Measured against MLB standards, the sample sizes for statistical categories are very small in British baseball even by the end of the season, so there is not much point exploring the early-season stats in any great depth, with not even a third of the schedule completed. Therefore, the focus of the piece is on career stats and feats.
The most important development so far in terms of career stats has been Josh Chetywnd reaching 225 plate appearances, in a British domestic career spanning back to 2002. The significance of the number 225 is that it is the cut-off for qualifying for average-based stats when comparing the careers of different players. Chetwynd’s stats to date include a .441 batting average, putting him second on the all-time list going back to 1995 (behind Simon Pole, with an average of .454). In addition, he has made 45 trips to the plate for every time he has struck out, which makes him a comfortable leader in that category.
We can also expect several milestones to be reached this season, including the mark of 350 strike-outs for the Richmond pitcher Cody Cain (currently at 336). He could also get to 30 wins, as he currently has 27. Cain’s playing career in the BBF leagues started in 1995, but he then had a seven-season gap before renewing his acquaintance with the league in 2003.
Ryan Trask, who has been playing since 2000, is another player closing in on a couple of milestones. He needs 11 more hits to reach 200 and six more home-runs to get to 25. Stretching back to the end of last season, Trask is currently on a 13-game hitting streak. If he gets a hit in the next game he will become the first name on the hitting-streak list held on the GBBSA website.
The cut-off for that list is 14 games, which may not seem that impressive, but it should be borne in mind that hitting streaks are a lot harder to maintain in a league where seven-inning games are the norm, with some games ending after just five innings. If you are interested to know how much harder streaks are in this environment, you may find this post worthy of a read. The lack of names on the hitting-streak list is not just down to the inherent difficulty, though: unfortunately, I only have the game-by-game data needed to check for streaks back to the start of the 2008 season.
One feat that has already been added to a list on the GBBSA site is Robbie Unsell’s four steals in a game last Sunday. This was reported on here.
8 comments
Interesting stuff.
Do you know why Cody Cain had a seven-year hiatus? Did he go and play elsewhere?
Yep, I think he was working, and no doubt playing baseball or softball, in South-East Asia.
To add to that, Cody played in 1993 and 1994 for the Warriors in the renegade national league. A note on his strike-out total with those two seasons added in can be found below the career records table here:
http://www.gbbsa.org.uk/historical.html#cr
If those two seasons are included, he is closing in on the even more impressive total of 500 Ks.
Joe/Matt,
Check out this link
http://www.syclick.com/wwwroot/forum/Replies.asp?ThreadId=60&Category=Forum
Thanks Mark. As always, your knowledge of where to find fairly obscure information on British baseball astounds me.
And Joe, well done for avoiding the use of an apostrophe in the plural of K.
🙂
JJ
And who says that baseball is only American. My next trip over the pond, I will definitely have to check out an NBL game and see how it is done over there.
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the note.
Drop us a message if you’re planning a trip any time soon and we can recommend a good game to go to.
Joe