David Wright Leads MLB's 10 Biggest Road Warriors
Each year, 30 MLB teams endure meat-grinding regular season schedules to boast home field advantage in the postseason.
After all, nothing is arguably as exciting as bursting through October’s door before an equally exhilarated home crowd.
Some players making up these ball clubs thrive more in the comfortable confines of their home ballpark.
Yet for one reason or another, some players simply perform better on the road than they do at home.
In this slideshow, I have highlighted 10 MLB players—five hitters, five pitchers—who make up MLB’s road warriors.
Note: Statistics are courtesy of MLB.com and are current through August 3, 2012.
MLB Hitters That Relish Hard Hotel Pillows and Cold Showers
1 of 2One would think most if not all big league batters are more comfy hitting before the home crowd.
But do not tell this to David Wright (New York Mets), Derek Jeter (New York Yankees), Albert Pujols (LA Angels), Neil Walker (Pittsburgh Pirates), or Jason Heyward (Atlanta Braves).
As reflected below, each of these men have thumped the ball much better away from home this year.
David Wright
| AB | H | 2B/3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| A 203 | 74 | 19/2 | 9 | 43 | 31 | 40 | .365 | .447 | .611 | 1.058 |
| H 178 | 52 | 13/0 | 7 | 29 | 32 | 31 | .292 | .399 | .483 | .882 |
Derek Jeter
| AB | H | 2B/3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| A 219 | 76 | 11/0 | 4 | 13 | 11 | 31 | .347 | .386 | .452 | .838 |
| H 222 | 62 | 10/0 | 4 | 19 | 16 | 29 | .279 | .329 | .442 | .708 |
Albert Pujols
| AB | H | 2B/3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| A 225 | 70 | 17/0 | 15 | 44 | 22 | 26 | .311 | .368 | .587 | .955 |
| H 185 | 48 | 13/0 | 8 | 30 | 19 | 26 | .259 | .333 | .459 | .793 |
Neil Walker
| AB | H | 2B/3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| A 206 | 65 | 10/0 | 6 | 32 | 23 | 45 | .316 | .386 | .451 | .838 |
| H 170 | 44 | 14/0 | 5 | 23 | 18 | 41 | .259 | .323 | .429 | .752 |
Jason Heyward
| AB | H | 2B/3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| A 179 | 52 | 10/3 | 10 | 30 | 23 | 50 | .291 | .373 | .547 | .920 |
| H 195 | 50 | 8/1 | 7 | 23 | 20 | 54 | .256 | .327 | .415 | .743 |
MLB Slingers That Should Always Pitch on the Road
2 of 2Whether better settled emotions, more pitcher-friendly ballparks or just plain luck (i.e. better run support) some big league hurlers perform much better away from their home park.
This season, Matt Harrison (Texas Rangers), Tommy Hanson (Atlanta Braves), Homer Bailey (Cincinnati Reds), Ivan Nova (New York Yankees) and Miguel Gonzalez (Baltimore Orioles) have been five pitchers that fit this mold.
Matt Harrison:
| W-L | ERA | CG | SHO | IP | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | WHIP |
| A 9-3 | 2.99 | 3 | 2 | 84.1 | 28 | 7 | 23 | 48 | .248 | 1.21 |
| H 4-3 | 3.43 | 0 | 0 | 57.2 | 22 | 4 | 16 | 36 | .283 | 1.37 |
Tommy Hanson
| W-L | ERA | CG | SHO | IP | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | WHIP |
| A 8-2 | 3.78 | 0 | 0 | 69.0 | 29 | 12 | 30 | 68 | .242 | 1.35 |
| H 4-3 | 4.89 | 0 | 0 | 57.0 | 31 | 7 | 24 | 46 | .297 | 1.56 |
Homer Bailey
| W-L | ERA | CG | SHO | IP | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | WHIP |
| A 6-2 | 2.63 | 1 | 0 | 68.1 | 20 | 4 | 18 | 49 | .227 | 1.11 |
| H 3-4 | 5.17 | 0 | 0 | 62.2 | 36 | 14 | 19 | 48 | .309 | 1.56 |
Ivan Nova
| W-L | ERA | CG | SHO | IP | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | WHIP |
| A 7-1 | 3.32 | 0 | 0 | 76.0 | 28 | 9 | 28 | 65 | .269 | 1.34 |
| H 3-4 | 6.16 | 0 | 0 | 57.0 | 39 | 12 | 20 | 54 | .302 | 1.58 |
Miguel Gonzalez
| W-L | ERA | CG | SHO | IP | ER | HR | BB | SO | AVG | WHIP |
| A 3-0 | 2.93 | 0 | 0 | 27.2 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 26 | .216 | 1.01 |
| H 0-2 | 7.82 | 0 | 0 | 12.2 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 10 | .333 | 2.13 |
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