One True Outcome: January 5, 2022

This is the second segment of our lockout trivia. Something to keep your minds off the lack of baseball-related news for the time being; With no further delays, let’s get right into it.

1. Shohei Ohtani’s historic MVP season left plenty of memorable marks on the record books. Among his many feats, Ohtani managed to be the first American League hitter with 40+ home runs and 20+ stolen bases in a while. Who was the last player to accomplish this?

• (A) Mike Trout
• (B) Alex Rodriguez
• (C ) Grady Sizemore
• (D) José Ramirez
• (E) Curtis Granderson

2. Clayton Kershaw leads all active pitchers in career shutouts with 15. He almost has twice as many as any other left-handed starter. Who is the second southpaw on that list with 8 shootouts of his own?

• (A) Madison Bumgarner
• (B) J.A. Happ
• (C ) Derek Holland
• (D) Jon Lester
• (E) Chris Sale

3. Intentional walks happen mainly for two reasons, either the risk-reward of pitching to an elite hitter is too scary under ordinary circumstances, or in extraordinary circumstances, you’re better off with the intentional walk regardless of the quality of the hitter (say the pitcher is on deck with two outs in the bottom of the sixth with runners on second and third). Having said that, would you care to guess which catcher led baseball in intentional walks during the 2021 season with eight of them?

• (A) J.T. Realmuto
• (B) Sean Murphy
• (C ) James McCann
• (D) Victor Caratini
• (E) Salvador Perez

4. Stolen bases are no longer as present in the sport as in previous generations. There’s a misconception that you should never run based on analytics which isn’t the case. If a player can successfully steal bags and avoid being caught stealing, analytics is all for it. There is one player in the history of the game with four separate seasons with at least 25 attempts and a success rate of 90% or better. Who is he?

• (A) Davey Lopes
• (B) Carlos Beltran
• (C ) Ichiro Suzuki
• (D) Coco Crisp
• (E) Jimmy Rollins

5. Returning to the shutouts topic, there is only one active pitcher with five or more shutouts and fewer than 1000 innings pitched. Who is he?

• (A) Anthony DeSclafani
• (B) Shelby Miller
• (C ) Zach Efflin
• (D) Lucas Giolito
• (E) Sean Manaea

Answers:

1. (E) Curtis Granderson. In the 2011 season in which he finished fourth in the AL MVP voting, Granderson hit 41 bombs and also swiped 25 bags. He compiled 6.1 bWAR in what was undoubtedly the best season of his career.

2. (C ) Derek Holland. Believe it or not, the former Ranger is second among all active left-handers in shootouts with eight. In fact, he led the league with four in 2011.

3. (D) Victor Caratini. Due primarily to circumstances surrounding a few of his trips to the plate, the Padres catcher was intentionally walked eight times in only 356 plate appearances.

4. (B) Carlos Beltran. Here are the four seasons in which he accomplished the feat.

2001 - 31/32

2003 - 41/45

2004 - 42/45

2007 - 23/25

5. (B) Shelby Miller. Although his last shutout came in a six-inning game during his first year in Arizona, Miller still would’ve been number one among pitchers with fewer than 1000 IP with four shutouts.