Triple Play Baseball

RockHounds turn another triple play

Second baseman Adam Heether started the team's second triple play in the last 27 days in the sixth inning of the A's Double-A affiliate's 10-5 loss to the Frisco RoughRiders on Monday.

Davis Stoneburner led off the frame with a single to left field off southpaw Trey Barham. Renny Osuna walked and Tommy Mendonca followed with a single to right to fill the bases.

Michael Bianucci lined the first pitch he saw right to Heether, who flipped the ball to first baseman Michael Spina to double off Mendonca. Spina then threw back to Heether, who caught Osuna coming back to second base to end the threat.

On May 25, Heether was in the middle of another big play. With two on and no outs in the sixth inning of the Tulsa Drillers' 14-13 victory, Wilin Rosario hit into an around-the-horn triple play. Stephen Parker fielded Rosario's one-hopper near the bag and stepped on the base for the first out. He then threw to Heether for the force at second and Heether relayed it to Spina.

On Monday, center fielder Tyler Ladendorf was 3-for-4 with a homer, a pair of doubles and two RBIs for Midland. Shawn Haviland (2-7) took the loss, allowing eight runs on 10 hits and two walks while fanning five over four innings.

Davis Stoneburner went 4-for-4 with a triple, three runs scored and an RBI, and Mendonca and Engel Beltre each had two hits and three RBIs in the win.

Robbie Erlin (4-0) earned the victory for the RoughRiders. He scattered eight hits and yielded four runs over 4 2/3 innings of relief.

Brooks Robinson — Master of the Triple Play | Seamheads.com

However, that is not what makes him so unique vis-a-vis Triple Plays.  You see Brooks Robinson, during his playing days, grounded into 4 triple plays; more than any other player in major league history.  And, as you will see below, this is a record that is not likely to ever be broken!

If you could create a blueprint for a player likely to hit into the most triple plays, Brooks would fit the bill.  First off, he played for a long time, without many injuries.  Second, Brooks was a right handed pull hitter with a foot-in-the-bucket type swing. Third, he had very mediocre foot speed (belying his quickness around 3rd base). Lastly, he played for powerhouse lineups which probably gave him alot of TP opportunities with multiple men on base.  Still, none of these potential “advantages” acount for this truly statistical anomaly.

According to SABR, there have been less than 700 triple plays recorded since the 1870s.  The frequency of TPs has gone down from about 3 per 10,000 innings at the turn of the century to about 1 per 10,000 innings for the last several decades.  Let’s put that into perspective.  If a ball player played 20 seasons, they would be involved in approximately 3,000 games or about 25,000 innings.  That means, on average, a 20-year player would witness about 3 triple plays during their career.  Not necessarily participate in the fielding or batting on the specific triple play; merely witness.  Brooks grounded into 4 TPs by himself. 

Another way to compare this feat is to look  at the other players who have hit into TPs.  Historically, there have been only 3 players who hit into 3 TPs during their career, none of them played after 1930 and curiously, all played, at one time or the other, for Washington (?)

Syndicated columnist George Will, in a 2009 Newsweek article ,  posed one hypothetical way that a triple play could occur with no fielder touching the ball. With runners on first and second and no outs, the batter hits an infield fly, and is automatically out: One out. The runner from first passes the runner from second and is called out for that rule’s infraction. Two outs. Just after that, the falling ball hits the runner from second, who is called out for interference: Three outs.

Yes, there have been two.  The first was turned in 1927 by Detroit Tiger Johnny Neun.  The second one occurred just last year.  On August 23, 2009, Jeff Francoeur of the Mets lined out to Phils’ 2nd baseman Eric Bruntlett who stepped on 2nd base to force out Luis Castillo for the second out and then tagged out Daniel Murphy coming from first to end the game.

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