Mike Stanley was C.J. Nitkowsk’s biggest nemesis. In seven career plate appearances versus the now-Atlanta Braves broadcaster, Stanley homered twice, hammered a double, and walked four times. That added up to a 4.333 OPS. Of the 592 batters Nitkowski faced over 10 big-league seasons, no one was more injurious to his stat sheet.
Somewhat surprisingly, the pair of gophers — one at Tiger Stadium in 1996, the other at Fenway Park in 2000 — aren’t what the southpaw most remembers about his matchups with the slugging catcher/first baseman. What stands out is the two-bagger.
“I have a story about Mike Stanley,” explained Nitkowski, who made 336 MLB appearances, 213 of them with Detroit, while pitching for eight teams from 1995-2005. “As a kid who grew up in New York and was a Yankees fan, I always knew who he was. He was a Yankee when I was in high school. When I got drafted and went down to Orlando for my first spring training [with the Cincinnati Reds in 1995] — I went early to get out of the cold — I was working out with Chad Mottola, who is now the hitting coach for the Rays. He was my first roommate in professional baseball.
“Chad lived down there,” continued Nitkowski. “Mike Stanley happened to live in the same neighborhood, and they worked out together once in awhile, so I met him. I was 21 or 22 years old, so it was a big deal. You meet a big-leaguer and are trying to play it cool — you’re a professional now — but it was Mike Stanley. That’s cool. I thought it was kind of a big deal. I got to know him a little bit.”
Fast forward to August 12, 2000. Stanley was playing for the Oakland Athletics, while Nitkowski was pitching in relief for the Tigers. A request was made in the dugout during the sixth inning.
“Phil Garner was our manager,” Nitkowski recalled. “The night before, Juan Gonzalez had hit a home run for us in a game that we were winning by a lot. It was late in the game and a 3-0 pitch. The A’s weren’t happy about it. Swinging 3-0 when you’re up big was frowned upon back then. So, first at-bat the next day, they hit him. To me, it should have been over. He hit the home run, they hit him, he wasn’t hurt. Everything should be fine.
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“I’m coming into the game,” Nitkowski continued. “I’m going to be facing Terrence Long first. Phil says to me, ‘Get Terrence Long out, then hit Mike Stanley.’ Well, Terrence Long stays on a breaking ball that was off the plate and hits a little bleeder over the shortstop’s head for a base hit. I didn’t get Terrence Long out, so I didn’t hit Mike Stanley. I pitched to him. He hit a hard ground ball down the third base line that ended up being a double.
“I come back to the dugout and Garner is like, ‘Hey, how come you didn’t hit Stanley?’ I said, ‘You told me to get Terrence Long out, then hit Stanley. I didn’t get Terrence Long out.’ He said, ‘All right. You maybe know him a little bit, so I just wanted to make sure you didn’t ignore me because you liked him.’ I said, ‘No, I followed your instructions; I just didn’t get the first guy out.’ I actually wish that I would have hit him, because he hit a double.’”
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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS
Jazz Chisholm went 5 for 13 against Ian Anderson.
Sonny Jackson went 7 for 19 against Bill Stoneman.
Rich Rollins went 2 for 5 against Dave Baldwin.
Dave Sax went 3 for 7 against Jimmy Key.
Jackie Robinson went 9 for 24 against Monk Dubiel.
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Walt Weiss is enthralled with hitting mechanics. Sitting down with the Atlanta Braves manager for a forthcoming installment of my Talks Hitting series, I was regaled with well-informed perspectives on hip and shoulder separation, the serape effect, and much more. Here is a teaser for what you’ll read in the not-too-distant future:
“I’d say Drake Baldwin has the best swing mechanics on our team,” Weiss said. “I told him this in spring training. We’d talk about hitting, and swings, and I’d tell him, ’You do a lot of things that the greats do, or did.’ The way he sequences his moves. That’s really the Holy Grail. It’s not only the proper sequence, but also the proper sequence at the right time. The timing aspect. When you sequence properly, you buy yourself more time to hit. You’re also building momentum with the barrel. That’s why the greatest hitters hit for average and power. You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. It’s been a fallacy in this game forever, that if you hit for power you have to sacrifice average.”
