie Gaedel and Kevin Melillo, and go fight with Wikipedia
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I’m confused. Are you talking about their careers? And is pitching playing the field? If so, I assume the HOF person got in as a coach?
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Yes, careers, but no pitchers and HoFer got ‘in’ as a jersey.
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Your source missed one of the early achievers – Batsch, Cobb, Schirick & Yeabsley.
Dutch Schirick also stole 2 bases after his walk, giving him a career WAR of 0.1 and a prorated season’s total of 324 steals … beat that Rickey.
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I’m surprised that there haven’t been numerous Septemberists, over the years, who walked once in the process of never coming back-up. Anyway, I’m sure Jimmy is properly embarrassed.
Just want to announce that this post’s URL is: http://freekraut.net/?p=11111
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!!!!!!!!eleven1eleven!!!!!!
Also not the least attractive man named Saenz to have played major league baseball.
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And hence the most attractive, since there have only been two Saenz’ in MLB.
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CONGRATULATIONS, YOU DID IT!