Finding the arch-nemeses of every American League team

Paul Goldschmidt had 859 major-league plate appearances through April 24, 2013. He is a career .283/.361/.494 hitter. If you take his numbers against the Giants out of his career total, he becomes a .279/.351/.476 hitter. If you take his numbers against Tim Lincecum out of his career numbers, he becomes a .277/.355/.471 hitter.

Goldschmidt's slugging percentage goes down 23 points if you take away his 14 at-bats against Tim Lincecum. He is, at this young stage of his career, a Giant killer. And it fascinates me.

Actually, the whole idea of certain players killing specific teams fascinates me. So with the help of Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index, below are the nemeses for all the American League teams. This is based on two stats: raw OPS and tOPS+, with a minimum of 100 at-bats. The first one is obvious, but the second one compares a player's performance against a specific team with his overall performance.

Or, more specifically, the raw OPS leaders should be filled with Hall of Famers and All-Stars because they're good against just about everyone. The tOPS+ leaders will be filled with players who killed that team in a way you wouldn't expect from their career stats.

Baltimore Orioles (Full table)
OPS: Ted Williams (1.196)
tOPS+: Mike Lieberthal (189)

A lot of teams will have hilarious players near the top. But Tony Batista is one of the better ones. If you don't remember Batista, he had a hilarious stance and would swing at anything. It must have been frustrating as all heck to watch him do well against your team.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Mike Lieberthal	123	7	25	.376	.439	.706	1.145	.382	189
2	Tony Batista	130	15	31	.320	.354	.746	1.100	.289	183
3	Harry McCurdy	115	1	14	.400	.469	.580	1.049	.411	182
4	Cory Snyder	217	16	37	.332	.356	.673	1.030	.331	181
5	Tom Umphlett	190	2	24	.333	.394	.456	.850	.346	180
6	Larvell Blanks	124	2	14	.339	.388	.477	.865	.354	171
7	Larry Herndon	238	13	40	.335	.395	.594	.989	.330	168
8	Greg Briley	120	6	17	.315	.350	.568	.918	.322	166
9	Pat Kelly	178	4	23	.322	.395	.507	.902	.395	166
10	Jack Perconte	119	1	7	.362	.414	.467	.880	.398	164

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And it turns out that SI wasn't off when it came to the Orioles. Cory Snyder really was that good!

Boston Red Sox (Full table)
OPS: Nelson Cruz (1.162)
tOPS+: Nelson Cruz (180)

Babe Ruth is second to Cruz, which is kind of obvious if you believe in fate. But Ruth was no Nelson Cruz.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	tOPS+ ▾
1	Nelson Cruz	141	10	29	.373	.440	.722	1.162	180
2	Johnny Grubb	279	11	48	.370	.464	.609	1.073	174
3	Tommy Harper	233	9	27	.345	.433	.543	.976	171
4	Jerry Remy	126	1	11	.330	.400	.477	.877	168
5	Chico Salmon	183	9	27	.299	.346	.527	.873	168
6	Kurt Bevacqua	116	3	15	.330	.377	.466	.843	166
7	George Alusik	153	7	27	.316	.399	.602	1.000	165
8	Whitey Platt	185	7	37	.324	.368	.543	.911	164
9	Angel Mangual	129	6	16	.286	.328	.496	.824	161
10	Alex Gordon	152	4	23	.354	.434	.585	1.019	157

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/25/2013.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Cruz on the Red Sox in a year or two, to be honest. Seems like a pretty good fit for the Green Monster.

