All Mendoza line team

[Cal Lord]

I noticed we have three guys on the bench hitting below .200 and three guys in the lineup hitting below.200. I wonder if Harris’strategy was to put together a team with 9 players hitting below the Mendoza line? He is almost there. If Lee goes hitless tonight that would make seven and if a pitcher has to hit… 

I wonder if he realized that we needed a few hitters this off season?

Cal

[Michael W]

That’s funny, I had noticed recently that we have three .300 hitters in the starting lineup. That hasn’t happened for a while.  Seems like the sub-.200 thing has been common for us in recent years.

Michael

[Michael W]

What’s even better is that we have two .400 OBP hitters in the lineup.  When was the last time we had even one?  Plus Torres at .389.  That’s a big improvement over recent years.

Michael

[Michael W]

The last Tiger regular to have .400 OBP was Miggy in 2015.

The last time we had two regulars with .400 OBP, you have to go back to 1994.  It was Tettleton and Phillips.

Michael 

[Mark Pattison]

I've got a book by Al Pepper called "Mendoza's Heroes" (Pocol Press), which features what the author says are the 50 best position players with a career batting average below .200. Among those pictured on the cover is the Tigers' own Marty Castillo.

Mark Pattison

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[Michael W]

In 1985, Castillo started the year 1-for-33, which is an .031 average.  For a long time that was the lowest non-zero average I'd ever seen. I've probably seen worse by now, although I can't recall who.   Anyway, for a guy who didn't play much, that can certainly wreck your career average.

Michael

[Tapu Shaikh]

On 5/17/26 00:32, Michael W wrote:
> In 1985, Castillo started the year 1-for-33, which is an .031
> average.  For a long time that was the lowest non-zero average I'd
> ever seen. I've probably seen worse by now, although I can't recall
> who.   Anyway, for a guy who didn't play much, that can certainly
> wreck your career average.

When I was a kid, I remember Paul Zuvella on the Yankees had an
atrocious start to his Yankees career.  I don't want to cheat and look
it up, but I don't remember if that was his first team or if he had
played elsewhere.

-Tapu

[Paul Meloche]

I remember Zuvella as a Brave but I don’t recall who he broke in with.

Paul M.

> On May 16, 2026, at 4:42 PM, Tapu Shaikh <taput...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Peter Welch]

Zuvella was a career .222 hitter (.222/.275/.277) in 491 AB.

Zuvella hit .122 (10/82) with a .307 OPS  in 2 short stints with the Yankees in 1986 and 1987.

In 1986 he hit .083 (4/48) with a .274 OPS.  That was probably the season Tapu remembers.

Before the Yankees, he played for the Braves from 1982-1985 and hit .240 with a .595 OPS with the Braves in 221 AB.

He played his last 2 season with Cleveland in 1988-89.  He actually hit .276 with a .714 OPS (in 58 AB) with Cleveland in his final season in 1989.

Peter

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Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2026 7:41 PM
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Subject: Re: All Mendoza line team

 

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[Peter Welch]

Which Tigers' player is 6^th all-time in career home runs with a career batting average below .200?  

A former Tiger is also 10^th all-time in this list.

Which player has the most home runs with a career batting average below .200?

Which of the currently active players has the most home runs with a career average below .200?

Note: The top 20 is full of catchers and pitchers.

Peter

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Subject: Re: All Mendoza line team

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[Glenn Codere]

I'm guessing Earl Wilson will be in there.

Did Mark Reynolds manage to pull his career BA over .200?

As soon as you mentioned catchers, Jeff Mathis sprung to mind.

Glenn

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[Tapu Shaikh]

On 5/17/26 04:03, Peter Welch wrote:

In 1986 he hit .083 (4/48) with a .274 OPS.  That was probably the season Tapu remembers.

That's almost triple Castillo! :D

Now that I look it up, Zuvella started out 0-for-26 before his first hit.  His BA ballooned to .108 (!) before cooling off to his final .083.

1986 was the first year I started following baseball, and this storyline apparently left an impression.

-Tapu

[Peter Welch]

Yep, Earl Wilson is 10^th on the all-time list.  He hit .195 with 35 homers in 740 career AB.

Reynolds was actually a career .234 hitter.

The #6 all-time, who is a career Tiger, recently had his career average drop below .200 so he immediately jumped into the #6 spot.

All-time leader is Joey Gallo with a .194 career average and 208 homers.

Currently active leader is Austin Hedges with a .187 career average and 75 homers.  Hedges provably has hit 30 of his 75 homers against the Tigers. 😬

Peter

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[Michael Borshuk]

Jake Rogers?

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[Peter Welch]

Yep!

Jake with a career .198 BA and 44 homers.

Peter

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[Peter Welch]

Good guess with Mathis.  He is 5^th on the list.

Rogers is 2^nd among active players on the list (next to Hedges).

As I mentioned, Gallo is 1st, and 2nd is former catcher Mike Zunino, who had 149 homers with a .199 BA.  I never would have guessed Zunino had 149 career homers.

Jack Suwinski, who played with the Pirates from 2022-2025, is 4^th overall with 57 homers and a .199 BA.

The way Tork is going, he might join the list eventually.   Tork currently has a .224 career batting average with 86 career homers.

Peter

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[Glenn Codere]

I knew Mathis had a low career BA and hung around for a long time, but I wasn't sure how many HRs he had. 

Glenn

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[Peter Welch]

Mathis had a .194 career average with 53 homers in 17 years.

It's amazing how bad a hitter as a catcher you can be and still have a major league career.

Jake Rogers is looking like one of those guys.  Too bad about Rogers, because 3 years ago he was actually an above-average hitting catcher, but that was his peak at age 28.  He's 31 now and is one of the worst hitting catchers.

Peter

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[Jeffrey Withey]

I think Rogers is hurt by playing pretty infrequently. He was a better hitter before Dingler became the main catcher.

-Jeff

Jeffrey H. Withey, Ph.D.

Professor and Interim Chair

 

Dept. of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology

Wayne State University School of Medicine

540 E. Canfield

Detroit, MI 48201

Withey lab website

 

 

 

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Subject: Re: All Mendoza line team

 

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