A sport full of stats cannot help but achieve some player milestones at season's end. Take a trip through the numbers looking at the Padres who hit round numbers, career bests and made franchise history.
If you do not want to hear about Padres stats from the 2014 season, then this article is not for you. If you have been reading Gaslamp Ball for a while, then you have an idea what stats I'm talking about. Back in March, I wrote about the Padres 2014 Potential Milestones. A yearly post that I have been doingforawhile. So, once more into the breach of looking at the year's stats gone by.
We get to start the post with a farewell to Chase Headley. I've been doing this long enough that I have had to say goodbye to Jake Peavy, Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez this way as well. Chase was around a long time and while his stat tallies aren't as high as we would like them to be, they are still littered throughout the Padres' record books' top 10s.
Round Numbers:
Headley failed big time here. I had him pegged for 1 possible round number (100 HRs) and one likely one (200 2Bs). He fell short in both, the latter requiring his lowest 2Bs output since his partial season in 2008. He also failed to reach 4000 PAs and 3500 ABs. It was a dismal year even when his Yankees stats are included
Franchise Leaderboards:
Headley did make some impact here.
- He is 5th in franchise history now in total WAR accumulated (the WAR baseball-reference reports). He passed Gene Richards to get there. A slightly better season would have seen him finish 4th (ahead of Gene Tenace) or 3rd (passing Adrian Gonzalez), but that was not meant to be.
- With a .266 batting average as a Padre he cemented himself in 24th place. Just ahead of Benito Santiago and behind Luis Salazar. Back in 2012 he was "battling" Quilvio Veras for 22nd with a .270 batting average, but since then the baseball gods were not kind in this stat category.
- With a .346 OBP, Headley sits at 16th place. Just ahead of Mark Kotsay's .343 and a decent amount behind Gene Richards' and Dave Winfield's .357.
- A .410 SLG is 19th all time among Friars. Ollie Brown was better with a .413 number and Garvey was a little worse at .409.
- Headley has played in the 6th most number of games as a Padre. He passed Brian Giles, Terry Kennedy, Nate Colbert and Trevor Hoffman this season and sits 31 games behind Gene Richards. Similarly, he leaves 5th in at bats and plate appearances.
- Headley needed just 53 runs this season to get into the top 10 in runs scored, but instead wound up in 11th place, 25 runs behind 10th place Steve Finley.
- He did smack just enough hits to make it to fifth place in that category with 873, 1 ahead of 6th place Brian Giles.
- I already mentioned that doubles were a disappointment for Chase this season and that shows up in the franchise record books. He seemed poised to finish 2nd to Gwynn in that category, but instead he sits in 4th with 186. That's 3 behind Brian Giles and 9 behind Garry Templeton.
- However, he did max out his franchise placement in HRs this season. His 7 was just enough to get to 8th place. That put him 2 ahead of Santiago and an unreachable-in-2014 34 behind Ken Caminiti's 7th place 121.
- He was also able to just crack the top 10 in RBI with 401 where he did pass Caminiti's 396, but finished short of Giles' 9th place 415.
- Chase knew how to draw a walk and finishes 7th in that category with 377.
- He also found plenty of ways to strike out. Early in the 2014 he passed Nate Colbert to become the franchise's strikeout king. He finished with 844. That's 71 ahead of Colbert.
- Headley also became the co-King of another stat. He got hit by pitches 36 times as a Friar, which tied the record Kevin Kouzmanoff had set.
Goodbye Chase, I'm sure your name will come in these kind of posts for years to come as others try to assault the impact you made on the franchise and its record books.
Round Numbers:
- Got his 100th 2B in 2014 and finished with 104.
- Now has over 800 games played with 820.
- Also passed 2500 Plate Appearances and finished with 2,737.
Franchise Leaderboards:
- His 0.9 WAR in 2014 helped him pass Roberto Alomar's 17th 12.1 WAR and catch Kevin McReynolds and Bip Roberts' 14th place tie at 12.4.
- 47 runs scored this season saw him go past Steve Garvey, Khalil Greene, Terry Kennedy and Benito Santiago to crack the franchise top 15 in that category with 336 runs.
- 91 hits moved him into the top 20 there passing Carmelo Martinez, Ken Caminiti, Greene and Luis Salazar for 18th place with 621.
- Another top 20 attained was in doubles where 13 two-baggers jumped him past Mark Loretta, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Cito Gaston, Mark Kotsay, Bip Roberts, Johnny Grubb and Wally Joyner for 18th place with 104.
- One of Venable's biggest marks on the franchise record books is in the triples category. But only 2 in 2014 only allowed him to tie Garry Templeton in 4th place with 36 of them.
- 33 RBI was Will's lowest total since his rookie season, but it did allow him to pop into the top 20 in that category. With 274 total he passed Kouzmanoff, Gene Richards, Fred McGriff, McReynolds and Joyner to get to 18th place.
- 649 strikeouts puts Venable in 5th place in that notorious category.
- Venable didn't pass anyone in stolen bases this season since he only swiped 11, but he is still in 9th place in franchise history.