Chicago White Sox (Full table)
OPS: Babe Ruth (1.154)
tOPS+: Karim Garcia (188)

Apparently 18 percent of Karim Garcia's career home runs came against the White Sox.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Karim Garcia	109	12	25	.330	.339	.708	1.047	.303	188
2	Marco Scutaro	164	3	18	.385	.448	.587	1.035	.409	183
3	Bob Bailor	150	1	14	.328	.419	.430	.849	.345	168
4	Mike Cameron	178	10	31	.303	.433	.600	1.033	.358	163
5	Brant Alyea	122	8	24	.318	.393	.598	.992	.333	163
6	Alcides Escobar	154	3	17	.347	.382	.486	.868	.388	160
7	Steve Hovley	123	2	18	.306	.390	.472	.862	.316	159
8	Darrell Porter	348	16	56	.328	.416	.573	.990	.339	158
9	Milt Galatzer	124	0	6	.378	.434	.441	.876	.382	158
10	Gregg Zaun	162	6	20	.329	.420	.514	.934	.354	155

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But it looks like Marco Scutaro was the David Eckstein for the White Sox. (As in, every team assumed that David Eckstein killed them and them only, except for the White Sox, who were too busy being annoyed with Scutaro)

Cleveland Indians (Full table)
OPS: Babe Ruth (1.200)
tOPS+: Felix Mantilla (206)

Mantilla was a Swiss Army knife from the '50s and '60s who played the infield and outfield. In eight career years in the NL, he hit .243/.298/.352. In three seasons in the AL, he hit .287/.369/.474. Apparently the Indians were the difference.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Felix Mantilla	135	11	28	.370	.437	.697	1.135	.340	206
2	Oddibe McDowell	184	6	23	.405	.446	.595	1.041	.463	189
3	Elvis Andrus	144	3	22	.379	.454	.532	.986	.419	185
4	Billy Smith	110	5	21	.307	.346	.554	.900	.329	182
5	Leon Wagner	219	19	50	.352	.411	.663	1.074	.327	167
6	Alejandro De Aza	145	4	24	.347	.438	.565	1.002	.382	166
7	David Murphy	130	7	21	.373	.419	.644	1.063	.394	165
8	Guy Curtright	149	3	14	.341	.441	.537	.978	.394	165
9	John Ellis	131	3	19	.359	.412	.513	.925	.411	163
10	Luke Scott	118	8	27	.375	.398	.705	1.104	.386	162

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Lots of Rangers for whatever reason.

Detroit Tigers (Full table)
OPS: Bobby Bonilla (1.300)
tOPS+: Steve Brye (213)

Let's stop for a moment and bow our heads in respect to Bobby Bonilla for hitting .448/.500/.800 against the Tigers in his career.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Steve Brye	150	9	26	.375	.426	.640	1.065	.389	213
2	Bobby Bonilla	125	9	35	.448	.500	.800	1.300	.413	209
3	Jerry Terrell	140	1	12	.368	.410	.480	.890	.381	200
4	Alex Cole	129	2	14	.407	.476	.528	1.004	.457	183
5	Tommie Reynolds	166	4	20	.324	.398	.453	.850	.336	183
6	Ron Karkovice	258	17	45	.303	.369	.593	.962	.309	182
7	Aaron Robinson	150	11	30	.354	.450	.654	1.103	.378	178
8	Angel Berroa	346	8	36	.357	.391	.531	.922	.399	171
9	George Binks	157	2	27	.347	.373	.483	.856	.374	165
10	Shane Mack	229	11	47	.376	.449	.640	1.089	.396	164

Houston Astros (Full table)
OPS: Nomar Garciaparra (1.104)
tOPS+: John Boccabella (.867)

Just missing at #11: Jeff Francoeur, a career .320/.366/.586 hitter against the Astros.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	John Boccabella	158	6	19	.286	.353	.514	.867	.327	195
2	Eric Owens	110	2	11	.382	.427	.520	.947	.398	184
3	John Bateman	137	6	14	.341	.353	.530	.883	.348	182
4	Mark Whiten	145	9	32	.336	.441	.622	1.063	.365	179
5	Spike Owen	161	4	12	.305	.421	.496	.918	.319	175
6	Dick Bertell	139	3	10	.333	.391	.452	.844	.364	173
7	Chris Young	180	10	40	.333	.406	.609	1.015	.359	168
8	Mark Parent	140	8	22	.278	.333	.524	.857	.287	164
9	Duffy Dyer	146	1	9	.317	.404	.405	.809	.402	161
10	Ramon Hernandez	135	7	24	.333	.407	.558	.966	.340	158

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Boccabella's career OPS+ is 62. His career WAR is -0.3. Yet he demolished a team that played in the Astrodome.

