Panda’s (Historically?) Big Boned Cycle
Pablo Sandoval hit for the cycle during the Giants’ 8-5 victory over the Rockies last night, ably and entertainingly broken down by Jeff Sullivan here. It has been quite a journey for Kung Fu Panda, who went from exciting young Giants third baseman to bench player during San Francisco’s run to the World Championship in 2010. Criticized by the organization for his weight, he came into 2011 slimmed-down and has returned to his impressive pre-2010 performance level. What makes the timing of the cycle so interesting is that it comes so soon after reports surfaced that he has gained back much of the weight he lost during the off-season. Sandoval is a big guy, but is he the biggest-boned player to hit for a cycle since the beginning of FanGraph’s play-by-play data (1974)?
Although hitting for the cycle tends to be overrated, on a visceral level I still find it exciting. It is even more entertaining when it is accomplished by a “hoss” like Sandoval. Getting an idea of how big Sandoval is at the moment is difficult not only because his weight has fluctuated a great deal over the last year or so, but because reported heights and weights in general are so often and obviously off. I’m pretty sure determining hit location is easier than getting an accurate public number for an athlete’s weight. With that difficulty acknowledged, I’ll simply be using the measurements for Sandoval and other players available to me in the database: 71 inches (5-11), 262 pounds.
How should we compare this to other recent “cyclists?” I could just do straight pounds, but there are some pretty heavy guys who aren’t really your stereotypical “big guys.” I decided to go with pounds per inch (lbs/in). Sandoval’s lbs/in is an impressive 3.69. Have any of the other cyclists since 1974 been as curvy as Panda? Here are the contenders:
Vladimir Guerrero, 6-3, 235, 3.13 lbs/in, September 14, 2003. Near the end of his last season with the Expos (themselves in their penultimate season), Vlad hit for the cycle against the Mets. I didn’t think he was that big back then, but who knows when the weight measurement was taken. If Vlad hit for the cycle this season (there’s still time!), it might be the most shocking thing to happen since, well, keep reading. But hey, great signing by the Orioles. I bet they get something good back for him at the deadline.
Travis Hafner, 6-3, 240, 3.20 lbs/in, August 14 2003. Bringing up pre-2007 Pronk just seems cruel to Cleveland fans, so I’ll just stop here. Great nickname, though.
Daryle Ward, 6-2, 240, 3.24 lbs/in, May 26, 2004. I hope the Pirates’ inspiring run to 70 wins this season doesn’t overshadow this classic moment from their somewhat-recent history. No list of random baseball happenings is really complete without Daryle Ward making an appearance. He seemingly shows up somewhere every season. Maybe Sandoval hit his chunky cycle as a tribute to Ward, who was released by the Diamondbacks from their Double-A affiliate this week.
Bengie Molina, 5-10/233, 3.33 lbs/in, July 16, 2010. I was hoping to make a super-duper clever joke about “Giants,” but this actually happened after Molina got traded to the Rangers. Honestly, for me and probably for anyone who has ever seen Molina move, this was far more shocking that Sandoval’s cycle. Maybe only Prince Fielder or Billy Butler hitting for the cycle, would really compete for the “um, what?” factor. I’m sure this is the real reason Molina retired — go out on top, baby.
Each of these entries has its angle, but even Molina, at 3.33 lbs/in, can’t compare with Sandoval’s 3.69. Less than a year ago, Sandoval was getting benched in the playoffs for the likes of Juan Uribe and Zombie Edgar Renteria less than a year ago. Today, he is the most voluptuous guy to hit for the cycle in at least 37 years. We are all witnesses.
Matt Klaassen reads and writes obituaries in the Greater Toronto Area. If you can't get enough of him, follow him on Twitter.
Voluptuous? Not the word I would’ve used for man-boobs.
What about bonerific?
Delightfully rotund?
Yah, voluptuous means “sexy”, not “fat”.
Rubenesque?
Ruben Studdard?
Maybe there SHOULD be a post on “the most voluptuous guy to hit for the cycle”. I’d submit: Kelly Gruber.
Was George Brett not better looking than Kelly Gruber? Cause he hit for the cycle.
The comments here are way off base IMO. Voluptuous is not the same as sexy. It’s sexy in a certain kind of way. Like a senuous, vivacious, kind of sexy. Hugh Grant (to some chicks) is sexy, but he ain’t voluptuous to anybody.
I’d pick Lou Gehrig, b/c he kinda looks like Alec Baldwin.
*sensuous
LOL Lou Gehrig voluptuous.
A sexy curvacious girl is voluptuous, Bengie Molina IS NOT.
While he was running the triple he looked like Mario
I think he thought it was home run initially, so dude had to hustle!
Interesting Daryle Ward fact, Part I: In 948 career games, he finished with exactly 0.0 WAR.
Interesting Daryle Ward fact, Part II: Among players with 280+ PA’s in 2006-7, his 135 wRC+ ranked 24th out of 414 qualified hitters.
