August 19, 2026
Although the sample size is small (57 plate appearances), Gabriel Arias‘s 14% walk rate in 2022 was encouraging. It’s not easy for a rookie to remain patient at the plate.
Here’s a look at the franchise leaders for highest walk rate in a debut season with at least 50 plate appearances:
Over the last 40 seasons, only two Cleveland rookies have started at least 15 games while posting an ERA under 3.50: Cody Anderson in 2015 and T.J. House in 2014.
It’s odd that such a list would feature such irrelevant players, as neither had much hype as prospects or did much beyond their rookie years.
Here’s a few others who accomplished the feat, dating back to 1955 (it was slightly more common before then):
1975 – Dennis Eckersley
1972 – Dick Tidrow
1964 – Luis Tiant
1958 – Gary Bell
1955 – Herb Score
In 2022, Jhonkensy Noel became the third player since 1990 to lead the Cleveland farm system in home runs under the age of 21. Noel hit 32 home runs at Lake County and Akron (he also played a few games in Columbus, but did not homer).
The others were Bobby Bradley in 2015 (27 home runs at age 19) and Russell Branyan (40 at age 20).
Prior to Branyan, the feat hadn’t been accomplished since Tom Anderson, the team’s 1978 first-round pick, led farm system in homers in 1978 (22 at age 19) and 1979 (30 at age 20).
Anderson never made it to the majors and in 1980 ended up in the San Francisco Giants farm system. I was unable to track down the transaction which sent him there – it certainly seems like an odd move for a recent first-round pick displaying power in the minors, but by 1982 he was out of the game.
Considering the era in which he played, Corey Kluber‘s appearance on this list is remarkable.
Lowest OPS allowed to No. 3 hitters (min. 100 batters faced):
The No. 3 hitters with the most plate appearances against Kluber that year:
Trout was the only No.3 hitter to homer off Kluber that year.
In total, No. 3 hitters batted .149 with a .206 OBP against Kluber in 2016.
When his Cleveland career came to a close in 1990, Cory Snyder had the most three-strikeout games in franchise history by a wide margin:
Snyder, 49
Bob Feller, 29
Max Alvis, 28
Larry Doby, 22
Brook Jacoby, 21
Pat Seerey, 21
He’s since been surpassed by Jim Thome (86 games), but remains in second place.
Entering 2023, Feller is now in 12th place on this list.
Amed Rosario enters 2023 with a .478 batting average when putting the ball in play since joining Cleveland.
Dating back to 1990, that’s the highest average among Cleveland hitters with at least 100 one-pitch at-bats:
Rosario, .478
Ellis Burks, .429
Russell Branyan, .423
Shin-Soo Choo, .423
Roberto Alomar, .419
Jim Thome, .408
And here’s the bottom five, among 64 qualified players:
Aaron Boone, .259
Mark Lewis, .263
Felix Fermin, .269
John McDonald, .270
Mike Aviles, .272
The MLB average over this span is .335.
Only 11.3% of Carlos Santana‘s strikeouts were on three pitches, the team’s lowest rate dating back to 2000.
Here’s the top six, among players with at least 200 total strikeouts in that span:
Carlos Santana, 11.3%
Jim Thome, 12.4%
Travis Hafner, 12.5%
Ryan Garko, 12.8%
Travis Fryman, 12.9%
Matt LaPorta, 13.0%
Excluding the WC round (which obviously made this more common), Aaron Civale is the 4th pitcher in MLB history to make postseason debut as a SP in a winner-take all game, joining:
1980 – Marty Bystrom, PHI (won)
1974 – Doyle Alexander, BAL (lost)
1924 – Curly Ogden, WSH (won)
With his walk-off single against the Yankees in Game 3, Oscar Gonzalez tied the single-season and career records for postseason go-ahead RBI in the 9th inning or later with three.
The others:
Only Ortiz had all three in a single year (2004).
Gonzalez’s go-ahead RBI:
Steven Kwan is the third rookie in franchise history with a postseason home run, joining Oscar Gonzalez (earlier this postseason vs Rays) and Asdrubal Cabrera (2007 against the Yankees).
Here’s a link to Cabrera’s off Chien-Ming Wang.
And here’s Kwan’s off Gerrit Cole: