Amazing But True Baseball Facts From 2014

David Price whiffed 271 batters while walking just 38. That's practically Phil Hughesian. Hughes issued just 16 free passes in 210 frames while sending back 186 on strikes. His 11.38 K/BB ratio is the highest ever for pitchers throwing at least 200 innings.

Stephen Drew's supporters blamed his .583 OPS through June on the fact that he missed Spring Training. He rocked a .491 July through October. That's a .150/.219/.271 line once he got warmed up.

The back end of the Yankees' bullpen -- Dellin Betances and David Robertson -- fanned 229 batters in 154 innings, a 13.5 Ks/9 rate. Robertson is gone now, replaced by Andrew Miller, who struck out 14.5 per nine in 2014.

Unsurprisingly, the Detroit Tigers' infield offered the worst facsimile of defense in baseball in 2014, as it did in 2013, allowing a .281 batting average on ground balls. The Oakland A's defended best on the infield, holding opponents to a .215 average. The difference was about 100 runs, or between 10 and 12 wins in infield defense alone.

Why did the Cincinnati Reds lose 14 games in the standings from '13 to '14? Look to the outer pasture. Redleg outfielders poster a .649 OPS, the worst in 100 years of Cincinnati baseball. They were basically Twins' third-string shortstop Eduardo Nunez -- minus five points of OPS.

Here's the kicker: Seattle's outfield hit worse.

Clayton Kershaw is the first pitcher in the 130-year history of baseball to lead the Majors in ERA four straight years. Take that Walter Johnson.

Victor Martinez clubbed 32 home runs in 2014 while fanning 42 times. B.J. Upton needed 172 strikeouts to mash 12 homers.

The Washington Nationals have averaged more than 93 wins each of the last three seasons, best in the Majors. They have zero playoff series victories.

America learned about the Royals' bullpen of Greg Holland, Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera during the post-season, but AL hitters had already seen enough of them. They are the first trio of relievers to sport ERAs below 1.50 in 65 or more appearances. No team has ever boasted two such hurlers.


Of the 937 gentlemen who have donned a uniform for the Los Angeles California Anaheim Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim during the franchise's 43-year history, the player who has earned the 10th most wins against replacement is Mike Trout, in all of three seasons. The player just ahead of him, Darrin Erstad, toiled for 12 seasons in Orange County.

Nomar Garciaparra wielded a stellar glove at shortstop while batting .313/.361/.521 over his career, 65 points of OPS better than Derek Jeter.  He earned 6+ wins against replacement in six of his first seven seasons -- not counting a 23-game rookie warmup -- three more than in Jeter's entire career.  And yet, Nomar barely cleared the 5% threshold last week to stay on the Hall of Fame ballot. In his final six seasons, Nomar stayed n the field more than half the season just twice, missing 81 games during those two. Oh, what could have been.