A Truly Historic Season

Lost in all the dismay and handwringing about the historically woeful season the Mariners are having at the plate, we're ignoring perhaps an even more epic display of ineptness going on within our very decision.  Inspired by Jeff's tweet on the subject, I took a look at Brandon Wood's season to see just how truly bad he's been.  What I found surprised even me.

So far this season, Wood has posted a slash line of .149/.177/.212 in 238 plate appearances (as of 9/27).  He has a wOBA of .177, which among players with at least 200 PA is almost 40 points below the next lowest (our own Adam Moore).  In just those 238 PA, he's essentially cost the Angels two wins.

Still, I wondered how Wood's season compared to others over the years.  So I started going back through the Fangraphs standings.  In 2009, no one came even close to Wood's level of futility, but in 2008 Tony Pena Jr. posted a slash line of .169/.189/.209, "good" for a .174 wOBA (in 235 PA).  I figured I'd go back a few more years, just in case, and what I found amazed me.

Wood and Pena stand more or less unrivaled in the 37 years the Fangraphs database covers when it comes to offensive futility.  Only two other players in that time span have posted a wOBA under .200 in at least 200 PA: Brandon Inge in 2003 (.193, 202 PA) and Doug Strange (yes, that Doug Strange) in 1998 (.198, 201 PA).  Wood and Pena are both well clear of those players.

At least Pena was never considered much of a hitting prospect, but Wood was at one point expected to be a major weapon with his bat.  Instead, he's likely done as a major leaguer after this season.

Other odd little things that turned up while scanning the database.  Tony Pena Sr. "led" baseball with a .229 wOBA in 1993, giving father and son at least a bit of solace that offensive ineptitude might just be hereditary.  Also, in 1995, the Mariners had the league leader in wOBA (Edgar, .468) and the last-place player (Felix Fermin, .214).

So if you find yourself without anything to watch this last week of the season, root for a few more strikeouts by Wood, if only so that he can say he's had the worst offensive season since at least 1974...it'll be small comfort to us, but at least the Mariners won't have employed the worst hitter in baseball.