Intended only as fun, this award has been created to honor the highest level of hitting futility by a St. Louis Cardinals pitcher in a season.
To select the award’s namesake, I first had to unearth the worst yearly performance with the bat by a pitcher in team history, post-1900. Of the hundreds of Cardinals hurlers with at least 30 plate appearances in a season, only two posted a .000 OPS.
They are Vicente Palacios in 1994 and John Fulgham in 1980.
To break the apparent tie, I dove into the specifics.
In his season of futility, Fulgham, in his second of two career MLB seasons, had exactly 30 plate appearances. He had three sacrifices, therefore had only 27 official at-bats. He fanned 17 times, but managed to score once.
Palacios had 36 plate appearances in 1994 and also had three sacrifices. He struck out 15 times, but also ground into a double play. Palacios did not cross home plate.
Therefore, Palacios broke the close tie as having the worst hitting season by a Cardinals pitcher since at least 1900.
Here are the worst ten in team history, courtesy of the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia.
| Rk | Worst OPS pitcher | Yr | OPS |
| T1 | Vicente Palacios | 1994 | 0.000 |
| T1 | John Fulgham | 1980 | 0.000 |
| 3 | Ron Taylor | 1963 | 0.063 |
| 4 | Bob Purkey | 1965 | 0.084 |
| 5 | Jose DeLeon | 1991 | 0.087 |
| 6 | Bill Doak | 1913 | 0.095 |
| 7 | Bill Doak | 1923 | 0.104 |
| 8 | Curt Simmons | 1965 | 0.109 |
| 9 | Paul Dean | 1936 | 0.118 |
| 10 | Mike Morgan | 1996 | 0.121 |
The 2009 hitting data was already presented in the earlier article, “Wainwright wins 2009 Allen Watson Award”. Todd Wellemeyer’s .256 OPS brought up the rear as the worst mark for those pitchers with at least 30 plate appearances.
Here are those who would have been the Palacios Award winners this decade. Wellemeyer’s 2009 mark would not have been worst in eight of the last ten years. Anthony Reyes‘s .154 OPS in 2007 was the lowest qualifying mark since 2000. Chris Carpenter is the only name listed twice – in 2005 and 2006.
| Year | Worst OPS pitcher | OPS |
| 2009 | Todd Wellemeyer | 0.256 |
| 2008 | Kyle Lohse | 0.238 |
| 2007 | Anthony Reyes | 0.154 |
| 2006 | Chris Carpenter | 0.254 |
| 2005 | Chris Carpenter | 0.211 |
| 2004 | Jeff Suppan | 0.156 |
| 2003 | Jason Simontacchi | 0.289 |
| 2002 | Chuck Finley | 0.250 |
| 2001 | Dustin Hermanson | 0.206 |
| 2000 | Garrett Stephenson | 0.162 |
One can see why Carpenter’s homerun this past September came as a fun surprise.
Carpenter began in the American League, never batting. This explains Chuck Finley’s award in 2002 as well.
Welly is caught in that nebulous world between needing the surgery and having no contract to provide it. He tried to pitched around it this year and could never make it happen. In the end he fell victim to bad personal habits that made him insensitive to the depth of the crisis he was suffering. Wainwright struggled mightily in April behind Carp and Lohse. Welly never found a secure place in the rotation and his early attempts at self preservation in all likelihood ended his career. Nice kid.
I will say that all of the pitchers suffered from that idiotic “show bunt – pull back – turn to bunt” idea of Tony’s……… It got Lohse hurt and took everyones average down because of failed bunt attempts. A Hal/Tony gem ……………. Another beef I have has to do with Shu sporting a 300 average. If he hits against all lefties, especially the good ones, with the residual emotional downer of failing, he hits about 260. He is the sole reason I’m a little skeptical about what MM is bringing in.
Wellemeyer made $4MM in 2009. If he needs to see a doctor, he can find one.
If Wellemeyer needs a physical operation, then his “crisis” is not between the ears, just in his arm or shoulder.
The reality is pitching causes wear/tear on every pitcher. Wellemeyer is strong man who threw a little harder in 2008. Now that he is age 30 and been playing for years, its no surprise he loses a couple of mph. It happens even to the great pitchers, not just Welly.
How nice it is to have a resident hitting expert on the many idiocies of TLR and Mr. McRae.
Thanks Jumbo………..its no trouble.
Why are only righthanders used to pitch batting practice.
If wellie is injured from pitching during the season, I have no doubt that the union contract provides for his last team to pay for the surgery. Besides, I believe he is technically under contract. He may not want to get the surgery due to his efforts to get a new contract but that is a different issue.
I was surprised to see Curt Simmons on the list of ten worst OPS seasons for pitchers. I remembered him as a good-hitting pitcher and baseball-reference.com agrees.
In 1961 he batted .303 with an OBP of .378 and an OPS+ of 88 over 77 plate appearances. His career OPS was .408, not too far south of Colby Rasmus vs. southpaws this year. I guess he had a bad year-long slump in 1965.