Batter Up: Pitchers Who Carry a Big Stick

In the days of the designated hitter and overused bullpens, only a small number of the pitchers in the big leagues regularly step up to the plate to take their hacks.

Many of these players, while excellent athletes, end up making fools out of themselves. There are a handful of others, some mentioned here, who do the exact opposite and actually help their team's cause at the plate.

There has been talk this spring by St. Louis' Tony LaRussa and Arizona's Bob Melvin, both known for tickering with daily lineups, to entertain the idea of hitting the pitcher higher up in the batting order.

This idea worked for LaRussa in a trial version late in the year. Toward the tail end of the 2007 season LaRussa, who has been at the helm as Cardinals' manager since 1996, toyed with batting his pitcher eighth in the lineup rather than ninth and found no adverse consequences. He actually found he got better production out of the last two spots in the order when he did this.

He has entertained the possibilty of doing this again in 2008.

In a March 2 split-squad spring training game against the Chicago White Sox, Melvin, who is in his fourth season in Arizona, penciled in pitcher Micah Owings as the designated hitter. Owings ended up going 1-for-5 in that game, which the Diamondbacks ended up winning 12-to-5.

The idea of moving Owings up in the order on days he pitched may make a little sense.

Last year, in 60 trips to the plate, Owings collected 30 hits, good for a .333 batting average. He scored nine runs, hit four home runs and had 15 RBI. His best game, which would be a good game for any hitter, was Aug. 18 in a 12-6 win over the Atlanta Braves, where he went 4-for-5 with four runs scored, two home runs and six RBI.

Speaking of the Atlanta Braves, back in the mid-1990s when Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Greg Maddux were co-aces of the feared pitching staff, they held a contest to see who could amass the best hitting statistics.

Based on hitting stats from 1994 to 1999 from baseball-reference.com, it would seem that the year-to-year competition was pretty close. 

Glavine: .218 batting average with 30 runs, 1 HR and 32 RBI.

Smoltz: .204 batting average with 39 runs, 3 HRs and 30 RBI.

Maddux: .174 batting average with 33 runs, 2 HRs and 19 RBI.

Glavine, over the course of his career, has hit a little bit better than his two colleagues, despite Smoltz and Maddux each having five home runs to brag about.

The Florida Marlins' offseason blockbuster trade with the Detroit Tigers, not only shipped off two of the team's biggest stars, Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera to the Motor City, but also rid the National League of one of the finest hitting pitchers in the last few years.

Willis certainly has become known for his unorthodox windup and delivery, but the 25-year-old also can hit. In the five years since he broke into the league, Willis has 82 hits, 40 runs, 8 home runs, 35 RBI, and a .234 batting average.

This season, the Braves hope to bring back a healthy Mike Hampton, who hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2005.

Prior to missing the past two years because of nagging injuries, Hampton was quite adept with a bat in his hand. In 2001, his first of two years in Colorado, Hampton hit .291 with 20 runs, 23 hits, 7 home runs, and 16 RBI.

Not to be outdone the next season, Hampton followed that in 2002 with a .344 batting average and a respectable .354 on base percentage.

Pitchers today don't hold a candle to pitchers of yesteryear, who were forced day in and day out to head to the batter's box. 

Wes Ferrell, who is of no relation to the Hollywood funnyman Will Ferrell, is who many consider the best hitting pitcher outside of Babe Ruth. Ferrell also was known to be a premier pitcher of his time, appearing in two All-Star games and winning 20 games six times in his career, which spanned from 1927 to 1941.

In his 14-year playing career, Ferrell scored 175 runs, with 329 hits, 38 home runs, 208 RBI, with a .280 batting average.

Unheard of in this day and age, Ferrell was second on his team in home runs in 1931 and finished third in 1933 and 1935.