Oakland Athletics: Best Seasons At Shortstop in Franchise History
By Phil Watson
9. Cliff Pennington, 2010
| Year ▾ | Age | G | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 26 | 156 | 576 | 64 | 127 | 26 | 8 | 6 | 46 | 29 | 5 | 50 | 96 | .250 | .319 | .368 | 88 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/9/2014.
Photo by Keith Allison/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Cliff Pennington took over the full-time shortstop duties for the A’s in 2010 and put together a solid season, although he tailed off a bit after the All-Star break offensively. Before the break, Pennington hit .264/.333/.392 in 326 plate appearances, with three homers and 27 RBI to go with 16 doubles and six triples. While his slugging tailed off in the second half, however, he stole 16 of his 29 bases after the break.
But Pennington did some solid things in the field, compiling an Ultimate Zone Rating of 6.0, fifth among qualifying shortstops in the major leagues that season (per FanGraphs.com).
Considering Pennington spent most of the year batting ninth, the offensive spark he provided at the bottom of the order was a welcome bonus for a team that finished at .500, a six-game improvement over 2009. His eight triples were fourth in the American League, he tied for fourth in the AL with 12 sacrifice hits and was seventh with an 85.3 stolen-base rate (29-for-34). He was sixth in the American League with a 2.2 Defensive Wins Above Replacement value.