Bellinger / Taylor blazing beginnings

Phil Gurnee ♦ June 4, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

As Chris Taylor continues to prove he belongs somewhere in the starting lineup I started wondering where he would place among LAD who started their Dodger careers off with a bang.

I usually start with Marlon Anderson and Ronnie Belliard, two Sept pickups who excelled for the team and helped propel them toward the postseason.

I created a leaderboard of LAD who had <=  250 plate appearances,  were good enough for an OPS+ > 110.  I removed pitchers and anyone who had less than 50 plate appearances.

When you look at the list below you will see Sept heroes acquired via waiver deadline deals like Marlon Anderson. Late summer free agent signings like Justin Ruggiano and Dick Stuart. Mid season trade acquisitions like Steve Finley and Toby Hall.  Rookies like Cody Bellinger, Ralph Bryant,   and Andrew Toles.  Players signed as free agents in the winter like Jose Hernandez.

Does anyone remember Toby Hall being any good for the Dodgers? I sure don’t, I thought he underperformed from the get go.

Nice to see Jose Hernandez on this list. What a 2004 season he had as the super utility infielder/outfielder.  Look at all those extra base hits. Twenty – Six extra-base hits in 238 PA.  The Kiké Hernandez of his day.

Belliard didn’t even make the cut. He was hot enough in Sept of 2009, but he got too many at-bats in 2010 and that pulled him down.

This list is a just a point in time for Bellinger, Toles, and Taylor as they will accumulate much more than 250 LAD plate appearances in their career. Unless Toles gets traded this winter.  For everyone else, they will remain static on this list as their Dodger careers were complete with less than 250 plate appearances.

This leaderboard is thus

Current search:Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, Playing for the LAD, From 1958 to 2017, Played games at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF, DH or PHR, (requiring PA<=250, onbase_plus_slugging_plus>=110 and PA>=50), sorted by greatest Adjusted OPS+

Player              OPS+  PA From   To   Age 2B 3B HR RBI BB
Justin Ruggiano      165  60 2015 2015 33-33  4  1  4  12  3
Marlon Anderson      161 102 2006 2007 32-33  3  2  7  17 10
Jose Hernandez       137 238 2004 2004 34-34 12  1 13  29 26
Cody Bellinger       136 156 2017 2017 21-21  6  1 12  31 16
Chris Taylor         134 208 2016 2017 25-26 10  2  8  30 25
Tim Harkness         129  84 1961 1962 23-24  4  0  2   7 13
McKay Christensen    123  55 2001 2001 25-25  2  0  1   7  3
Ralph Bryant         123 169 1985 1987 24-26  6  3  8  24 15
Andrew Toles         121 217 2016 2017 24-25 12  1  8  31 13
Steve Finley         112 250 2004 2004 39-39 12  0 13  46 21
Dick Stuart          111 104 1966 1966 33-33  1  0  3   9 11
Toby Hall            110  60 2006 2006 30-30  4  0  0   8  2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/4/2017.