|
|
Post by klawrencio79 on Jun 1, 2020 18:58:28 GMT
The other day, Nuts posted the thread about whose batting stance you imitated. Having played little league and high school baseball, I was trying to remember. Of course, we all jokingly imitated Jeff Bagwell and Julio Franco but when real ABs came, those weren’t terribly practical for most of us. For me, I liked Andres Galarraga’s stance. Very quick and compact, yet generated so much power from the lower body.
So today, we celebrate The Big Cat, holder of one of the game’s most effusive and memorable smiles. He played the game with such joy that it was impossible not to root for him. When he came back after missing all of 1999 due to having non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, you couldn’t help but cheer for him.
Andres Jose Padovani Galarraga, a Venezuelan native made his debut at the age of 16, playing for Leones del Caracas as a catcher and third basemen, before being signed by the Expos at the insistence of then-manager Felipe Alou in 1979 (at 18 years old). Viewed as overweight by scouts, Galarraga took a few years to fully develop before blossoming into the AA Southern League MVP in 1984 with a .289 average, 27 HR and 87 RBI.
Galarraga was a bit up and down in his first 7 years, all spent with Montreal, where he would put up some good power numbers, even led the NL in hits (184), doubles (42) and total bases (329) in 1988, but also led all of baseball in strikeouts with 153.
After a really poor 3-year run from 1989 to 1991, and an injury-plagued year with the Cards in ‘92, Galarraga found new life with the expansion Rockies in their inaugural season in 1993, leading the league with his .370 average (albeit in 120 games), slashing .370/.403/.602 (1.005) with 22 homers and 98 RBI. From 1993 to 2000 (7 seasons as he didn’t play in 1999 due to the aforementioned cancer), Big Cat slashed .312/.372/.573 with 244 homers, 800 RBI, 207 doubles and a 130 OPS+ with the Rockies and Braves.
All in all, Galarraga finished with a career slash line of .288/.347/.499 (.846) with 399 HRs, 2,333 hits, 1,425 RBI, 1,195 runs and 444 doubles. He made 5 All-Star Games, won 2 Silver Slugger Awards and captured 2 Gold Gloves with his slick fielding. Further, he led the league twice in RBI (150 in ’96 and 140 in ’97) when he was part of a formidable Rockies lineup featuring Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla and Larry Walker.
He won 2 Comeback Player of the Year Awards, the second one coming in 2000 in the season after he received chemo treatments, going .302/.369/.526 (.895) with 28 homers and an even 100 RBI for the Braves before his career tailed before ultimately retiring in 2004.
Just look at this mammoth shot off of Kevin Brown. He makes it look effortless.
|
|
|
|
Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Jun 1, 2020 19:10:59 GMT
Would it be dismissive to boil this down to two words - Coors Field?
|
|
|
|
Post by klawrencio79 on Jun 1, 2020 19:53:24 GMT
Would it be dismissive to boil this down to two words - Coors Field? I'm glad you asked that! While one can look at his numbers with the Braves and see that he was a pretty capable hitter, and while Coors Field obviously helps (just the biggest beneficiary of Coors Field - Charlie Blackmon), Galarraga was still a prodigious hitter on the road when he was healthy. In 1993, the year he won a batting title, he hit .402/.430/.647 (1.077) at home, .328/.368/.544 (.912) on the road. In 1994, it was .348/.390/.627 (1.018) with 16 HR, 44 RBI at home; .291/.323/.559 (.882) with 15 homers, 41 RBI on the road. In 1995, it was definitely Coors as he was his usual robust self at home and was merely mortal on the road with a sub .800 OPS, but then in 1997, it was .342/.406/.611 (1.017), 21 HR, 90 RBI at home, .295/.372/.560 (.931) with 20 HR, 51 RBI on the road. The counter to that is that if didn't have that 3-year slump while battling hamstring and knee injuries before getting traded to St. Louis and ultimately released before signing with Colorado. You true up those 3 years to career averages and then downgrade his years in Colorado, it averages out. Plus, this is why I like OPS+ because it takes park factors into consideration. In 1996, he had a .958 OPS with 47 HR and 150 RBI yet he only had an OPS+ of 127. That same year, Mike Piazza had a .985 OPS, fewer HR, fewer RBI, yet his OPS+ was 166, largely because he had a larger RBI percentage ( i.e., driving in a greater percentage of runners on base than did Andres), but also did so in a pitcher's park. In 1997, it was .974, 41 HR and 140 RBI and his OPS+ was 131. It's a useful metric because it compares him to everyone else in the league and then levels the playing field. It puts more context into what he accomplished than to just say "he knocked in 290 runs in 2 years, wow!" and puts it proper perspective. EDIT: Also, Charlie Blackmon in his career at home - .349/.407/.590 (.997) with 97 HR, 300 RBI in 514 games. In 546 road games, he's .261/.313/.430 (.743) with 75 HR, 211 RBI. |
|
|
|
Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Jun 1, 2020 20:05:17 GMT
