The Odd Stat of the Week

Issue: What is the biggest difference between major leaguers and minor leaguers?

Short Answer: I love being able to formulate my own issues.

Reasoning: This is a question I have been asked a few thousand times in my life.  And, my answer is always the same: consistency.  Players in the minor leagues are just as talented as those in the major leagues, for the most part.  In fact, I played with guys in the minors that didn't make the big leagues that were more talented than guys I played with that did make the big leagues.  However, if a player isn't consistent, that big league club has no use for them.  An 0-for-20 at the big league level can cost the team real dollars, and we all know how much teams like losing money (or not).  The big club needs guys that, day-in and day-out, give you a real chance at driving in runs, throwing strikes, and winning games.  Because winning games means more fans come out to watch, which means the team makes more money.  See what I am getting at?

With all that said, players in the big leagues do go through slumps.  It is a game where pitchers throw 95+ mph fastballs, ungodly sliders, wicked change ups, and splitters that fall off a table.  And the hitters are using a wooden, round bat to hit a round ball.  Good luck with that.  Yet, slumps in the big leagues are either figured out, or, that player is shipped out or benched.  Sometimes, though, a player who has had a great career and is in no danger of being benched or released, finds himself in an epic slump.  Allow me to introduce you to Raul Ibanez.  Ibanez has had a good career.  He is not a great player, but he can certainly hold his own.  He is a career .282 hitter (he has been a full-time player since 2001) with 233 HR, 350 2B, and 981 RBI.  Most teams would love to have him playing left field for them.  So far, 2011 has been a season to forget for Mr. Ibanez.

The game the Phillies (Ibanez's team) played against the Brewers on April 18 seemed like any other game.  To all others but Ibanez, it probably was.  Ibanez singled in his second at-bat of the game, then things started to go rapidly downhill.  He went 0-for-3 in his last three at-bats (with 2 K's), and one of the biggest skids I have ever seen had officially begun:

• April 19 - 0-for-3, K
• April 20 - 0-for-1, K
• April 21 - 0-for-3, K
• April 22 - 0-for-4, 2 K's
• April 23 - 0-for-4, K
• April 25 - 0-for-3, K
• April 26 - 0-for-4
• April 27 - 0-for-1, K
• April 29 - 0-for-4, 2 K's
• May 1 - 0-for-4, K
• May 3 - hitless in his first at-bat before hitting a ground-rule double

In all, Ibanez was 0-for-35 with 13 K's.  Ouch.  For some perspective, Robin Ventura (who once had a 58 game hit streak in college at Oklahoma State) has the longest hitless streak of any third baseman, ever.  From April 21, 1990 until May 9, 1990, Ventura pretty much played every day, and, for that stretch, didn't get a hit, every day.  He went 0-for-39 over that stretch.  At least one source says the longest hitless streak by a position player in MLB history was by Bill Bergen, who had an 0-for-46 back in the early 1900's.  Turns out, Ibanez was closing in on history before his double on May 3.  Just the wrong kind of history.