Spring Training Part 1

Spring-training stats are meaningless. We know. Stipulated. Don't @ us. However, because they're meaningless, they're also not easily searchable, and so instead we thought we'd play a game of "what if". We set our boxscore-scouring machine to regular-season mode and set out to find some happenings and stat lines that would be unusual if it weren't March. We did not expect this list to be nearly as long as it ended up, so be sure to check out Part 2 and Part 3 of this tripleheader when you get a chance.


February 22: Dawel Lugo of the Diamondbacks hit a home run in the first game of the "season", after entering the game as a pinch runner. Only one D'back has ever pulled that off in the regular season: Jeff Salazar in 2008.

February 23: J.J. Niekro of Florida Southern College worked three innings against the Tigers in an exhibition game. The last "Niekro" to face the Tigers? That would be J.J.'s father, Joe, at the Metrodome on August 25, 1987. Joe's other son, Lance, is the FSC head coach.

February 24: Continuing our hypothetical "opening day" theme, Tim Beckham hit a leadoff double in the Rays' first plate appearance of the spring. Only two Rays have ever done that in the regular season: Julio Lugo (2006) and Randy Winn (1999). Beckham later added a triple, which no player has done in a regular-season opener since Jose Offerman of the Red Sox, also in 1999. Incidentally, the Rays will presumably throw the first pitch of the 2017 season on Sunday, just the second time a regular season has started in Florida. The Marlins hosted the first game of the strike-shortened 1995 campaign when it finally began on April 25.

February 24: The Giants won their first spring game on a three-run walk-off homer by Chris Marrero. It was the first walk-off homer for San Francisco against Cincinnati since Jeff Kent took Stan Belinda deep on July 26, 1998 (this one includes spring training since the Reds were in Sarasota for most of those years). In their history, the Giants have never won a regular-season opener via walk-off homer.

February 25: Edison Frias of the Astros allowed back-to-back-to-back home runs to the Tigers before plunking Miguel Cabrera with the next pitch and getting ejected. Only two pitchers in the live-ball era have allowed three homers and hit a batter without recording an out: Mike Trombley for the Orioles in 2000, and starter Warren Hacker of the Cubs in 1953. Neither of them was ejected.

February 25: The Mariners rolled to a 13-3 victory over the Padres in "interleague play", a game in which they also legged out seven doubles. Since 2004, the Mariners have scored 13+ in an interleague game just four times, and all of those have been against San Diego. They've never had an interleague game with 13 runs and 7+ doubles.

February 27: Speaking of the Mariners, they managed to have a home game at Peoria Stadium called early by rain. Thanks to their Seattle confines having always had a roof, there hasn't been a regular-season rainout of any Seattle home game since the Pilots and Twins were washed out at Sick's Stadium on September 27, 1969.

February 28: The Rays blanked the Twins 19-0 on 23 hits, five of which were homers (all of the multi-run variety as well). The Rays have only hit 19 and 23 once in their regular-season history, a slugfest with Toronto on June 24, 2004. The last 19-0 shutout in the majors was also that season; the Indians clobbered the Yankees 22-0 on August 31. In franchise history, the Rays have never had a regular-season game with five multi-run homers.

February 28: Michael Taylor of the Nationals hit a two-out walk-off home run to beat the Astros. In the history of the Nats/Expos franchise, they've only hit two walk-off homers against Houston; both were in extra innings, and neither was with two outs. Jose Macias took Billy Wagner deep in 2003, and Spike Owen went yard off Juan Agosto in 1989.

March 2: Adam Wainwright gave up two 1st-inning home runs, including a leadoff version to Dansby Swanson, but the Cardinals rallied to win 9-4. Waino gave up just two 1st-inning homers all of last season, and has only given up two in the same game twice in his career. As for Swanson, the Braves and Royals were the only two MLB teams to not hit a leadoff homer in 2016, and thanks to Alcides Escobar's shot in the 2015 World Series, the Braves have the longest current drought without one.

March 2: Phillip Evans of the Mets, pinch-hitting for Jose Reyes with the bases loaded in the 5th inning (yes, we know, spring training), cranked a grand slam out of what's now called First Data Field in Port St. Lucie. In the regular season, the Mets have never had a pinch-hit slam against the Marlins, and their only one in the 5th inning or earlier was hit by Robert "Hawk" Taylor off the Pirates' Bob Veale on August 17, 1966.

March 2: Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley Ramirez each collected a homer and five RBIs as the Red Sox trounced the Rays 19-2. The last regular-season game where two Bostonians did that was also the last time they scored exactly 19 runs: a 19-17 slugfest with the Rangers on August 12, 2008 (David Ortiz and Kevin Youkilis).

March 3: The very next day, the Sawx dropped a six-run inning on Braves reliever Sam Freeman, who faced seven batters and retired none of them. The last pitcher with that line also did it against Boston: Matt Boyd, then of the Blue Jays, on July 2, 2015. No Braves pitcher had done it since their Boston days; James "Tiny" Chaplin allowed five hits, a walk, and a reached-on-error to the Pirates on July 29, 1936. ("Tiny" was actually 6-foot-1; while in the minors, he was traded for Johnny Vander Meer two years before the latter threw his consecutive no-hitters.)

March 4: Braves pitching put up another interesting line when starter Aaron Blair was hit with a comebacker by leadoff batter Cesar Hernandez and had to leave the game. Only one other Atlanta starter has ever faced one batter, left the game, and had that batter come around to score; on July 3, 1977, Andy Messersmith tripped while fielding a grounder from Julio Gonzalez; he landed on his elbow and needed season-ending surgery to remove two bone chips.

March 5: Yet another Braves pitcher, Patrick Weigel, hung a line of 0 IP and 6 ER in a rematch with the Red Sox. The Giants (September 17-19) were the only team last year to have a pitcher in three consecutive games give up run(s) while recording 0 IP, and the Braves have never done it in the regular season in the live-ball era.

March 5: Massive substitutions are great (unless you're trying to keep score). They lead to lines like Travis Taijeron of the Mets recording four hits despite not starting the game. No player in the majors has done that, even in extra innings, since Paul Janish of the Reds on July 4, 2010. Janish entered in the 1st inning after Joey Votto struck out and was ejected for slamming his helmet. The last Mets sub with four hits was our buddy Hawk Taylor on June 20, 1964 (also due to an ejection).

March 6: Brett Eibner of the Dodgers continued the theme by hitting a triple and two doubles in a game he didn't start. Only one player in the live-ball era has pulled that off in a regular-season game; Brian Hunter of the Braves was double-switched into Charlie Liebrandt's pitcher's spot on May 13, 1992, after the latter gave up eight runs in three innings.

[Continued in Part 2.]