Worst Hitters since 1986
A few weeks back I finally decided to purchase a subscription to the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index since I figured it'd be helpful in putting together a few random lists to keep this blog afloat. Of course if I had known there would be a free preview over All-Star week (which ends today) I might I have waited a little longer but oh well. Now several times in the past I've mentioned that all my sports memories begin in 1986 so figured my first random list using Play Index I'd have it centered around that year.
So here are by position the worst hitters according to OPS+ who had at least 2500 plate appearances (about five full seasons) in the Majors since 1986. In fairness the majority of these players lasted as long as they did due to stellar defense. I left off DH because there's only 10 players that qualified with Dave Parker at the bottom with an OPS+ of 104.
Catcher
.239/.293/.344, 4287 PA, 353 R, 925 H, 190 2B, 9 3B, 67 HR, 443 RBI, 266 BB, 795 SO, 64 OPS+
First Base
.257/.301/.386, 3106 PA, 316 R, 733 H, 135 2B, 18 3B, 66 HR, 376 RBI, 181 BB, 552 SO, 88 OPS+
Second Base
.248/.307/.352, 3138 PA, 366 R, 704 H, 128 2B, 17 3B, 44 HR, 271 RBI, 226 BB, 531 SO, 68 OPS+
Third Base
.239/.274/.411, 2766 PA, 304 R, 620 H, 128 2B, 10 3B, 99 HR, 377 RBI, 120 BB, 20 SO, 77 OPS+
Shortstop
.246/.289/.310, 3407 PA, 291 R, 767 H, 129 2B, 17 3B, 12 HR, 287 RBI, 191 BB, 339 SO, 59 OPS+
Leftfield
(since 1986 only)
.263/.324/.346, 5278 PA, 742 R, 1255 H, 156 2B, 79 3B, 27 HR, 306 RBI, 427 BB, 845 SO, 83 OPS+
Centerfield
.250/.323/.322, 4652 PA, 607 R, 1021 H, 137 2B, 37 3B, 27 HR, 342 RBI, 403 BB, 514 SO, 72 OPS+
Rightfield
.272/.315/.409, 2718 PA, 317 R, 685 H, 121 2B, 19 3B, 62 HR, 319 RBI, 149 BB, 409 SO, 83 OPS+