Some baseball players have a penchant for getting hit by pitches. Either they stand too close to the plate and can’t avoid it, or they like pain. No player was hit by more pitches than Hugh Jennings, who began his career with the Louisville Cardinals in 1891. Ol’ Hugh was hit by 287 pitches, and holds the record for a single season with 51 in 1896 while playing for the Orioles. Ouch. But there are a few active players who don’t mind a little pain now and then, and here is a list of the active Top 10 in the hit-by-pitch category:
1. Jason Kendall, Milwaukee Brewers (229)—Jason Kendall is a catcher, and those guys can pretty much endure pain more than any other position player. But Kendall is also scrappy as hell, even today at the age of 34. And with 229 times that a pitch has nailed his body, Kendall ranks first in that category for active players by a mile. He was hit a career high 31 times each in 1997 and 1998, and he’s on pace for 19 times in 2008.
2. Carlos Delgado, New York Mets (166)—At 6’3” and 220 lbs., Carlos Delgado is just a big dude who can’t help but get in the way of pitches sometimes. He’s had double digits in the category from 1998 through 2007.
3. Jason Giambi, New York Yankees (149)—Between 1995 and 2001 with Oakland, Mr. Giambi was hit by 48 pitches. From 2002 until now with the Yankees, he’s been hit 101 times. Either ‘roids have made this guy’s body stick out over the plate more, or opposing pitchers just don’t like Giambi or the Yankees.
4. Derek Jeter, New York Yankees (136)—Teammates and opposing players may respect him, but he’s still the captain of the Yankees. If you don’t know what I mean, read what I just wrote about Jason Giambi again.
5. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (132)—A-Rod was hit by 31 pitches while playing for Seattle for seven seasons, and has already been hit 50 times while wearing pinstripes since 2004. Damn, pitchers really do hate the Yankees.
6. Gary Sheffield, Detroit Tigers (131)—With an average of nine hit-by-pitches per season, this one is more about longevity than anything. But Sheffield did play for the Yankees for two-plus seasons.
7. Damion Easley, New York Mets (129)—Here’s an interesting statistic. Of Easley’s 129 times of being hit by a pitch, 87 of those were while playing with Detroit from 1996 to 2002. That’s 2/3 of his total in 1/3 of his career.
8. David Eckstein, Toronto Blue Jays (124)—This guy got a late start in the majors (at the age of 26 in 2001), otherwise he would be challenging Jason Kendall and maybe even ol’ Hugh Jennings. Eckstein has been hit 124 times, or 3 percent of every time he comes to the plate. Yikes.
8. Jeff Kent, Los Angeles Dodgers (124)—In seventeen seasons as a scrappy second baseman, 124 times is sort of inevitable.
10. Jose Guillen, Kansas City Royals (119)—Yes, he’s been hit 119 times. Bud oddly, Jose Guillen was hit 60 times in a four-year stretch between 2004 and 2007. I guess sometimes you have to just stick your body out there to get on base.
Source: Baseball Reference
