Record book amended to include batting Game Scores

Hunter Mercado-Hood's July 1st performance
got lost in the shuffle last year

A few months ago, we unveiled the Victoria HarbourCats Record Book, an extensive listing of pitching and batting records that were set in the first two years of franchise history. One of the interesting features included in the individual single-game pitching records was a category for the best pitching performances, based on a simple Game Score metric created by Bill James many years ago. To satisfy our (sometimes morbid) curiosity, we also used this metric to identify to worst pitching achievements in franchise history. However, I recently realized that we had no reliable way to objectively identify the best and worst single-game batting performances in franchise history, so I set out this week to fix that issue.

The pitching Game Score metric that was developed by James has gradually achieved mainstream acceptance. Today, we can even look up MLB Game Score leaderboards on popular websites like ESPN’s. Although James also developed a batting Game Score metric, the offensive version of this statistic has never been embraced by the baseball community. I have resurrected this long-lost sabermetric tool and used it to identify the best and worst offensive games in HarbourCats history. It’s worth noting that I made some slight modifications to James’ original formula so that only stats that are readily available in the West Coast League are used, but I’ll spare readers the gory details. If you are interested, a description of how I calculated batting Game Scores can be found at the very bottom of the Individual Batting Records (Game) page.

So who had the best single-game batting performance in franchise history? Even casual HarbourCat fans will remember Gabe Clark’s three-homer game on July 18th last year, so perhaps we’re not breaking new ground on that front. Next to Clark’s monster day, we identified Hunter Mercado Hood’s 2014 Canada Day Massacre as the second-best batting feat in team history. HMH went an impressive four-for-four with a home run, four runs scored and six RBI on the afternoon. I was also surprised that Griffin Andreychuk posted two of the top nine performances, but then again I really need to stop being surprised by the production from our local players. Here is a list of the top batting achievements in team history:

Clark, Gabe           26.5  (4 AB, 3 H, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 3 R; Klamath Falls at Victoria, W 14-8, July 18 2014)

Mercado-Hood, Hunter  24.0  (4 AB, 4 H, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R; Kitsap at Victoria, W 19-2, July 1 2014)

Schuknecht, John      22.0  (3 AB, 3 H, 2 HR, 1 BB, 5 RBI, 2 R; Klamath Falls at Victoria, L 11-6, August 1 2013)

Schuknecht, David     18.5  (4 AB, 3 H, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R; Victoria at Wenatchee, L 8-4, August 7 2013)

Boeke, Ted            18.3  (4 AB, 3 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO, 4 RBI, 2 R; Victoria at Walla Walla, W 9-1, August 6 2014)

Clark, Gabe           17.3  (3 AB, 2 H, 2 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 HBP, 2 RBI, 2 R; Corvallis at Victoria, L 8-5, July 26 2014)

Andreychuk, Griffin   17.0  (4 AB, 2 H, 2 3B, 2 BB, 3 RBI, 3 R; Kitsap at Victoria, L 13-12, August 8 2014)

Lukes, Nathan         17.0  (4 AB, 4 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 RBI, 2 R; Medford at Victoria, W 9-8, July 11 2014)

Andreychuk, Griffin   16.0  (2 AB, 2 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 1 RBI, 4 R; Bend at Victoria, L 13-7, June 24 2014)

Clark, Gabe           16.0  (5 AB, 3 H, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB; Medford at Victoria, W 9-8, July 11 2014)

Smith, Wyler          16.0  (4 AB, 4 H, 4 RBI, 2 R, 2 SB; Kitsap at Victoria, W 17-3, July 2 2014)

Now it’s time for the juicy stuff: Who had the worst day at the plate in team history? Wyler Smith has that distinction, based on a July 7, 2014 game in Yakima Valley in which he went oh-for-seven with a strikeout in a heartbreaking 14-inning loss. On the plus side, Smith did contribute a key outfield assist on that day to extend the match, but his defensive play doesn’t help him in this particular statistical category. Second on the list is Gabe Clark’s zero-for-six with two strikeouts in a home game on the final weekend of last season. Alan Baldwin, Gunner Pollman and Clark all share the third spot on the list with a zero-for-five performance that included three strikeouts. Ouch. Here is a list of the other dubious offensive feats:

Smith, Wyler          -3.7  (7 AB, 0 H, 1 SO; Victoria at Yakima Valley, L 6-5, July 7 2014)

Clark, Gabe           -3.4  (6 AB, 0 H, 2 SO; Kitsap at Victoria, L 13-12, August 8 2014)

Baldwin, Alan         -3.1  (5 AB, 0 H, 3 SO; Victoria at Cowlitz, L 9-5, June 27 2014)

Clark, Gabe           -3.1  (5 AB, 0 H, 3 SO; Victoria at Wenatchee, W 5-0, July 30 2014)

Pollman, Gunner       -3.1  (5 AB, 0 H, 3 SO; Victoria at Kelowna, W 7-6, June 6 2014)

Lesinski, Jake        -3.0  (6 AB, 0 H; Victoria at Cowlitz, W 9-8, June 29 2014)

Carter, Devin         -2.9  (5 AB, 0 H, 2 SO; Bend at Victoria, L 13-7, June 24 2014)

Collier, Danny        -2.9  (5 AB, 0 H, 2 SO; Victoria at Wenatchee, W 5-0, July 30 2014)

Greager, Bryce        -2.9  (5 AB, 0 H, 2 SO; Cowlitz at Victoria, W 6-5, June 10 2014)

Since we’re only two years into franchise history, I’m expecting that many of the top Game Scores will be surpassed in the next couple of years. However, with the team clearly on the upswing, poor Wyler Smith might retain his unwelcome crown for a while yet. Baseball can be a cruel game sometimes.