From the "In Case You Missed It" files, a bit more trivia regarding the homer by Javier Baez in the eighth inning of today's game, courtesy of the good people at Baseball Reference:
Javier Baez has joined Jason Kipnis as the only players in the last 100 years to hit 5+ HR as a 2B in their 1st 14 career games
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 18, 2014
Graphs for Game 124 (courtesy of Fangraphs):
Stats for Game 124:
Pitcher |
IP |
H |
HR |
ER |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
K Hendricks |
7 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
0.89 |
.219 |
N Ramirez |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1.74 |
.124 |
H Rondon |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.96 |
.030 |
Total |
9 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
0.98 |
.372 |
Batter |
AB |
R |
H |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
pLI |
WPA |
A Rizzo |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0.79 |
.430 |
L Valbuena |
4 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1.47 |
.174 |
R Sweeney |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.52 |
.020 |
J Baez |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1.07 |
-.003 |
S Castro |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.13 |
-.033 |
A Alcantara |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0.69 |
-.050 |
C Coghlan |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.48 |
-.058 |
K Hendricks |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0.88 |
-.061 |
J Ruggiano |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1.71 |
-.066 |
M Szczur |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.26 |
-.090 |
W Castillo |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1.91 |
-.135 |
Total |
36 |
4 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
11 |
1.2 |
.128 |
Writer's Note: The daily selections of the three Heroes and three Goats are based solely on the top three and bottom three WPA scores for the game. The selections are not based on my subjective opinion.
THE THREE HEROES:
- Superhero - Anthony Rizzo (.430). One word: Boomstick.
- Hero - Kyle Hendricks (.219). Other than the mistake to Lucas Duda, another very solid performance.
- Sidekick - Luis Valbuena (.174). Signs of life in the bat again with the 3-for-4 outing and game-tying single in the sixth.
THE THREE GOATS:
- Billy Goat - Welington Castillo (-.135). Left five Cubs on base including the big bases-loaded whiff in the fourth.
- Goat - Matt Szczur (-.090). A rather uneventful 0-for-3 day in his first career start.
- Kid - Justin Ruggiano (-.066). Came up with runners on four times and only had a single off of Carlos Torres' foot to show for it.
UPDATED RANKINGS THROUGH GAME 124 (Changes in Bold, Notations Below):
x - Player not on 25-man roster.
y - Player not on 40-man roster.
z - Player no longer with Cubs.
Heroes |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
Anthony Rizzo |
15 |
10 |
10 |
75 |
Starlin Castro |
14.5 |
8.5 |
8.5 |
69 |
Luis Valbuena |
12 |
8 |
6 |
58 |
Welington Castillo |
9 |
5.5 |
3.5 |
41.5 |
Justin Ruggiano |
5.5 |
9.5 |
3 |
38.5 |
Jake Arrieta |
7 |
4 |
1 |
30 |
Chris Coghlan |
6 |
5 |
1 |
29 |
z-Jason Hammel |
5 |
4 |
5 |
28 |
z-Nate Schierholtz |
4 |
6 |
3 |
27 |
Ryan Sweeney |
2 |
6 |
6.5 |
24.5 |
z-Jeff Samardzija |
6 |
2 |
2 |
24 |
Travis Wood |
5 |
4 |
1 |
24 |
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
1 |
9 |
1 |
22 |
x-Mike Olt |
3 |
3 |
6 |
21 |
x-Junior Lake |
3 |
3 |
4 |
19 |
x-Brian Schlitter |
1 |
4.5 |
7 |
19 |
z-Darwin Barney |
3.5 |
2.5 |
1 |
16.5 |
Pedro Strop |
1 |
3 |
7 |
16 |
Kyle Hendricks |
4 |
1.5 |
0.5 |
15.5 |
Edwin Jackson |
4 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
Arismendy Alcantara |
3 |
2 |
2 |
15 |
John Baker |
1 |
4 |
3 |
14 |
Hector Rondon |
0 |
1 |
10.5 |
12.5 |
Carlos Villanueva |
0 |
3 |
5 |
11 |
Wesley Wright |
0.5 |
3.5 |
2 |
10.5 |
y-Ryan Kalish |
3 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
z-James Russell |
0 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
Justin Grimm |
0 |
2 |
6 |
10 |
Tsuyoshi Wada |
2 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
