Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold. A classic children’s song that preaches the value of our oldest, closest relationships while also encouraging us to branch out and build new ones. This is a lesson that can be applied to a lot of aspects in life, even baseball trivia questions.
The Scoreboard Stumper is a Reds game tradition going back nearly 30 years. I remember as a kid at games being so excited for the question to pop up on the jumbotron, hoping that I knew at least one or two names. And what a feeling when I could get one that stumped my dad, since he seemed to know everything.
So if we have the golden Scoreboard Stumper, why do we need more Reds trivia? I don’t know about you, but I sure could use a little bit of silver in my life. Making new friends as an adult is hard, don’t make it harder on yourself finding new sports trivia. Be friends with RC+ Stat Stumper!
For those who don’t know, Reds Content Plus is a new Reds site geared towards adding to Reds discussion and conversation with advanced analytics. The writers at RC+ are long-time writers here at Redleg Nation. There can never be too much Reds coverage, right?
At RC+, we started a new weekly challenge called RC+ Stat Stumper. It is modeled off the Reds Scoreboard Stumper with a focus on more modern statistics.
This week, we wanted to give Redleg Nation some love. We invite you over to RC+ to guess on the Stat Stumper in the comments (and yes, looking it up is considered cheating). We’ll post the answer before the start of tonight’s game. We invite you to look around the site when you’re over there. Check out the Stat Stumper from earlier this week. Thanks for playing!
RC+ Stat Stumper #2:
The Reds are facing two left-handed starting pitchers this series against the Cubs. Since 2002, 19 Reds hitters have at least 400 plate appearances against LHP. Name the four who have a wRC+ of greater than 120.
Good stuff Matt – I really need to get over to RC+ and start making that a habit. And I’ll take a stab at both stumpers. But first things first – I’m pretty sure Hendricks and Darvish are not southpaws, so… only two of four Cubs starters this series will be lefties. Unless you know something I do not?
Hah brain fart. My bad!
Okay, my guesses on the stumpers:
wOBA since 2015 lower than Castillo, season, 200 batters faced:
Chapman, Cueto, Iglesias, Hughes
wRC+ over 120 against lefties, career as a Red, over 400 PA:
Votto, Phillips, Duvall, Suarez (but if that last one is Frazier I’ll be kicking myself)
Great fun. Thanks!
Nailed the first one! Chapman (2015), Hughes (2018), Cueto (2015) and Iglesias (2017) have the lowest wOBA allowed since 2015.
Suarez (140 wRC+) and Votto (139) are correct. Todd Frazier (125) and Drew Stubbs (121) are the correct answers for the second question.
Thanks for playing!
I almost picked Frazier, obviously, and I actually did think of Stubbs but thought no way he sustained that for his entire career. I was really confident about Duvall though. Just out of curiosity, what were the numbers for Phillips and Duvall against lefties?