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Ten years ago, I talked to a cross section of people within the game — a dozen veteran players and eight managers or coaches — for a piece titled Player’s View: Which Current Players Are Future Managers? Presciently, many were spot on with their responses (which included a handful of then-recently retired players). Here are some of the names that were mentioned:
Rocco Baldelli, Alex Cora, Don Kelly, Mark Kotsay, David Ross, Mark DeRosa, Henry Blanco, José Molina, Willie Bloomquist, Buster Posey, A.J. Ellis, Nick Hundley.
The first five on that list were subsequently hired as MLB managers, while DeRosa went on to manage Team USA, Blanco and Molina are currently managing teams in the Mexican League, and Bloomquist is the head coach at Arizona State. Posey didn’t become a manager, although he did hire one after becoming the president of baseball operations for the San Francisco Giants. Ellis and Hundley also joined front offices — the former is a special assistant for the San Diego Padres, the latter a senior advisor for the Texas Rangers.
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A quiz:
MLB history includes 50 players who were born in Hawaii. Which of them has the most hits, as well as the most home runs? (A hint: he is currently involved in the game in a non-playing capacity.)
The answer can be found below.
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NEWS NOTES
Charlie Moore, a catcher/outfielder who played for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1973-1986, and for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987, died on May 23 at age 72. His top individual performance came in 1980 when he hit for the cycle and also stole a pair of bases. Moore batted .354 in the 1982 postseason, including .346 in the World Series, which the Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
Bob Horner, a slugging corner infielder who logged 218 home runs and a 126 wRC+ with the Atlanta Braves from 1978-1986. died on May 26 at age 68. Drafted first-overall in 1978 out of Arizona State University — he never played in the minors — Horner spent 1987 with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and 1988 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
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The answer to the quiz is Kurt Suzuki. Now managing the Los Angeles Angels, the native of Wailuku, Hawaii had 1,421 hits and 143 home runs. Shane Victorino, also a native of Wailuku, ranks second in both categories with 1,274 and 108.
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Last Sunday’s column included a brief passage from Lawrence Ritter’s 1966 Classic, The Glory of Their Times. Here is another, this time with the quotes coming from Bill Wambsganss, whose MLB career spanned the 1914-1926 seasons.
“Actually, more people probably know me as Bill Wamby than as Bill Wambsganss. Wamby fits into a box score easier, so that’s how it was usually reported. But it doesn’t matter. Same thing. Wamby — unassisted triple play. You’d think I was born the day before and died the day after.”
A second baseman for the Cleveland Indians, Wambsganss turned his unassisted triple play — the only one in World Series history — in Game 5 of the 1920 Fall Classic versus the Brooklyn Robins. There have been 14 in regular-season play, the most recent by Philadelphia’s Eric Bruntlett in 2009.
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Tokyo Yomiuri Giants manager Shinnosuke Abe resigned earlier this week after it was reported that he physically assaulted his 18-year-old daughter at their home. A catcher for the Giants from 2001-2019, Abe homered 409 times and won four Golden Gloves.
Hiroto Saiki is 5-2 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.93 FIP over 54-and-a-third innings for the Hanshin Tigers. The 27-year-old right-hander leads all qualified NPB pitchers with a 34.2% strikeout rate. His walk rate is 5.4%.
Anders Tolhurst is 6-3 with a 3.44 ERA and a 4.26 FIP over 52-and-third innings for the KBO’s LG Twins. The 26-year-old right-hander joined the Seoul, South Korea-based ball club last year after playing in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
Jen-Ho Tseng is 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA over 17 innings for the CPBL’s Wei Chuan Dragons. The 31-year-old right-hander from Taipei, Taiwan appeared in three games for the Chicago Cubs across the 2017-2018 seasons.
