Win a Free Copy of THT 2014!
Just as we did yesterday, we’re giving you a chance to win a free copy of The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2014. If you miss out today, don’t worry, there will be one more trivia contest tomorrow.
In case you haven’t heard, The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2014 is now available to purchase on ye ole internets. You can find my post on the book here, Dave Studeman’s post on the book here, and listen to Carson Cistulli’s FanGraphs Audio episode with Studes here.
After you’re done consuming those posts, you can buy it from Createspace (where we get the biggest cut of sales), from Amazon (in both print and for the Kindle) and from Barnes & Noble on the Nook.
Because we’re giving folk, and since it’s the beginning of the holiday season and all, we want to give you a chance to win yourself a free copy of the book. So today, tomorrow and Wednesday, we’ll be running a trivia contest based on one of the articles in the book. The first person to post the correct answer in the comments will win a free physical copy of the book (sorry, no free Kindle or Nook versions). It’s just that simple!
Today’s question comes from the article entitled “Shifty Business, or the War Against Hitters,” by Jeff Zimmerman. In it, Jeff uses data from Inside Edge to break down how teams and players shifted and were shifted against, respectively, and what the ramifications of said shifts were. It’s a great read, and in it we find the nugget for today’s trivia question. Jeff found that seven players successfully bunted a ball in play against a shift more than once. Of those seven, just one player reached base four or more times. So the question before you, dear reader, is this:
Who was the only player to successfully reach base via a bunt against a shift four or more times during the 2013 season?
If no one is able to answer that question correctly, then the secondary question is:
Name as many of the seven players who successfully bunted a ball in play multiple times against a shift in 2013.
You might want to try to answer both questions, just for funsies.
Good luck!
Paul Swydan used to be the managing editor of The Hardball Times, a writer and editor for FanGraphs and a writer for Boston.com and The Boston Globe. Now, he owns The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Acton, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @Swydan. Follow the store @SilUnicornActon.
Brian McCann
Brett Gardner
Carlos Gomez
Robinson Cano
Adrian Gonzalez
Jason Kipnis
Robinson Cano
Carlos Santana
To clarify, Kipnis is my choice for the first question
Ichiro reached base via a bunt 4 times against a shift.
Ichiro, Norichika Aoki, Brett Gardner, Will Venable, Jason Kipnis, Gerrardo Parra and Leonys Martin are answers to part 2
David Ortiz
David Ortiz.
David Ortiz
Carlos Beltran
Starling Marte
Starling Marte
Josh Reddick.
Leonys Martin
Joe Mauer
Two minutes of research has led me to believe this choice as hilariously bad.
Leonys Martin
Martin, Marte, Ichiro, Gardner, Aoki, Young, and uh, Blanco?
1) Joey Votto
2) Ortiz, Gonzalez, Mccan, Fielder, Votto, Granderson
Aoki?
Gregor Blanco
Alejandro DeAza
Ben Zobrist
Matt Joyce
Shane Victorino?
Chris Davis
Carlos Santana
Will Venable
To answer the second question:
Gardner, Aoki, Parra, Ichiro, Venable, Gregor Blanco, Kipnis
Eric Young
or Gerardo Parra
Carlos Santana!
Gerardo Parra
Aoki.
Adam LaRoche?
Juan Pierre.
Jason Giambi
Shane victorino
chase utley?
Carl Crawford
Carlos Beltran
Matt Joyce
Alexei Ramirez
Manny Machado?
No one has got it yet!
Pedro Alvarez
Jed Lowrie
Astrubal Cabrera
Chase Utley
Josh Hamilton.
Hamilton, Beltran, Cano, Ortiz, Matt Adams, C. Santana, C. Davis.
Ian Desmond
Michael Brantley
Prince fielder
Kyle Seager
Robinson Cano
Coco Crisp?
Erick Aybar
raul ibanez
Desmond Jennings?
Seth Smith.
Michael Bourn
Paul goldschmidt
Daniel Nava
Reddick
1) Michael Saunders
2) Saunders, Zobrist, Carlos Pena, Matt Joyce, Luke Scott, Jon Jay, Michael Brantley
logan schafer
Shin-Soo Choo
Ike Davis
Andrelton Simmons
Moss
Juan Pierre
Jean Segura
Elvis Andrus
Asdrubal Cabrera
Lind
Texiera
Carlos Gonzalez?
WELL HOT DOG, WE HAVE A WIIIIIIIEEEEEEEENNNEERRRRR! Congratulations, George! That turned out to be a good one.
He didn’t have enough at-bats to be “Qualified” and so he didn’t show up on the BUH default leaderboards.
Cheeky, cheeky.
It actually took me a while to locate bunt hit statistics, and I eventually found them at baseball reference. There were 54 players with 4 or more bunt hits in 2013, and Cargo was the name that immediately stood out given he’s a lefty and hits for power (Puig would have been my second guess, but I’m not sure how much one can actually shift against a right handed hitter)
Of course, I just realized what you were talking about in that Fangraphs has Custom Leaderboards with BUH. I probably would have forgotten to eliminate the Qualified Min PA restriction as well, so I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t resourceful enough to look through the Custom Leaderboards.
Granderson
brandon crawford
Pete Kozma
Rasmus
Jose Iglesias
Jay bruce
Jarrod Dyson
Adrian gonzalez
Junior Lake
Kendrys morales
Emilio Bonifacio
Scooter Gennet
Hosmer
AJ Piersynski
Will Venable
Pedro Florimon
Jonathan Villar
Duda
david lough
Chris Getz
Bronson arroyo
jordan schafer
gregor blanco
zobrist
jon jay
cashner
Cingrani
carlos pena
Luke Scott
Some of these guesses are funny.
I’ll go with Joey Votto
Lance Berkman
1- David Ortiz
2- Robinson Cano
Norichika Aoki
Ichiro, prince fielder, joey votto, jean segura, brett gardner
Atlee Hammaker
Leonis Martin
your mom