Yesterday, Justice de los Santos of the San Jose Mercury News dropped a note that caught my attention:
It turns out that Giants beat writer Maria Guardado had written all about this the day before, too, so shame on me for taking a day off and not reading the news. As she notes, at the time of the blockbuster-but-no-wait-it-was-actually-a-huge-bust trade of Rafael Devers, the Red Sox had played more games than the Giants (73 to 72) and Devers had played in them all. With all the talk of Devers dealing with a lingering back issue and learning a new position he has yet to miss a game in a Giants uniform; therefore, he’s on pace to be one of just 33 players in MLB history to play in 163 regular season games.
The last time this happened was in 2008, when Justin Morneau of the Twins played in every game including the postseason play-in against the Chicago White Sox. Now, before the new Wild Card format that eliminated these tiebreaker games, this would’ve been the primary way that dudes played more than 162 games in a season. The other ways that remain to this day are games that are tied in a rainout after 5 innings and then replayed and, as with the case with Devers, being traded midseason.
A quick aside: playing all 162 games is still a pretty impressive accomplishment. This year, there are six other players on track to play 162/162 along with Devers: Atlanta’s Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson (it would be his fifth time doing so), Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, Elly De La Cruz, and Brett Rooker. In MLB history, it’s happened just 248 times since the schedule expanded from 154 (which happened in 1961 in the AL and 1962 in the NL). Last year for MLB.com, Dylan Svoboda put together a list of players who’ve done it multiple times. Most are premiere players. The only Giants to ever do it? Will Clark in 1988 and Hunter Pence in both 2013 & 2014.
There is a cute little wrinkle to this. What I meant by “to play 162/162” was to play every game. In 1962, the Giants had a famous tiebreaker series with the Los Angeles Dodgers that the Giants won, 2-1 (though, they went on to lose to the Yankees in the World Series). Those three extra games pushed three Giants to 162 or better on the year: shortstop José Pagán (164), Orlando Cepeda (162), and Willie Mays (162). So, for the purposes of this post, Devers is competing with Clark and Pence — and even then, most would consider the trade as a caveat.
Now, according to Boston fans online and those who bother to comment here, Rafael Devers is unlikely to pursue this fun little distinction because he is A Garbage Person and A Bad Player. I don’t agree with that perception, but stubborn people almost always get their way, and so we must accept that everything they say about Devers is true for the sake of any baseball conversation. That might mean that he’s a troll though, and if that’s the case, he might wind up playing 163 games just to spite the naysayers. So, with that out of the way, I’m wondering if he will be the best player to ever play in all his team’s games, excluding those who got there via play-in/tiebreaker games or those who played in more than 162 but not 100% of the games. That leaves 25 of the aforementioned 33:
Justin Morneau (MIN), 2008
Hideki Matsui (NYY), 2003
Albert Belle (CHW), 1998
Cal Ripken Jr. (BAL), 1996
Todd Zeile (PHI, then BAL), 1996
Bobby Bonilla (PIT), 1989
Jose Oquendo (STL), 1989
Tony Fernandez (TOR), 1986
Greg Walker (CHW), 1985
Al Oliver (TEX), 1980
Frank Taveras (PIT, then NYM), 1979
Pete Rose (PHI), 1979
Pete Rose (CIN), 1974
Billy Williams (CHC), 1969
Billy Williams (CHC), 1968
Bill Mazeroski (PIT), 1967
Cesar Tovar (MIN), 1967
Don Buford (CHW), 1966
Ron Santo (CHC), 1965
Billy Williams (CHC), 1965
Brooks Robinson (BAL), 1964
Leon Wagner (CLE), 1964
Leo Cardenas (CIN), 1964
Brooks Robinson (BAL), 1961
Rocky Colavito (DET), 1961
(In 1976, the Giants traded first baseman Willie Montanez to Atlanta after their 61st game. He wound up playing 163 games overall, but at the time of the trade, the Giants’ 61 games were far more than what Atlanta had played to that point — 56 — and Montanez had already sat for one of the Giants’ first 61. Plus, Atlanta played a game between his final game as a Giant and his first with them)
Well, right off the bat we can see that no, Rafael Devers would not be the best player to play all of the games. There are five Hall of Famers on this list — Cal Ripken Jr., Billy Williams, Bill Mazeroski, Ron Santo, Brooks Robinson — and Pete Rose. As of this writing, Devers’ Hall of Fame chances are remote, especially considering his position change to DH/1B from third base. Just looking at the individual seasons, too, 7 players were better hitters than Devers has been this season (136 OPS+). From a counting stat perspective, he’s on track to have one of the lowest total base amounts on this list with 274 and six games remaining. The current sum would place him 14th on this list.
Well, heck, he’s having a similar season to Justin Morneau’s 2008:
Justin Morneau: 712 PA, 23 HR, 129 RB, 47 2B, 4 3B, .300/.374/.499 (134 OPS+)
Rafael Devers: 702 PA, 32 HR, 105 RBI, 31 2B, 0 3B, .251/.370/.468 (136 OPS+)
Devers has drawn 31 more walks (and counting) than Morneau did and has out-homered him, but doubles and triples count, too, even if they fall outside the Three True Outcomes weight on the plus stats and WAR analysis. And when you compare him to the three Giants seasons that saw players play every game, he might not be the best of the bunch there, either.
Will Clark (1988): 688 PA, 29 HR, 109 RBI, 31 2B, 6 3B, .282/.386/.508 (160 OPS+)
Hunter Pence (2013): 687 PA, 27 HR, 99 RBI, 35 2B, 5 3B, .283/.339/.483 (133 OPS+)
Hunter Pence (2014): 708 PA, 20 HR, 74 RBI, 29 2B, 10 3B, .277/.332/.445 (121 OPS+)
Does anyone else remember Hunter Pence hitting ten triples in 2014? I don’t! And I watched every game. On the other hand, it’s not as though Rafael Devers has fluked his way onto a rare list. Maybe I’m the ridiculous one for making this post a comparison with other players who’ve done something that seldom happens, and when it does, those players are usually pretty good. It’d be a nice feather in the cap of a three-time All-Star who has received MVP votes in 5 of 9 seasons and quite the accomplishment in the annals of MLB history.