Meet your brethren, Lou.
The last few days have seen a lot of shrill discussion about Lou Marson's inability to hit a baseball. A straightforward exercise: I went to B-Ref's Play Index and found all the players who started their career like Marson or significantly worse. This is a list of all the players who, over their first five seasons:
- Played at least 185 games (Marson = 188)
- Had an OBP and SLG of less than .310 (Marson = .295/.305)
- Had an OPS+ under 75 (Marson = 68)
- Worked primarily (more than 75% of games) as a catcher (Marson has never logged an inning anywhere else)
| Rk | Player | G | From | To | Age | PA | AB | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | Tm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jerry Grote | 467 | .293 | .298 | 72 | 1963 | 1968 | 20-25 | 1517 | 1368 | 47 | 5 | 13 | 119 | 305 | .590 | HOU-NYM |
| 2 | Matt Walbeck | 333 | .277 | .310 | 52 | 1993 | 1997 | 23-27 | 1190 | 1113 | 45 | 1 | 12 | 64 | 167 | .587 | CHC-MIN-DET |
| 3 | Mike Ryan | 325 | .251 | .258 | 45 | 1964 | 1968 | 22-26 | 1091 | 1001 | 25 | 7 | 8 | 76 | 188 | .509 | BOS-PHI |
| 4 | Alan Ashby | 324 | .303 | .303 | 72 | 1973 | 1977 | 21-25 | 1082 | 933 | 32 | 5 | 12 | 110 | 155 | .606 | CLE-TOR |
| 5 | Mickey Grasso | 303 | .291 | .268 | 53 | 1950 | 1953 | 30-33 | 1016 | 927 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 77 | 104 | .559 | WSH |
| 6 | Jerry Zimmerman | 295 | .271 | .248 | 43 | 1961 | 1965 | 26-30 | 665 | 596 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 38 | 72 | .519 | CIN-MIN |
| 7 | Rick Sweet | 272 | .292 | .292 | 63 | 1978 | 1983 | 25-30 | 813 | 736 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 60 | 73 | .584 | SDP-TOT-SEA |
| 8 | Jeff Reed | 260 | .284 | .292 | 58 | 1984 | 1988 | 21-25 | 742 | 668 | 29 | 3 | 4 | 58 | 89 | .576 | MIN-MON-TOT |
| 9 | Joel Skinner | 249 | .261 | .301 | 51 | 1983 | 1987 | 22-26 | 639 | 589 | 19 | 2 | 9 | 36 | 162 | .562 | CHW-TOT-NYY |
| 10 | Jeff Torborg | 243 | .268 | .281 | 63 | 1964 | 1968 | 22-26 | 657 | 602 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 42 | 98 | .549 | LAD |
| 11 | Bob Didier | 242 | .289 | .277 | 56 | 1969 | 1973 | 20-24 | 820 | 737 | 25 | 4 | 0 | 57 | 71 | .565 | ATL-DET |
| 12 | Mike Sadek | 237 | .301 | .286 | 63 | 1973 | 1978 | 27-32 | 570 | 500 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 58 | 48 | .587 | SFG |
| 13 | Rob Johnson | 228 | .275 | .297 | 59 | 2007 | 2011 | 23-27 | 733 | 649 | 35 | 3 | 8 | 65 | 170 | .573 | SEA-SDP |
| 14 | Mike Brumley | 224 | .295 | .294 | 67 | 1964 | 1966 | 25-27 | 731 | 660 | 24 | 2 | 5 | 60 | 89 | .589 | WSA |
| 15 | Tom Nieto | 223 | .277 | .292 | 58 | 1984 | 1988 | 23-27 | 636 | 569 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 46 | 117 | .569 | STL-MON-MIN |
| 16 | Skip Jutze | 212 | .250 | .247 | 42 | 1972 | 1976 | 26-30 | 590 | 547 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 74 | .497 | STL-HOU |
| 17 | Kirt Manwaring | 206 | .267 | .278 | 58 | 1987 | 1991 | 21-25 | 566 | 514 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 75 | .545 | SFG |
| 18 | Luis Pujols | 206 | .239 | .246 | 40 | 1977 | 1981 | 21-25 | 628 | 581 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 37 | 110 | .485 | HOU |
| 19 | Dave Skaggs | 205 | .309 | .302 | 72 | 1977 | 1980 | 26-29 | 578 | 510 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 51 | 76 | .610 | BAL-TOT |
| 20 | Choo Choo Coleman | 201 | .266 | .281 | 53 | 1961 | 1966 | 23-28 | 509 | 462 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 37 | 85 | .548 | PHI-NYM |
| 21 | Chad Kreuter | 195 | .303 | .301 | 70 | 1988 | 1992 | 23-27 | 501 | 425 | 15 | 1 | 8 | 62 | 101 | .605 | TEX-DET |
| 22 | Mike Roarke | 194 | .296 | .297 | 60 | 1961 | 1964 | 30-33 | 543 | 491 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 45 | 61 | .594 | DET |
| 23 | Junior Ortiz | 192 | .295 | .306 | 68 | 1982 | 1986 | 22-26 | 512 | 481 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 82 | .601 | PIT-TOT-NYM |
| 24 | Lou Marson | 188 | .295 | .305 | 68 | 2008 | 2011 | 22-25 | 642 | 570 | 31 | 2 | 5 | 60 | 146 | .600 | PHI-TOT-CLE |
| 25 | Bruce Kimm | 186 | .290 | .292 | 63 | 1976 | 1980 | 25-29 | 484 | 439 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 50 | .581 | DET-CHC-CHW |
| Rk | Player | G | From | To | Age | PA | AB | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | Tm | ||||
| 26 | Alberto Castillo | 185 | .310 | .307 | 60 | 1995 | 1999 | 25-29 | 504 | 437 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 45 | 94 | .616 | NYM-STL |
There are players who were at the end of the line after these short runs of struggling (Bruce Kimm), and there are players who grew into decent starting options later in their careers (Alan Ashby). I don't have time to dig through some of the more interesting trajectories (I hope somebody else will in the comments), or bring Marson's defense or minor league track record into the discussion. I just wanted to get out there who was really Marson's cohort so that others could tease out some implications.
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