Kansas City Royals (Full table)
OPS: Randall Simon (1.161)
tOPS+: Randall Simon (208)

Randall Simon came here to kick some Royals ass and attack some sausages. And it looks like he's all out of sausages.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Randall Simon	109	7	32	.410	.431	.730	1.161	.378	208
2	Glenn Wilson	110	4	14	.377	.391	.632	1.023	.400	187
3	Bobby Crosby	171	9	36	.327	.382	.583	.966	.344	182
4	Herbert Perry	132	9	22	.348	.405	.678	1.083	.316	176
5	Miguel Olivo	156	6	27	.347	.374	.558	.932	.391	170
6	Erick Aybar	185	0	19	.363	.399	.544	.943	.405	165
7	Gerald Laird	184	6	24	.319	.372	.515	.888	.343	165
8	Scott Rolen	139	7	25	.383	.475	.643	1.118	.374	162
9	Dustin Pedroia	210	9	30	.374	.452	.631	1.084	.374	160
10	Robert Fick	174	9	26	.308	.408	.548	.956	.313	160

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This list trends toward the last couple decades, almost as if the Royals haven't had good pitching for a while. Hmmm ...

Los Angeles Angels (Full table)
OPS: Mike Napoli (1.329)
tOPS+: Mike Napoli (204)

Say, that trade didn't go well.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Mike Napoli	134	12	25	.396	.500	.829	1.329	.405	204
2	Bob Randall	122	0	7	.361	.408	.481	.890	.375	186
3	Joel Skinner	132	4	19	.303	.348	.471	.819	.376	181
4	Scott Cooper	124	5	18	.360	.419	.595	1.014	.380	178
5	Joe Simpson	113	1	12	.333	.369	.431	.801	.344	164
6	Bobby Del Greco	133	4	18	.280	.421	.477	.898	.299	163
7	Pat Kelly	203	9	28	.326	.369	.527	.896	.359	163
8	Luis Alicea	172	5	19	.340	.420	.510	.930	.363	160
9	Fred Valentine	181	5	29	.311	.410	.507	.917	.320	160
10	Bobby Bonds	155	8	30	.347	.471	.585	1.056	.384	158

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Right now, there's an Angels fan, shaking his/her head and screaming, "I KNEW PAT KELLY WASN'T THAT GOOD AGAINST ANYONE ELSE." He wasn't. And even though Bobby Bonds had a Hall of Nearly Great career, he was at his best against the Angels.

Mike Napoli, though. Here's a spoiler: Napoli has a higher OPS versus the Angels than any other player has against any other AL team, min. 100 at-bats.

Pat Kelly is probably a career .330/.400/.510 hitter for his career based on the Angels and Orioles. Let's check ... say, no, that's not true at all. He was a career .249/.307/.369 hitter, but against the Angels and Orioles, he was a career .324/.381/.518 hitter.

If you take those two teams out of his career line, Kelly was a .234/.292/.339 hitter.

Minnesota Twins (Full table)
OPS: Jose Bautista (1.269)
tOPS+: Jose Molina (204)

That would be a career .861 slugging percentage for Bautista against the Twins. And I'm sure Molina has a .440 BABiP because of all the infield hits.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Jose Molina	111	4	12	.370	.422	.540	.962	.440	204
2	Jose Bautista	131	18	26	.330	.408	.861	1.269	.274	190
3	Gary Sutherland	114	3	11	.350	.404	.466	.870	.347	190
4	Rick Leach	165	5	20	.354	.412	.585	.997	.359	182
5	Deron Johnson	172	11	30	.331	.398	.610	1.008	.381	174
6	Felix Fermin	214	1	26	.344	.393	.439	.832	.348	174
7	Felix Mantilla	148	10	16	.316	.385	.609	.994	.296	168
8	Dan Pasqua	209	12	34	.328	.407	.623	1.030	.381	166
9	Norm Zauchin	128	8	37	.318	.406	.573	.979	.321	165
10	Candy Maldonado	142	8	25	.328	.394	.602	.996	.386	164

