Even to a 7 year old, it was pretty obvious that Steve Jeltz was one of the worst everyday players in baseball. An average fielder (on his good days), Jeltz was spectacularly bad at the plate. A switch-hitter, he gained no advantage from hitting from either side of the plate. He hit just 1 home run in his first 5 seasons (1,726 plate appearances) as a Phillie. He had a career batting average of .210 and was just 18 of 28 stealing bases for his career. Only 4 players since 1920 have more than 2000 career PA and a career SLG lower than Jeltz (.268), including the immortal Rafael Belliard. Amazing to think he once homered twice in one game (from both sides of the plate) since he was roughly as powerful as a sleeping toddler.
But looking over his numbers again, there is something surprising- Jeltzy took walks. Why would you ever throw the guy a ball? But he had a career OBP of .308- not impressive until you consider the .210 career BA. He actually averaged 55 BB per 162 games played, which is amazing when you consider he had almost zero ability with the bat. His career OPS+ gets a little boost from his inexplicable ability to draw walks. In fact, he's not even the worst Phillie in this category. Here, for fun, is a list of the 8 all-time worst Phillies hitters since 1930 as ranked by OPS+ (minimum 1500 PA as a Phillie). Obviously, it's shortstop heavy-
1. Bobby Wine- 59
I know he was a Gold Glove winning SS, but was his defense good enough to make up for this? I'll go find a crazed old man to ask.
2. Steve Jeltz- 64
Jeltz certainly did not play defense well enough to make up for this.
3. Denny Doyle- 66
Another defensive specialist, but at 2B. He became a better hitter after he left the Phillies in 1974. Shocking, I know.
4. Kevin Jordan- 68
This one mildly shocked me. I remember him as a being a pretty good hitting utility infielder. But he racked disciprine at the plate (I have permission from my girlfriend to mock Asian pronunciation).
5. Larry Bowa- 72
Picked up where Bobby Wine left off. Easily leads this list with over 7,000 PA as a Phillie and in Gold Gloves with 2. Fortunately for his nephew, he did not impart the secret knowledge of how to swing at the first pitch 90% of the time.
6. Ruben Amaro, Sr.- 74
The Bobby Wine of the Amaro family. Even platooned with Wine and still won a GG.
7. Ivan de Jesus- 78
Only played 3 years for the Phillies. Could hit a bit and took some walks, just had zero power. Traded by the Cubs for Larry Bowa and some prospect. And as we all know, that prospect was Julio Franco. Wait, wrong one. JD Drew. Nope. Peter Forsberg. Wrong sport. Ah, Ryne Sandberg.
8. Doug Glanville- 79
The worst non-infielder on the list. Hey, remember when he hit .325 that one year? Most of his years were nothing fucking like that. At least he could run. There is a theory that he was the prototype for Juan Pierre.
Honorable mention- Marlon Anderson (80), David Bell (84), Clay Dalrymple (84), Charlie Hayes (85), Kevin Stocker (85)
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8 comments:
If Juan Bell could have only gotten another 1,300 PAs
Desi Relaford (1189 PA, 66 OPS+ as a Phil) came dangerously close, as did Tomas Perez (1227 PA, 76 OPS+).
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
Stop this, Steve Jeltz was a good fielder. He had to cover a lot of ground. To say he was average at best is wrong
I grew up with Steve in Lawrence, Kansas. In the fall of 1984 during my last year of law school I I organized and managed a "Fall Ball" softball team in the city league. Was short a player one game. The baseball season had just ended and Steve had returned home for the off season. He was happy to fill in as a ringer. Naturally, I penciled him in at short. He turned two doubles plays--a tough feat in amateur softball--handling both pivots himself. (I don't blame him, as I was the second baseman).
But at the plate he was oh-fer. All long lazy fly balls. After the game, nobody believed me when I told some of the opposing players that my shortstop was played in the bigs.
Asked after his 2 game against the Pirates if he had ever heard of Walter Mitty, the fictional character known for dreaming of performing amazing feats beyond his ability, Jeltz replied, "Nah, I've never heard of him. He's before my time. Who'd he play for?"
But THE JET did have some sweet Jeri curled hair. He looked good.
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