1954 Cleveland Indians: The hitters

While the strength of the historic 1954 team was its pitching staff, the hitters were actually very good as well. Let's take a peek at them by position. [Note: League Average is all of the stats at that position divided by the other seven AL teams]

Catcher

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Jim Hegan	131	468	55	40	0	235	293	375	242
Hal Naragon	42	112	9	12	0	240	303	300	276
Mickey Grasso	2	8	2	1	0	333	500	833	250
Total		588	66	53	0	237	298	366	249
League Average		628	53	68	1	260	326	375	268

Jim Hegan played just a hair under 80% of the plate appearances as the full time catcher with Hal Naragon as his main backup and Mickey Grasso getting into two September games. These totals are not surprising as Hegan was never a good hitter, only netting one full season with an OPS+ of 90+. His forte was defense which got him five All-Star game nods.

First Base

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Vic Wertz	80	312	32	47	0	279	347	496	278
Bill Glynn	53	169	16	18	1	263	308	404	265
Al Rosen	44	189	30	48	3	348	431	626	308
Rocky Nelson	1	1	0	0	0	000	000	000	000
Total		671	78	113	4	293	360	602	282
League Average		671	76	78	4	273	342	414	280

Glynn started the first nine games before manager Al Lopez moved Al Rosen over there. At the June 1 trade deadline, the Indians stole Vic Wertz from the Orioles. Wertz didn't take full control of the position until late July. But Rosen thrived in his time at the first base bag. Rosen and Wertz definitely led this position to be a strength.

Second Base

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Bobby Avila	140	625	109	67	9	344	404	483	342
Hank Majeski	22	66	9	7	0	333	364	460	352
Sam Dente	7	21	2	0	0	158	200	263	158
Rudy Regalado	1	1	0	0	0	000	000	000	000
Al Rosen	1	1	0	0	0	000	000	000	000
Total		714	120	74	9	336	393	473	336
League Average		661	77	48	8	260	333	340	276

Our first clearly dominant position. Avila definitely earned his third place MVP vote with that spectacular season. Majeski also did well in his limited playing time here. Overall this position was a full 193 OPS over the other seven AL teams, fantastic.

Third Base

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Al Rosen	87	367	45	51	3	276	387	447	270
Rudy Regalado	48	195	21	23	0	257	330	322	269
Al Smith	21	88	19	8	0	388	523	627	418
Hank Majeski	10	35	2	4	0	156	203	313	143
Total		685	87	86	3	277	379	423	279
League Average		663	73	69	6	274	362	392	290

It seems odd that Smith actually was the better hitter over Rosen, but look at that crazy BAbip. But definitely, another win at this position over the league.

Shortstop

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
George Strickland	110	433	43	37	2	213	314	313	237
Sam Dente	52	172	15	19	0	275	329	342	274
Bobby Avila	7	11	2	0	0	200	273	200	200
Al Smith	2	3	0	0	0	333	333	333	333
Al Rosen	1	1	0	0	0	000	000	000	000
Total		620	60	56	2	231	317	319	248
League Average		643	69	46	5	255	320	344	273

Initially, I felt this position was going to be one of the weakest overall. And it actually was, but looking at how they performed compared to the rest of the league, it really was not all that bad. A -8 in OPS is definitely acceptable as the rest of the infield (sans catcher) was way above average.

Left Field

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Al Smith	94	417	70	35	2	259	376	402	284
Wally Westlake	49	193	24	31	0	290	361	515	278
Dave Pope	18	68	13	8	1	290	343	419	320
Dale Mitchell	6	20	2	0	0	167	250	167	167
Vic Wertz	2	8	1	1	0	286	250	286	250
Dave Philley	1	2	1	0	0	000	000	000	00
Total		708	111	75	3	267	363	426	280
League Average		607	80	89	6	266	356	429	271

I thought this position would fare better than it did, but Smith obviously preferred his stint at third better than in left. This group defines league average with the exception of scoring runs, a +31 over the average.

Center Field

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Larry Doby	153	673	94	126	3	272	362	484	272
Wally Westlake	4	12	1	3	0	182	182	273	286
Dave Pope	4	9	4	3	1	625	667	1250	800
Total		694	99	132	4	275	363	490	278
League Average		663	77	78	9	275	351	404	291

Easily the one position with the highest percentage going to one player, Doby. And although Doby finished in second in MVP voting, that was primarily due to his home run (32) and RBI totals. He also scored runs at a higher clip, but the average and on base percentages were very close to league average.

Right Field

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Dave Philley	125	516	46	60	2	226	310	350	226
Al Smith	17	72	12	7	0	295	380	426	304
Wally Westlake	14	57	8	6	0	204	304	327	235
Dave Pope	5	15	1	1	0	154	200	154	200
Vic Wertz	2	10	1	1	0	125	300	125	125
Total		670	68	75	2	229	314	348	234
League Average		662	75	64	6	268	333	389	287

We were due for another bad position somewhere, and here we have it. But a lot of the poor numbers here are due to that 234 BAbip, extremely low. And as poor as the overall numbers were, they still were on par with scoring and driving in runs. That on base percentage is pretty good considering how low the average is.

Pitcher

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Bob Lemon	34	110	11	9	0	211	255	326	261
Early Wynn	34	105	10	4	0	183	240	215	210
Mike Garcia	35	93	5	4	0	136	184	136	183
Art Houtteman	24	76	6	10	1	277	294	354	315
Bob Feller	18	55	6	1	0	188	250	208	290
Don Mossi	11	23	1	0	0	158	273	158	333
Ray Narleski	14	19	0	0	0	000	059	000	000
Hal Newhouser	11	14	0	1	0	154	154	154	154
Dave Hoskins	5	8	1	0	0	000	125	000	000
Bob Hooper	5	5	0	0	0	000	000	000	000
Bob Chakales	2	5	0	0	0	333	500	333	333
Jose Santiago	1	1	1	0	0	-	1000	-	-
Total		514	41	29	1	227	234	227	229
League Average		467	27	25	1	203	208	203	210

No surprise here that the pitchers outhit the competition as both Lemon and Houtteman were good career hitting pitchers. They outscored the competition due to Avila, Doby and Rosen of course.

Pinch Hitting

	G	PA	R	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	BAbip
Dale Mitchell	49	49	5	6	0	333	429	429	325
Hank Majeski	28	28	1	6	0	308	357	308	364
Dave Pope	22	22	2	1	0	263	364	421	333
Bill Glynn	16	16	1	0	0	133	188	133	182
Rudy Regalado	12	12	1	1	0	125	417	125	167
Wally Westlake	12	12	1	1	0	182	250	273	182
Total		185	16	21	0	259	368	335	295
League Average		200	13	27	0	211	306	301	241

Only the top six are shown here, but another fourteen players were used as pinch hitters, including Luke Easter, Rosen, Wertz and Lemon. Mitchell was obviously the de facto pinch hitter that year and did an excellent job at it, with an 857 OPS. And overall, these hitters had a significant advantage over the competition.

Summary

Other than catcher and right field, pretty much every position was at least league average with second base, third base and center field positions of strength. Both the pitchers and pinch hitters contributed to make the overall hitting a definite plus. Probably not nearly as strong as the pitching advantage, but certainly a lineup that gave other teams fits.