25 24 days until the Angels first spring training game! Between now and then, we’ll take a look at something notable about each player’s game.
Some nights I wake up in a sweat. It was only a nightmare, I tell myself. The doors are locked, it’s a safe neighborhood, and the world’s super villains are far too busy stealing weapons-grade plutonium and financing massively instable real estate bubbles to come after me. But still, sometimes I’m afraid, and I’m not sure why.
Same goes for American League managers. Consider:
- Ryan Braun, career: 1,863 plate appearances, 6 intentional walks
- Maicer Izturis, career: 1,862 plate appearances, 8 intentional walks
Granted, Izturis is a switch hitter who is usually batting low in the order, while Ryan Braun hits in front of Prince Fielder. Izturis has also walked more often than Chone Figgins, Erick Aybar, Juan Rivera. His career OPS is under .750, but managers dread the man with the game on the line.

Has it worked? To sum up: No. The two hitters following Izturis have combined to hit .455/.461/.818, with 12 RBI in 13 plate appearances. When opposing managers walked Izturis, the Angels were, on average, 85 percent likely to win, according to win expectancy models. By the end of each inning, though, the Angels were, on average, 94 percent likely to win. Which makes walking Maicer Izturis intentionally the very worst baseball strategy of all time. (I guess.)
A tour of Izturis’ IBBs:








