March 28, 2001

The Daily Prospectus

The DiSars Return

by Joe Sheehan

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Last year around this time, we introduced an award in honor of a player whose aggressiveness at the plate has become legendary. And while it was a rough year for Gary DiSarcina otherwise, the founding of the DiSar Award was a rousing success. Not much comfort to the man who missed most of the season with a shoulder injury, of course, but a way in which to keep his spirit alive in his absence.

The DiSar Awards, one in each league, go to the player who accumulates the most at-bats before taking their first walk. Last year, the winners were Jacque Jones and Shawon Dunston. Some of you may recall that the NL's Golden Crutch was actually first given to Orlando Cabrera, then Placido Polanco, before Dunston slowly but surely passed each of their marks at midseason.

With that in mind--and with Dunston likely to play a similar role with the Giants this season--don't look for me to make any official announcements until at least June, and maybe later, although we'll have some fun tracking the leaders along the way.

Just as I did last year, I'll throw this open to everyone: send me an e-mail predicting who this year's honorees will be. As a tiebreaker, toss in the number of walkless ABs for the winner. This year, we'll even award a copy of Baseball Prospectus 2002 to the first person who correctly pegs both DiSar Award winners.

See, something good can come out of mindless hacking.

In other news:

• Now that you've pored over your copy of Baseball Prospectus 2001, bought an extra for the office and two or three for your buddies, there's another book I want to recommend. Mat Olkin, best known for his work with Baseball Weekly and a co-author of BP2K1, has his own publication out this spring. It's called Baseball Examiner 2001, and is available through Mat's Web site at http://www.matolkin.com/.

  The book has team pages with categories like "Impact Rookie" and "Position Battles" as well as commentary and Major League Equivalencies for more than 200 young players. The writing is sharp and the analysis solid, and the book would be a great addition to your baseball library.

• With Opening Day just four days away, BP's staff predictions are on their way. Look for the AL ones Friday or Saturday, with the NL ones arriving Sunday. In this space Thursday and Friday, I'll offer my own analysis and predictions for the upcoming season.

Joe Sheehan is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Contact him by clicking here.

Joe Sheehan is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 
Click here to see Joe's other articles. You can contact Joe by clicking here