Round Numbers:
- 500 games played (561 total)
- 2000 plate appearances (2068 total)
Franchise Leaderboards:
- Maybin moved into the top 20 in triples on the back of the 4 he hit in 2014. He now has 17 and is tied for 16th place with Kevin McReynolds.
- Cameron swiped a measly 4 bags in 2014, but it was enough to move him up. He passed Dave Roberts and held of Chase Headley to finish the season with 74 as a Padre (remember, he was a Marlin and Tiger before 2011), good enough for 17th place.
Round Numbers:
- Got to double digits in HRs. He hit 3 and now has 12 for his career.
Franchise Leaderboards:
- His 1 3B in 2014 broke a tie for 14th place with Ozzie Smith. He now has sole possession of the spot with 20 three-baggers.
- 18 SBs for the season moved him to 6th place in franchise history. He passed Enzo Hernandez (129) and Dave Winfield (133) to get there with 136 bags swiped.
Denorfia's 2014 was less than stellar, but since his Padres career is done for now it seemed like a good time to see where he stood in various categories.
Franchise Leaderboards:
- 21st in WAR with 9.7. Tied with Carmelo Martinez. Just ahead of Fred McGriff's 9.4 and behind Garry Templeton's 9.9.
- 17th in Batting Average at .275. Tied with Steve Garvey. Just ahead of Terry Kennedy and just behind Steve Finley.
- 24th in OBP at .332. Just ahead of Nate Colbert and Chris Gomez at .331 and a couple points behind Finley's .334.
- 26th in SLG at .399.
- 28th in games played at 573. That's tied with Gene Tenace.
- 32nd in hits with 456.
- 28th in doubles with 78. That's tied with Roberto Alomar and Gomez.
- 18th in triples with 15. That's tied with Mike Cameron and Santiago.
- 24th in stolen bases with 51.
Round Numbers:
- Reached 250 saves for his career (got the 16 he needed while still with the Padres) and finished the season with 275.
Franchise Leaderboards:
- His 24 saves this season was 25th best in franchise history as a single season total.
- 5th in franchise history with 80 saves. He passed Craig Lefferts (64) and Mark Davis (78) to get there and just missed catching Goose Gossage's 4th place total of 83.
Round Numbers:
- Reached 1000 IP and finished at 1066.1.
- Dropped his career ERA below 4.00. After a 3.63 ERA in 2014 for the Padres he now has a career mark of 3.93.
- Has now pitched in and started over 150 games. He has 176 games pitched and 174 games started.
- Struck out over 200 batters in a single season (207) for the first time in his career.
Franchise Leaderboards:
- Those 207 strikeouts were the 6th most ever fanned by a Padres pitcher in a single season. It was also only the 6th time that 200 strikeout mark was reached by a Padres pitcher. The others were Kevin Brown in 1998 (257), Jake Peavy in 2007 (240), Clay Kirby in 1971 (231), Jake Peavy in 2005 (216) and Jake Peavy in 2006 (215).
Franchise Leaderboards:
- His 195 strikeouts in 2014 was the 7th highest tally of whiffed batters for a single season in Padres history. Sterling Hitchcock's 194 in 1999 was the previous high for a sub-200 K single season total.
- His 2.81 ERA was the 26th lowest single season average for a Padres pitcher who pitched enough innings to qualify.
Franchise Leaderboards:
- His 2.55 ERA was the 12th lowest single season average for a Padres pitcher who pitched enough innings to qualify. Dennis Rasmussen in 1988 also had a 2.55 ERA so it is actually a tie for 12th.
- His 1.127 WHIP was the 23 lowest single season rate for a Padres pitcher who pitched enough innings to qualify.
Franchise Leaderboards:
Like Headley, Street and Denorfia, Tim Stauffer seems to be on his way out. Unlike the other two, he has not already moved on so hope remains, but since I may never get another chances I will wrap up some of where he stands in franchise history. It is worth mentioning that jodes0405 gave Stauffer's career a thorough once-over as well with an awesome infographic.
- 39th in WAR with 3.8. That's tied with Huston Street and is just behind Luke Gregerson and ahead of Tim Worrell.
- 20th in ERA with 3.87. Pitchers need 500 IP or 50 GS to qualify here. He has the highest sub 4.00 ERA of any qualifier. 21st is Bob Owchinko at 4.00. 19th is Andy Hawkins with 3.84.
- 26th in Wins with 32. That's tied with Steve Arlin and is just behind a Gaylord Perry-Chris Young tie and just ahead of Dave Freisleben.
- 14th in WHIP at 1.308. This is another stats with the aforementioned qualifier. He's behind Eric Show's 1.283 and ahead of Brian Lawrence's 1.322.
- 30th in Games Pitched with 183. That's ahead of Bill Grief and Clay Kirby at 177 and behind Luis DeLeon at 185.
- 26th in Innings Pitched with 575.0. Dan Spillner is 5 behind him and Clayton Richard is 61.2 ahead.
- 21st in Strikeouts with 435. He's 8 behind Steve Arlin and 3 ahead of Bob Shirley.
- 27th in Games Started with 73. 1 ahead of Mat Latos and 6 behind Eric Stults.