Cleveland Indians: Pitcher’s Batting History

Jul 5, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; A general view of Progressive Field at sunset during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Indians. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Batting Achievements: The Power Department

Believe it or not, the Cleveland Indians have been home to some power-hitting pitchers. As absurd as it may sound, Wes Ferrell had a higher career isolated power mark than Troy Tulowitzki’s current season mark. You may find it even harder to believe that his isolated power was better than Mike Trout’s. I know I find it hard to believe, mostly because I looked it up and it isn’t true. The Ferrell-Tulo comparison, however, was true.

I compiled a few power numbers for the top three pitcher sluggers and Jim Thome, whose stats are simply there for comparison.

These guys hit with a surprisingly large amount of power for pitchers, and their power outputs were actually above league average for when they played. In fact, Wes Ferrell’s isolated power was well above league average while he played. It should thus come as no surprise that Wes Ferrell owns the best slugging percentage and weighted on-base average for an Indians pitcher, minimum 100 plate appearances.

As for Bob Lemon, he not only leads Indians pitchers in home runs, but he also owns the most runs batted in. While RBI is clearly not a perfect – or even good – statistic, it is still fun to watch a pitcher drive in a batter to help his own cause. He also has scored the most runs for any Tribe pitcher.

The last pitcher we will investigate in the power department is Pedro Ramos. Ramos, a switch-hitter, played in parts of three seasons for the Tribe, both as a starter and as a reliever. He was never really a great batter for the Tribe, and he struck out over half the time, but he had a knack for the long ball. His 22 plate appearances per home run ranks the best among Indians pitchers and was half the league average rate. Given his short tenure, he only accrued eight home runs; but had he received as many plate appearances as Bob Lemon, he would have slugged 60 home runs.

Next up, we’ll look at some of the Cleveland Indians’ pitchers’ biggest woes…

Next: The Worst Batting Pitchers of All-Time