Would it be dismissive to boil this down to two words - Coors Field? I'm glad you asked that! While one can look at his numbers with the Braves and see that he was a pretty capable hitter, and while Coors Field obviously helps (just the biggest beneficiary of Coors Field - Charlie Blackmon), Galarraga was still a prodigious hitter on the road when he was healthy. In 1993, the year he won a batting title, he hit .402/.430/.647 (1.077) at home, .328/.368/.544 (.912) on the road. In 1994, it was .348/.390/.627 (1.018) with 16 HR, 44 RBI at home; .291/.323/.559 (.882) with 15 homers, 41 RBI on the road. In 1995, it was definitely Coors as he was his usual robust self at home and was merely mortal on the road with a sub .800 OPS, but then in 1997, it was .342/.406/.611 (1.017), 21 HR, 90 RBI at home, .295/.372/.560 (.931) with 20 HR, 51 RBI on the road. The counter to that is that if didn't have that 3-year slump while battling hamstring and knee injuries before getting traded to St. Louis and ultimately released before signing with Colorado. You true up those 3 years to career averages and then downgrade his years in Colorado, it averages out. Plus, this is why I like OPS+ because it takes park factors into consideration. In 1996, he had a .958 OPS with 47 HR and 150 RBI yet he only had an OPS+ of 127. That same year, Mike Piazza had a .985 OPS, fewer HR, fewer RBI, yet his OPS+ was 166, largely because he had a larger RBI percentage ( i.e., driving in a greater percentage of runners on base than did Andres), but also did so in a pitcher's park. In 1997, it was .974, 41 HR and 140 RBI and his OPS+ was 131. It's a useful metric because it compares him to everyone else in the league and then levels the playing field. It puts more context into what he accomplished than to just say "he knocked in 290 runs in 2 years, wow!" and puts it proper perspective. EDIT: Also, Charlie Blackmon in his career at home - .349/.407/.590 (.997) with 97 HR, 300 RBI in 514 games. In 546 road games, he's .261/.313/.430 (.743) with 75 HR, 211 RBI. I won’t deny that he’s a pretty good hitter - you’ve shown that and I thought he was pretty good in Atlanta. That era of Rockies baseball though, he was surrounded by guys up and down the lineup who were either good or Coors good as well. I don’t remember exactly who played when but didn’t he have Burks, Bichette, and Castilla batting around him? Was Walker there then too? They were fun to watch but I feel I never give Coors guys enough credit. I’ll peruse Helton’s stats because he was perhaps the best of them. |
|
|
|
Post by TheGoodMan19 on Jun 1, 2020 20:14:26 GMT
Galarraga slipped my mind. I thought you were going for Johnny Mize, who is, of course, a HOFer
Saddent thin is, I also thought of Ernie Ladd before Galarraga.
|
|
|
|
Post by TheGoodMan19 on Jun 1, 2020 20:17:33 GMT
Would it be dismissive to boil this down to two words - Coors Field? Many other players have benefited from a favorable ballpark. Dodger pitchers in Chavez Ravine. Astro pitchers in the Astrodome. Left handed batters in Yankee Stadium.
|
|
|
|
Post by FrankSobotka1514 on Jun 1, 2020 20:20:41 GMT
Would it be dismissive to boil this down to two words - Coors Field? Many other players have benefited from a favorable ballpark. Dodger pitchers in Chavez Ravine. Astro pitchers in the Astrodome. Left handed batters in Yankee Stadium.
That’s certainly true. But while Yankee Stadium helps left-handed batters, Coors helps all batters. I’d wager that a good many players who were good at Yankee Stadium were good elsewhere too. |
|
|
|
Post by millar70 on Jun 1, 2020 20:24:37 GMT
I loved him as a Giant, hitting alongside Bonds, Kent, Snow, Richie Aurilia.....
Yeah, that team was roided to the gills, but shit, they were fun to watch.
Of all the Giants games I've watched since they moved to Pac Bell, Galarraga came the closest to hitting that huge glove that sits above the left field bleachers.
A real fun player.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
@Deleted
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2020 21:20:05 GMT
I liked him but didnt love him. He was the Braves 1B when I became a fan but he wasnt there long enough for me to really connect with him as a fan. I did take him for granted though as the 1B position was damn near an empty void for the Braves til Freeman. Adam LaRoche was fine but hardly amazing. Had Mark Teixeira for a very short stint. But it was mostly guys like Julio Franco, Robert Fick, Rico Brogna, Troy Glaus, Ken Caminiti, BJ Surhoff, Casey Kotchman etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by SportsFan19 on Jun 2, 2020 1:13:55 GMT
I won’t deny that he’s a pretty good hitter - you’ve shown that and I thought he was pretty good in Atlanta. That era of Rockies baseball though, he was surrounded by guys up and down the lineup who were either good or Coors good as well. I don’t remember exactly who played when but didn’t he have Burks, Bichette, and Castilla batting around him? Was Walker there then too? They were fun to watch but I feel I never give Coors guys enough credit. I’ll peruse Helton’s stats because he was perhaps the best of them. Burks had one good year with Colorado (1995 or 1996). They had Charlie Hayes in 1993, Castilla broke out around 1995. Walker signed with them before the 1995 season (he was still in Montreal when they had the best record in MLB in 1994). Of course Bichette and "The Big Cat" were there from the start in 1993. That was a very fun team, putting up football scores (26-7, 25-6, 27-6 etc) 8-10 times a year. |
|
|
|
Post by NJtoTX on Jun 2, 2020 2:09:11 GMT
Galarraga slipped my mind. I thought you were going for Johnny Mize, who is, of course, a HOFer Saddent thin is, I also thought of Ernie Ladd before Galarraga. I just blanked. Could not remember who had that nickname. |
|
|
|
Post by klawrencio79 on Jun 2, 2020 2:36:33 GMT
Galarraga slipped my mind. I thought you were going for Johnny Mize, who is, of course, a HOFer Saddent thin is, I also thought of Ernie Ladd before Galarraga. My bust, I didn’t know that was also Mize’s nickname. |
|
|
|
Post by Rey Kahuka on Jun 2, 2020 11:58:01 GMT
Looks like he's enjoying his retirement.  |
|
