Over the last month at Scout.com, we have been consumed with awards across the St. Louis Cardinals system with a new one each day and several more to go. They are the standard “best of” honors which you would expect for the best hitters and pitchers and the like. Others recognize top defenders as well.
There is one other award, currently overlooked, that deserves some special attention – the best-hitting Cardinals pitcher of the year – something I am calling the Allen Watson Award.
After all, Cardinals pitchers have taken their hitting seriously for some time, practicing together and enjoying friendly competition throughout the season. I have decided they deserve their very own award for hitting prowess.
Why name it after a seemingly-obscure pitcher who spent less than three years with the mid-1990’s Cardinals, you ask?
In the modern history of the Cardinals franchise, no pitcher with at least 30 plate appearances in a single season has posted a higher OPS than Watson’s .975 mark in 1995. That season was so extraordinary; the next closest by any other pitcher in the last 110 years was just .880.
This year’s winner of the Watson Award is Adam Wainwright. His .515 OPS was tops among the five qualifiers, those pitchers with at least 30 place appearances. All pitchers with plate appearances this season are listed for reference. Data courtesy of the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia.
| Qualifiers | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| Adam Wainwright | 96 | 89 | 7 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 0.180 | 0.189 | 0.326 | 0.515 |
| Kyle Lohse | 45 | 37 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0.216 | 0.275 | 0.216 | 0.491 |
| Chris Carpenter | 69 | 63 | 3 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 0.175 | 0.212 | 0.270 | 0.482 |
| Joel Pineiro | 79 | 66 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 33 | 0.136 | 0.186 | 0.167 | 0.352 |
| Todd Wellemeyer | 45 | 39 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0.128 | 0.128 | 0.128 | 0.256 |
| Non-qualifiers | ||||||||||||||||
| John Smoltz | 14 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.077 | 0.143 | 0.077 | 0.220 |
| Mitchell Boggs | 17 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.071 | 0.071 | 0.143 | 0.214 |
| Brad Thompson | 14 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.083 | 0.083 | 0.083 | 0.167 |
| P.J. Walters | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyle McClellan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Josh Kinney | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jason Motte | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clayton Mortensen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blaine Boyer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
At the plate, Wainwright came on strongly in 2009 to claim this award. Two of his three two-hit games this season came in his last two regular-season starts. He doubled twice on September 26 at Colorado and collected his first career triple at Busch Stadium on October 2. Those two performances added over 100 points to his final OPS.
The 28-year-old homered twice, both solo shots. The first was off former teammate Jeff Suppan in Milwaukee on May 26 with the other at Busch Stadium against San Diego rookie Mat Latos on August 14. Wainwright was called upon to pinch hit six times this season and collected four RBI in total.
Yet a .515 OPS is not particularly impressive. 2009 is Wainwright’s worst season at the plate in his three-plus seasons as a major leaguer. In fact, his OPS has declined each year since his amazingly small sample six-PA 2006 debut.
Here’s hoping Adam is spending time in the cage this winter and the trend is reversed in 2010.
| Year | Player | OPS | PA |
| 2009 | Adam Wainwright | 0.515 | 96 |
| 2008 | Adam Wainwright | 0.636 | 65 |
| 2007 | Adam Wainwright | 0.710 | 74 |
| 2006 | Adam Wainwright | 1.667 | 6 |
| Career | Adam Wainwright | 0.637 | 241 |
Great award concept, Brian.
Gibson used to hit well. Never knew about Watson.
Watson had a ML career OPS of 636 versus Wainwrights .637. Watson never hit a homer in the Majors, whereas Wainwright has collected a few.
Gibson has 24 HRs in the majors, but his career OPS was still a lower .544.
Gibby had 1,328 ML at bats, across 17 seasons. Good production over a long time and a career average higher than Wainwright during 2009.
Hey Jumbo, if I recall correctly, Bob Forsch was a darn good hitter also.
Forsch was, IIRC, a collegiate 3rd baseman, before ascending the hill.
Mr. Forsch will make a prominent appearance in part two…
All the OPS talk reminded me of two things that probably mean something.
1. Ankiels OPS in 2000 as a pitcher was higher than his 2009 OPS.
2. In 2009, Ludwick’s OPS was only 35 points higher than Brendan Ryan’s.
Also, does anyone know if there is a stat for % of time successful trying to bunt a runner over?
There’s a part 2? Sorry I didn’t mean to spoil the surprise, but now you’ve got us all curious.
After, reviewing the data above a second time, it’s now clued into me why we released Brad Thompson; after getting a hit in his first at bat of the year, he went 0 for 2009. He’s obviously the reason our offense collapsed so badly. He had to go. That’s all there is to it.
Good luck where ever you end up Brad. For your sake I hope your role isn’t as the janitor like it was here.
Abreu……………2/19 …….9 million option for 2012. Thats one team less for Holiday to choose from. Money very conservative. It will be interesting to see if the Cardinals just make there best offer on paper and let Holiday sit on it for 14 days. If they wanted him………..
Actually there will be part three as soon as I can find time to write it!
Maybe now would be a good time to note the Cardinal Nation Blog has, in general, stepped things up a notch.
Many posters have been raising their games and making plays. You all know who you are. I do not want to name names, lest I omit one.
(Ok, I will say to blingboy that I really enjoyed the Jack Lord skit. That was awesome.)
This peak by everyone could not happen at a better time, since this promises to be a lively off season and everyone needs to be on their toes, with their thinking caps on.
Jumbo is elated about the return of Mark McGwire, after his time in the wilderness. Can hardly wait to hear his insights.
Will Mo and Moneybags DeWitt land Holliday? Or find better uses for the money?
Stay tuned.
Glad you liked it Jumbo. Couldn’t help razzing Westy and his various psychospiritual diatribes. I don’t happen to think there is anything wrong with Albert that a good Past Life Regression practioner couldn’t get to the bottom of. MM is a bay area left coaster, maybe he can talk the talk.
I wonder if Lincecum is working on his contrition strategy yet. He better because eventually the rocket scientists who are reporting the dope arrest will realize that the story will get more traction if they play up the obvious driving while impaired angle. That’s way more politically incorrect right now than possessing weed, not to mention more dangerous.
CY goes to Wainwright……….thank you very much Timmy…………
[...] Yesterday’s post announcing the Allen Watson Award of hitting excellence by a St. Louis Cardinals pitcher met with such wild, unrestrained interest, I was inspired to write part two of the story. [...]