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Felixes tend to do well against the Twins, too. #sabermetrics

New York Yankees (Full table)
OPS: Miguel Cabrera (1.161)
tOPS+: Roger Cedeno (182)

There you go. This is what Roger Cedeno is the best at.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Roger Cedeno	113	4	16	.365	.411	.596	1.007	.400	182
2	Travis Snider	117	6	17	.360	.385	.640	1.024	.486	176
3	Dan Pasqua	149	8	24	.349	.430	.620	1.050	.363	172
4	Luis Rivera	162	6	25	.277	.358	.489	.848	.308	170
5	Curt Blefary	257	13	35	.313	.414	.592	1.007	.310	169
6	Ray Morgan	157	2	19	.346	.416	.459	.875	.341	166
7	Jody Reed	285	2	25	.357	.448	.477	.925	.364	165
8	Scott Bradley	134	3	19	.344	.371	.488	.859	.345	165
9	Ed Stroud	161	4	11	.301	.356	.500	.856	.325	165
10	Dick Stuart	153	7	29	.380	.418	.620	1.038	.402	159

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Pasqua was a Yankees product who took offense to his trade to the White Sox, apparently.

Oakland Athletics (Full table)
OPS: Barry Bonds (1.258)
tOPS+: Vance Law (181)

I'm only half of the way through this, but I'm pretty sure that Bonds is going to be the only player showing up on a team's list from a different league.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Vance Law	117	3	13	.350	.431	.560	.991	.372	181
2	Grady Hatton	147	2	24	.336	.486	.518	1.004	.350	176
3	Carroll Hardy	152	2	16	.318	.401	.455	.856	.370	171
4	Chuck Stevens	131	1	9	.305	.438	.457	.896	.337	170
5	Dick Nen	122	4	21	.290	.369	.467	.836	.307	168
6	Cam Carreon	115	1	12	.385	.434	.471	.905	.398	166
7	John Shelby	168	4	26	.318	.352	.510	.861	.374	165
8	Clyde Vollmer	334	15	64	.318	.414	.559	.974	.336	162
9	Bob Johnson	206	6	33	.342	.381	.540	.921	.387	162
10	Bob Lemon	149	4	15	.323	.375	.511	.886	.358	162

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The best part of this? Bob Lemon, Hall of Fame pitcher. Goodness, that must have been annoying.

Seattle Mariners (Full table)
OPS: Carlos Delgado (1.191)
tOPS+: Carlos Martinez (176)

Looks like the Mariners had to deal with a lot of ... Carlosses.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Carlos Martinez	127	4	22	.361	.378	.529	.907	.394	176
2	Ken Singleton	314	24	77	.341	.452	.690	1.142	.330	175
3	Corey Patterson	124	5	13	.345	.382	.569	.951	.380	174
4	Mike Cubbage	146	5	21	.362	.421	.531	.951	.378	172
5	Aurelio Rodriguez	134	5	18	.300	.338	.508	.847	.323	168
6	Mike Lamb	139	3	23	.374	.432	.553	.985	.410	163
7	Oddibe McDowell	171	5	19	.315	.396	.541	.938	.369	160
8	Al Woods	129	2	13	.357	.409	.513	.922	.368	158
9	Dave Revering	182	10	31	.325	.387	.583	.970	.319	157
10	Dan Pasqua	250	16	42	.313	.402	.590	.991	.347	156

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Hey, Pasqua again. He must have been hot garbage against the rest of the AL. But of all the names on the list, no one was more frustrating than Corey Patterson, I'd imagine.