Neil Ramirez |
0 |
0.5 |
5.5 |
6.5 |
Javier Baez |
0 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
x-Zac Rosscup |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
x-Dallas Beeler |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
x-Chris Rusin |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Chris Valaika |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
x-Blake Parker |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
Jacob Turner |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Kyuji Fujikawa |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
Goats |
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
Total |
z-Nate Schierholtz |
8 |
12 |
7 |
55 |
Starlin Castro |
5 |
10.5 |
14 |
50 |
Luis Valbuena |
7 |
7.5 |
10.5 |
46.5 |
Edwin Jackson |
11 |
3 |
1 |
40 |
Travis Wood |
10 |
4 |
2 |
40 |
x-Junior Lake |
6 |
6 |
8 |
38 |
Welington Castillo |
3 |
8.5 |
7.5 |
33.5 |
Anthony Rizzo |
2 |
10 |
7 |
33 |
x-Mike Olt |
5 |
3 |
6 |
27 |
Chris Coghlan |
4 |
5 |
5 |
27 |
Justin Ruggiano |
2 |
7 |
6 |
26 |
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
1 |
9 |
4 |
25 |
Justin Grimm |
7 |
0.5 |
2.5 |
24.5 |
z-Jason Hammel |
7 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
Hector Rondon |
6 |
2 |
1 |
23 |
Carlos Villanueva |
5 |
1 |
3 |
20 |
z-James Russell |
3 |
3 |
5 |
20 |
Ryan Sweeney |
3 |
3 |
2.5 |
17.5 |
Pedro Strop |
3 |
3 |
1 |
16 |
John Baker |
3 |
1 |
5 |
16 |
z-Jeff Samardzija |
4 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
Arismendy Alcantara |
1 |
5 |
2 |
15 |
z-Darwin Barney |
0 |
6 |
3 |
15 |
Wesley Wright |
3 |
1 |
3 |
14 |
x-Brian Schlitter |
2 |
3 |
1 |
13 |
Jake Arrieta |
3 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
z-Jose Veras |
2 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
y-Ryan Kalish |
1 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
Neil Ramirez |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
y-Eli Whiteside |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
x-Blake Parker |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
x-Dallas Beeler |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
Kyle Hendricks |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
Javier Baez |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
Tsuyoshi Wada |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
x-Dan Straily |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
Chris Valaika |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
x-Chris Rusin |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
Overall |
Hero |
Goat |
+/- |
Anthony Rizzo |
75 |
33 |
42 |
Starlin Castro |
69 |
50 |
19 |
Jake Arrieta |
30 |
12 |
18 |
Justin Ruggiano |
38.5 |
26 |
12.5 |
Luis Valbuena |
58 |
46.5 |
11.5 |
Kyle Hendricks |
15.5 |
4 |
11.5 |
z-Jeff Samardzija |
24 |
15 |
9 |
Welington Castillo |
41.5 |
33.5 |
8 |
Ryan Sweeney |
24.5 |
17.5 |
7 |
x-Brian Schlitter |
19 |
13 |
6 |
z-Jason Hammel |
28 |
23 |
5 |
Tsuyoshi Wada |
8 |
3 |
5 |
x-Zac Rosscup |
4 |
0 |
4 |
Chris Coghlan |
29 |
27 |
2 |
Jacob Turner |
2 |
0 |
2 |
z-Darwin Barney |
16.5 |
15 |
1.5 |
y-Ryan Kalish |
10 |
9 |
1 |
Javier Baez |
5 |
4 |
1 |
x-Chris Rusin |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Chris Valaika |
3 |
2 |
1 |
Kyuji Fujikawa |
1 |
0 |
1 |
Neil Ramirez |
6.5 |
6 |
0.5 |
Pedro Strop |
16 |
16 |
0 |
Arismendy Alcantara |
15 |
15 |
0 |
x-Dallas Beeler |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
John Baker |
14 |
16 |
-2 |
x-Blake Parker |
3 |
5 |
-2 |
Matt Szczur |
0 |
2 |
-2 |
z-Emilio Bonifacio |
22 |
25 |
-3 |
x-Dan Straily |
0 |
3 |
-3 |
Wesley Wright |
10.5 |
14 |
-3.5 |
x-Mike Olt |
21 |
27 |
-6 |
y-Eli Whiteside |
0 |
6 |
-6 |
Carlos Villanueva |
11 |
20 |
-9 |
z-Jose Veras |
0 |
9 |
-9 |
z-James Russell |
10 |
20 |
-10 |
Hector Rondon |
12.5 |
23 |
-10.5 |
Justin Grimm |
10 |
24.5 |
-14.5 |
Travis Wood |
24 |
40 |
-16 |
x-Junior Lake |
19 |
38 |
-19 |
Edwin Jackson |
15 |
40 |
-25 |
z-Nate Schierholtz |
27 |
55 |
-28 |
More movement at the top of the plus/minus chart, with all of the top players other than Starlin Castro making moves in either direction.