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February 18, 2006

Unknown Pleasures -- The Hitters, #16-#20

Here begins a series on Rangers who provided unexpected help with their bats for a season. They include former starters revitalized as part-time players, long-time subs enjoying a career peak, quasi-prospects suddenly catching fire, and grizzled vets with a little gas left in their tanks. Several justified their continued employment in the Majors on otherwise forgettable Ranger squads, while a few offered vital help to division winners.

I ranked the players with a needlessly convoluted system involving playing time and exotic stats like EQA and VORP. It doesn’t matter. Basically, the rankings weigh a player’s plate appearances along with the extent to which he outperformed his career averages. The list has no strict criteria other than a maximum of 400 plate appearances. No player was a regular when the season began, and many were expected to offer only token assistance.

20. Darrell Porter, C/DH, Age 34, 1986

Era
Plate Apps.
Average
On-Base
Slugging
Runs
Homers
RBI
OPS+
Season (16th) 178 .265 .360 .535
21
12
29
138
Career (17 yrs) 6570 .247 .354 .409
765
188
826
113

In 1985, Porter caught in the World Series for the 101-win St. Louis Cardinals. Though he still had a plus bat and glove, he was almost 34 (old for a catcher) and had the fifth-highest salary on the team. The Cardinals released him after the Series, and in 1986 he signed with the miserable 99-loss Texas Rangers to back up Don Slaught at one-fifth his former salary. Bummer.

Porter responded by hitting .265, his best figure in seven years, and popped twelve homers as part of a career-best .535 slugging percentage. Porter helped a youthful lineup win an astounding 87 games, eight more than the pennant-defending Cardinals. He had another respectable season with Texas before retiring after 1987.

19. Jim Sundberg, C, Age 37, 1988

Span
Plate Apps.
Average
On-Base
Slugging
Runs
Homers
RBI
OPS+
Season (15th) 99 .286 .323 .462
13
4
13
116
Career (16 yrs) 6898 .248 .327 .348
621
95
624
89

Texas drafted Jim Sundberg with the second pick in the 1973 draft, and through some often embarrassing times for the franchise he provided the respectable face. He was an outstanding defender with a more potent bat than you might remember (not to suggest he was Johnny Bench). Texas stunningly traded Sundberg to Milwaukee for Ned Yost after his dismal 1983, a bad baseball move and public-relations disaster. Sundberg caught for the World Champion Kansas City Royals in 1985 (opposite Darrell Porter), but by June 1988 he was 37 and unemployed after the Cubs released him.

Texas signed him the following week. Sundberg had only 99 plate appearances as a Ranger that season but four were homers, and he slugged a career-best .462 while reaching base at an acceptable rate. During a season with a 32-49 second half, Oddibe McDowell’s mysterious regression, and Larry Parrish’s utter collapse at age 34, Sundberg provided a nostalgic little ray of sunshine. Like Porter, he played another season with Texas as a part-timer before retiring.

18. Jack Daugherty, 1B/OF, Age 28, 1989

Span
Plate Apps.
Average
On-Base
Slugging
Runs
Homers
RBI
OPS+
Season (2nd) 121 .302 .364 .406
15
1
10
116
Career (6 yrs) 859 .256 .322 .362
80
10
87
91

Unlike Porter and Sundberg, Jack Daugherty lacked an impressive resume when he joined the Rangers. Daugherty signed with Oakland as an undrafted free agent in 1982, was released, spent 1984 in the Pioneer League, and was the player-to-be-named-later in a late-1988 trade with Texas for Tom O’Malley. The 28-year-old had all of twelve MLB plate appearances.

Despite his mundane past, Daugherty spent 1989 mostly spelling a younger and more heralded but rather light-slugging first baseman named Rafael Palmeiro. He batted .302/.364/.406, and in 1990 he hit just as well in more frequent duty. Unfortunately, he didn’t hit a lick after that, and Texas discarded him in 1992. Daugherty wandered through Houston, Cincinnati and Colorado before hanging up his spikes.

17. Bud Harrelson, SS/2B, Age 36, 1980

Span
Plate Apps.
Average
On-Base
Slugging
Runs
Homers
RBI
OPS+
Season (16th) 219 .272 .356 .322
26
1
9
96
Career (16yrs) 5516 .236 .327 .288
539
7
267
76

Harrelson played short for Mets from 1965 to 1977 including their championship season in 1969. Known mostly as a slick fielder and for a run-in with Pete Rose during the 1973 NLCS, Harrelson couldn’t hit for average or power (lifetime .288 slugging percentage… really) but did have a talent for drawing walks, and on occasion he served as the Mets’ leadoff hitter.

After a couple of seasons with Philadelphia, he joined Texas and a truly depressing contingent of light-hitting shortstops including Pepe Frias, Nelson Norman and present-day ESPN announcer Dave Roberts. Harrelson slugged only .322 but hit for a solid .272 average and drew enough walks to push his on-base percentage to a terrific .374. None of the other shortstops had an OBP above .280. Harrelson retired after the season.

16. Damon Buford, OF, 1996

Span
Plate Apps.
Average
On-Base
Slugging
Runs
Homers
RBI
OPS+
Season (4th) 162 .283 .348 .469
30
6
20
105
Career (9 yrs) 2072 .242 .311 .385
280
54
218
79

One of the few players on this list whose unexpected success created some trouble. Buford arrived in Texas in January 1996 in exchange for Terrell Lowery. He’d reached MLB as a Oriole and spent two months of 1995 as a Met, where he hit a career-best (to date) .235/.346/.360. In 1996 with Texas, Buford subbed for Darryl Hamilton in center and the regularly hobbled Juan Gonzalez in right. He batted .283, drew some walks, and slugged an unforeseen .469.

In terms of rate statistics, he outplayed Hamilton at the plate and in the field. Since Hamilton earned a princely $1.3 million while Buford drew close to the league minimum, Texas latched onto the younger Buford in 1997’s defense of the franchise’s first division championship. He continued to provide excellent defense but batted an execrable .224/.287/.339, and in July Texas acquired Tom Goodwin to replace him. After the season, the Rangers traded Buford and Jim Leyritz to Boston for Aaron Sele and Bill Haselman, a crucial exchange providing the impetus to recapture the division crown in 1998.

Posted by Lucas at February 18, 2006 03:21 PM