Tampa Bay Rays (Full table)
OPS: Chris Richard (1.059)
tOPS+: Chris Richard (175)

Chris Richard?

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Chris Richard	126	6	17	.343	.440	.619	1.059	.345	175
2	Howie Kendrick	177	4	18	.369	.420	.588	1.008	.451	165
3	Kevin Mench	120	8	23	.321	.400	.623	1.023	.313	160
4	Matt Wieters	243	13	44	.342	.401	.575	.976	.395	160
5	Jose Cruz	265	16	56	.296	.402	.610	1.011	.313	156
6	Chris Gomez	126	0	13	.382	.444	.427	.871	.408	155
7	Dean Palmer	138	11	30	.320	.391	.631	1.022	.364	154
8	Jerry Hairston	290	8	36	.319	.393	.476	.869	.338	149
9	Ivan Rodriguez	347	19	63	.351	.392	.596	.988	.375	146
10	Shawn Green	133	8	21	.333	.424	.614	1.038	.353	144

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Chris Richard. Oddly enough, when he tried to come back in 2009 -- six seasons after his last major-league at-bat -- the Rays were the ones giving him the at-bats.

"You want to play ... for us? You haven't called anyone else, have you? We'll sign you. What do you want, three years? Four years?"

Texas Rangers (Full table)
OPS: Mickey Mantle (1.287)
tOPS+: Aaron Rowand (180)

Almost half the time Aaron Rowand put a ball in play against a Rangers pitcher, the ball fell in for a hit.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Aaron Rowand	116	2	14	.413	.466	.606	1.071	.494	180
2	Geronimo Berroa	189	10	36	.386	.460	.639	1.100	.402	174
3	Carlos May	482	15	96	.350	.446	.554	1.000	.369	166
4	Joe Orsulak	167	4	26	.356	.422	.507	.929	.366	166
5	Denny Hocking	189	3	22	.313	.407	.463	.870	.343	166
6	Craig Grebeck	161	6	29	.280	.399	.515	.914	.301	162
7	Mickey Mantle	392	35	88	.382	.504	.783	1.287	.369	161
8	Mike Epstein	120	9	23	.280	.400	.620	1.020	.244	158
9	Dave McCarty	126	4	16	.299	.341	.538	.880	.352	157
10	Felix Mantilla	152	8	30	.310	.408	.527	.935	.294	155

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Now that's a great list. Dave McCarty! But it's worth noting that mixed in with the Hockings and Grebecks, there's Mickey Mantle, who hit the Senators hard even by Mickey Mantle standards.

Toronto Blue Jays (Full table)
OPS: Brett Gardner (1.062)
tOPS+: Brett Gardner (193)

I"m sure this isn't a secret among Blue Jays fans. They're probably punching a wall right now.

Rk	Player	PA	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	tOPS+ ▾
1	Brett Gardner	192	4	22	.357	.471	.591	1.062	.395	193
2	Freddie Patek	149	1	23	.359	.421	.453	.874	.388	176
3	Bill Almon	116	3	16	.342	.365	.514	.879	.385	170
4	Bill Stein	126	3	19	.336	.397	.527	.924	.343	169
5	Darren Lewis	179	1	20	.335	.412	.445	.858	.398	166
6	Glenn Hoffman	196	2	26	.313	.361	.447	.808	.344	159
7	Sean Rodriguez	162	6	24	.259	.373	.481	.854	.287	157
8	Chris Davis	168	12	31	.313	.387	.639	1.026	.374	156
9	Bobby Crosby	174	6	22	.281	.368	.503	.871	.308	156
10	Gary Alexander	113	8	24	.280	.348	.580	.928	.313	153

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There's Bobby Crosby again. Oh, and apparently Chris Davis is the Jays' Paul Goldschmidt. It's good to know we all have the same monsters in our anxiety closet. They just wear different uniforms.

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