Justus Sheffield is 4-1 with a 2.83 ERA over 35 innings for the Mexican League’s Sultanes de Monterrey. The 30-year-old southpaw appeared in the three games for the New York Yankees in 2018, and in 45 games for the Seattle Mariners from 2019-2022.
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Tommy Watkins played in nine big-league games, all with the Minnesota Twins in 2007. His batting average was admirable. At .357, it is the second highest in Twins history among position players who came to the plate at least 30 times. Glenn Williams batted .425 over 43 PAs, while Luis Tiant — obviously a pitcher — was a surprisingly robust .406 over 36 PAs.
I recently asked Watkins, who is now the third base coach for the Atlanta Braves, about his bygone cup of coffee.
“It was a great experience,” Watkins said of his August 2007 tenure. “I wish everybody could feel the excitement of playing in the big leagues, and I was lucky enough to get that opportunity. I was 10-for-28 (with four walks). My first hit was off of Jarrod Washburn in Seattle. I finished with a seven-game hitting streak.”
Watkins went on to explain that he got hurt and missed the rest of that season, spent the next two years in Triple-A, then decided it was time “to start doing something else.” He became a minor-league hitting coach, then a minor-league manager, and in 2019 a member of Minnesota’s big-league coaching staff. This is his first season with the Braves.
Watkins told me that he is aware that Williams is the only hitter in Twins history with a higher batting average in the relatively low number of plate appearances. I asked him how he knew that.
“I was in the organization for 28 years,” replied Watkins. “You learn things.”
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FARM NOTES
Jay McQueen is slashing .446/.563/.643 with two home runs and a 202 wRC+ in 71 plate appearances for the Texas Rangers’ Arizona Complex League affiliate. The 19-year-old outfielder was drafted in the 20th round last year out of Mississippi’s Brandon High School.
Drew Davies is slashing .268/.452/.366 with one home run and a 136 wRC+ in 166 plate appearances for the Low-A Daytona Tortugas. The 20-year-old outfielder from Adelaide, Australia was signed as an international free agent by the Cincinnati Reds in 2023.
Wei-En Lin is 2-1 with a 2.03 ERA, a 3.18 FIP, and a 29.5% strikeout rate over 44-and-a-third innings for the Double-A Midland RockHounds. No. 5 on our Athletics Top Prospects list with a 45 FV, the 20-year-old left-hander from Taoyuen, Taiwan was featured here at FanGraphs in August 2025.
On Thursday, the Clearwater Threshers (Low-A, Philadelphia) rallied with two runs in the bottom of the ninth, then four in the bottom of the tenth, to beat the Dunedin Blue Jays (Toronto) by a score of 12-11. Nolan Beltran sent the game into extras with a two-out, two-run homer. The 21-year-old infielder/outfielder from Barranquilla, Colombia has four round-trippers and a 123 wRC+ on the season.
Also on Thursday, Won-Bin Cho had three hits and five RBIs in a losing cause as the Peoria Chiefs (High-A, St. Louis) fell to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Milwaukee) by a score of 13-11. The 22-year-old outfielder from Seongnam, South Korea is slashing .271/.404/.529 with seven home runs and a 137 wRC+.
On Wednesday, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (Double-A, Marlins) blasted the Birmingham Barons (White Sox) by a count of 23-4. Fenwick Trimble, a 23-year-old outfielder out of James Madison University, went 5-for-6 with a double and one of his team’s seven home runs. Trimble has seven taters and a 108 wRC+ on the season.
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A random obscure former player snapshot:
Harry Steinfeldt’s claim to fame is being the fourth member of the famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance Chicago Cubs infield of the early 1900s. A third baseman who spent his first seven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, Steinfeldt manned the hot corner for the Cubs from 1906-1910, a five-year stretch in which the North Side club reached the World Series four times, winning in 1907 and 1908. His 1906 campaign was easily his best from a statistical standpoint. Steinfeldt compiled 7.5 WAR while posting a 152 wRC+ and leading the senior circuit in RBIs. The Cubs went 119-36-3 that year before falling to the White Sox in the Fall Classic.
