A Pitcher’s Best Friend, times 1.5

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Last night, the Yankees pulled off a triple play, the third one completed in back of CC Sabathia in the last four years.

This got me wondering what the record is, from the pitcher’s perspective, for most triple plays “induced”. Using the Baseball Reference Play Index (a fantastic resource and well-worth your purchase), I collected all the triple plays for which it had details, and sorted it by pitcher.

It turns out that Sabathia has tied Bill Faul and Chris Short for this “record”, as follows:

Sabathia:

Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
2010-04-22 NYY @OAK b6 12- Ground Ball Triple Play:3B-2B-1B(Weak 3B)
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.
Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
2013-04-12 NYY BAL t8 12- Triple Play: Groundout: 2B-SS-3B-SS-3B;Machado out at 2B/3B-1B-2B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.
Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
2014-04-17 NYY @TBR b2 12- Ground Ball Triple Play:3B-2B-1B (Weak 3B)
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.

Short:

Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1964-05-17 PHI @HOU b5 12- Triple Play: Groundout:1B-SS-1B-C
1964-10-02 PHI @CIN b4 12- Triple Play: Flyball: LF;Pinson out at 2B/LF-SS-2B;Robinson out at 1B/2B-1B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.
Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1968-05-04 PHI PIT t8 12- Line Drive Triple Play:SS-2B-1B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.

Faul:

Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1965-07-14 (2) CHC MLN t2 1-3 Triple Play: Foul Popfly:C-SS-P-2B
1965-07-25 (2) CHC PIT t4 12- Line Drive Triple Play:2B-SS-1B
1965-10-03 CHC @PIT b5 12- Line Drive Triple Play: 1B; Alley out at 1B/1B;Mazeroski out at 2B/1B-SS
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.

And since I know you are wondering, the record for the BATTER hitting into the most triple plays? Its the FOUR by Brooks Robinson, which is two more than anyone else. Here are the four:

Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1958-06-02 BAL WSH b6 12- Line Drive Triple Play:SS-1B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.
Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1964-09-10 BAL @WSA t5 123 Ground Ball Triple Play: SS-2B-1B;Adair Scores; Aparicio out at Hm/1B-C
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.
Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1965-08-18 BAL BOS b1 12- Triple Play: Groundout:3B-2B-1B-3B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.
Date Tm Opp Inn RoB Play Description
1967-08-06 (2) BAL CHW b5 12- Ground Ball Triple Play:3B-2B-1B
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/18/2014.

2 thoughts on “A Pitcher’s Best Friend, times 1.5”

  1. The fact that Bill Faul had 3 triple plays turned behind him is all but amazing. But then add in that they all occurred in 1965! He pitched 261.1 innings in his career, so that 1 triple play every 87 innings pitched. And he only pitched 96.2 innings in 1965 (and that for the Cubs), so a rate of 1 every 24 innings that year.

    If he’d pitched better, just imagine how many there might have been. (Career 4.60 ERA in the depths of the Second Dead Ball Era) and a 56 OPS+).

    Reply

    • Excellent points, Donald!

      Even wilder …. he had only 11 plate appearances with 0 outs and 2 runners on in 1965, and induced triple plays in 27% of them. ?

      http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/UerKj

      Reply

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