Interesting tangential fact: No. 414 in that time span? Ben Zobrist (26 wRC+).
Also, on behalf of Cleveland fans everywhere, I appreciate your empathy.
Pronk’s triple was just an absolute pleasure. And the single was an infield single, IIRC. He hit very well in domes like the baggy-filled Metrodome in which he hit this cycle. His 2 highest ballpark tOPS+ figures in the AL are HHH Met and the Trop.
David Wells has an accomplished career for a fat person.
So did Sun Myung Moon
So did William Howard Taft.
The True Parents aren’t that fat!
I’m not sure that the jab at the Orioles was entirely warranted in the section about Vlad. Nor am I sure what point you were trying to make. Anyone with optimism about the Orioles is a doofus and all their recent decisions are unrelentingly bad? Really man, Orioles fans have enough to feel depressed about.
Yeah, on reflection it was a bit much so I came back and softened it a bit.
Can you imagine the reaction if you berated the Red Sox instead of the Orioles? hunterfan certainly did this respectfully and intelligently. I mean, there wasn’t a single swear word or “wicked”.
I remember watching Molina unbelievably hit for the cycle. After the triple, he stood there puffing and panting like a guy who just finished a marathon. “I’m not an athlete, ma’am. I’m a baseball player.”
The reaction in the Rangers’ dugout was also hilarious. Kinsler’s expression in particular.
link needed here
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19391959&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_19391959&v=3
previous link is wrong… sorry! Use this one:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=9969169
Those listed weights are probably not accurate. A lot of times they are 20 pounds less than the true weight!
If I remember correctly Molina was pulled from the game with tightness in his legs after finally pulling up at 3rd. Never mind the weight/height ratios, Molina was among the slowest players of our generation and frankly his cycle was more of a shocker.
yeah, Panda is fat but he’s athletic fat…. Molina can only be described charitably as “lumbering”. Clearly the least likely cycle of all time.
He was also nowhere near 233 lbs. last year. I’d say that’s 30-40 lbs. low, at least.
Prince is in the same athletic fat category. And interestingly enough, Prince doesn’t eat meat
I’ve known many Fat vegetarians. They eat lots of pasta!
Fluffy and festively plump.
Talk to me after he hits a couple of inside the park home runs!
True story: Bengie Molina once hit a HR but did not score a run on the play. Now that’s slow.
Gregg Colbrunn…
http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=220918125
Also, Fielder has his several inside-the-park homers. I wouldn’t be shocked if he hit for the cycle one day. It’s not like he’s his dad. In fact, Prince top his pops’ 2 career steals in his first full season (7 in 2006) and by 2009 had more triples than Cecil, who had 7 in 13 seasons. Prince has hit one of his 9 career three-baggers this season, and had as many as 3 in 2009. He’s not as slow as people think. And also, if you see Prince Fielder charging full-speed at you, you move out of the way. For sure.
I’m only going by my own eye watching Sandoval on TV here. He was clearly heavier than coming out of spring training after spending time on the DL. Lately, though, he’s been looking slimmer again and has been playing much more athletically on defense.
If you watch the video of him running out the triple, he’s actually pretty darn fast coming around 2B. He kind of jogged down to first base because he thought it was going to be caught then turned it on when he saw hit hit the ground. Had he been running hard out of the batter’s box, I think he might have had a chance at an inside-the-park HR.
To my eyes, Pandoval looks as chubby as ever.
Arg. Why don’t they always bust out of the batters box? (and please don’t say to avoid injury; they do very little running as it is) Errors are relatively uncommon as is taking the extra base but it would add a few total bases over the course of a season.
Prince Fielder is pretty fast for such an obese guy; I’d like to see him drop 40 pounds and see how he is defensively and on the basepaths!
Actually most ball players run more than you think during a game. On a typical play in the outfield the players will run 30-40 yards or so. In other words, most OF run for more distance in a baseball game than a Running back will run during a footsall game.
sorry football game
sorry, you’re both wrong. It’s foosball.
I pretty much discarded “hitting for the cycle” as a noteworthy event when Brad Wilkerson did it twice a few years ago, but your list of cyclers above has lowered it even further in my esteem.
Notoriously slow John Olerud has hit for the cycle twice, 1997 and 2001. In both cases, the triple was his only triple of the season (he had 13 triples over his career). I cannot do this but would be curious to see someone calculate the odds of this.
Admittedly, Olerud wasn’t fat, just slow. If I recall correctly, a journalist once remarked that he hit a lot of doubles for a slow runner to which Olerud replied that his footspeed turned lots of triples into doubles.
Sandoval can play, he is also pretty fast for a fat guy and quick in the field.
In ten years he won’t be able to walk, let alone run.
My ass Bengi was 233lbs! The last time he saw 233 was befor he joined the Giants. He had to at least be 280 or 290.