Unlike Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance, Steinfeldt doesn’t have a plaque in Cooperstown.
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A less-obscure former player snapshot:
Lefty O’Doul played in 970 MLB games across the 1919-1934 season, slashing .349/.413/.572 with a 141 wRC+ in 3,660 plate appearances. He won two batting titles, one with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1929 when he logged a .398 average, and another with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932 when he hit .368. In his lone World Series at-bat, which came with the New York Giants in 1933, he stroked a two-run, pinch-hit single. He also made 34 pitching appearances over the course of his career.
O’Doul also starred in the Pacific Coast League. From 1924-1927, a four-year span that included an MVP award, his batting averages ranged from .338 to .392. O’Doul later managed in the PCL for 23 years, mostly with the San Francisco Seals, winning five championships. A bridge over McCovey Cove is now named for him. No less notable is his being instrumental in spreading baseball’s popularity in Japan.
O’Doul is in both the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame. That he is not also in the National Baseball of Fame is something that needs to be corrected.
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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE
How bad can an MLB player hit in 2026 and stay in the lineup? Buster Olney delved into that question at ESPN.
Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein wrote about how the Tampa Bay Rays are bringing small ball back — and it’s working.
MLB.com’s Mike Petriello wrote about Brandon Marsh’s second-only-to-Ty-Cobb’s BABIP.
Pitcher List’s Anthony Licciardi looked at Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Justin Crawford’s unique skill set.
Baltimore Orioles right-hander Brandon Young has a new splitter grip. Steve Melewski wrote about it at his Substack.
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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS
The Braves are the only visiting team in MLB with a winning record at Fenway Park, playing to a 29-22 all-time record. (per the Braves game notes.)
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has 3,937 career at-bats and has grounded into 131 double plays. Byron Buxton has 3,310 career at-bats and has grounded into 17 double plays.
Ray Oyler had one of the poorest offensive seasons in MLB history in 1968 when he slashed .135/.213/.186 with a 23 wRC+ over 247 plate appearances with the World Series champion Detroit Tigers. The slick-fielding shortstop hit his lone home run off of Baltimore Orioles left-hander Dave McNally, who finished the year 22-10 with a 1.95 ERA.
Jack Nabors pitched in 52 games for the Philadelphia Athletics across three seasons and finished with a career record of 1-25 and a 3.87 ERA. The right-hander from Montevallo, Alabama went 0-5 in 1915, and 1-20 in 1916. His lone win was a complete-game effort against the Boston Red Sox and included a strikeout of Babe Ruth.
The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros 1-0 in 16 innings on today’s date in 2003. Sammy Sosa sent the Wrigley Field faithful home happy with a walk-off single, while Todd Wellemeyer was credited with the first of his 32 career wins.
Ed Hock recorded his only MLB hit on today’s date in 1924. The Franklin Furnace, Ohio native did so in the last of his 11 career plate appearances, slapping a pinch-hit single off of Hall of Famer Grover Alexander in a 6-3 Cincinnati Reds loss to the Chicago Cubs. He enjoyed a lot of hot summers down on the farm. Hock had 3,475 hits over 23 professional seasons, including 230 for the Western League’s Oklahoma City Indians in 1926.
Players born on today’s date include Rikkert Faneyte, an outfielder from Amsterdam who is one of nine natives of the Netherlands to appear in the majors during the modern era. Faneyte played in 80 games across the 1993-1996 seasons, seeing action with the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers.
Also born on today’s date was Peaches Davis, a right-hander from Glen Rose, Texas who took the mound for the Cincinnati Reds 117 times from 1936-1939, logging a record of 27-23 with a 3.87 ERA over 542 frames. Thirty-one years old when he made his MLB debut, Davis had gone 19-15 for the Fort Worth Cats in 1934. Bubber Jonnard was one of his catchers with the Texas League club.