Biographical

Portrait of Don Baylor

Don Baylor DHOrioles

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Career Summary
Years PA AVG OBP SLG DRC+ WARP
19 9401 .260 .342 .436 120 35.4
Birth Date6-28-1949
Height6' 1"
Weight195 lbs
Age74 years, 9 months, 0 days
BatsR
ThrowsR
WARP Summary

MLB Statistics

YEAR TEAM AGE G PA H 2B 3B HR BB SO HBP SB CS AVG OBP SLG DRC+ DRAA BRR FRAA BWARP
1970 BAL 21 8 20 4 0 0 0 2 3 0 1 1 .235 .300 .235 76 -0.4 0.4 -0.3 0.0
1971 BAL 22 1 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 .000 .600 .000 105 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.0
1972 BAL 23 102 363 81 13 3 11 29 50 9 24 2 .253 .330 .416 122 10.1 3.5 -3.0 2.0
1973 BAL 24 118 459 116 20 4 11 35 48 13 32 9 .286 .357 .437 114 9.8 1.5 -0.7 2.1
1974 BAL 25 137 549 133 22 1 10 43 56 10 29 12 .272 .341 .382 112 9.9 6.2 -19.3 0.8
1975 BAL 26 145 598 148 21 6 25 53 64 13 32 17 .282 .360 .489 138 28.9 0.7 -5.8 3.8
1976 OAK 27 157 685 147 25 1 15 58 72 20 52 12 .247 .329 .368 112 11.9 4.6 -5.6 2.2
1977 CAL 28 154 645 141 27 0 25 62 76 12 26 12 .251 .334 .433 111 11.1 2.9 -6.1 1.9
1978 CAL 29 158 677 151 26 0 34 56 71 18 22 9 .255 .332 .472 131 25.8 -2.5 -6.6 2.7
1979 CAL 30 162 722 186 33 3 36 71 51 11 22 12 .296 .371 .530 145 41.4 1.6 -9.2 4.7
1980 CAL 31 90 380 85 12 2 5 24 32 11 6 6 .250 .316 .341 91 -3.1 -1.6 -1.9 -0.1
1981 CAL 32 103 432 90 18 1 17 42 51 7 3 3 .239 .322 .427 117 7.0 0.0 0.1 1.2
1982 CAL 33 157 680 160 24 1 24 57 69 7 10 4 .263 .329 .424 112 11.1 1.8 0.0 2.1
1983 NYA 34 144 597 162 33 3 21 40 53 13 17 7 .303 .361 .494 137 25.0 3.0 -0.2 3.6
1984 NYA 35 134 558 129 29 1 27 38 68 23 1 1 .262 .341 .489 137 25.1 -2.5 -0.4 3.0
1985 NYA 36 142 564 110 24 1 23 52 90 24 0 4 .231 .330 .430 112 9.7 0.3 0.0 1.6
1986 BOS 37 160 687 139 23 1 31 62 111 35 3 5 .238 .344 .439 119 16.3 -0.5 -1.3 2.2
1987 BOS 38 108 409 81 8 0 16 40 47 24 5 2 .239 .355 .404 112 6.3 0.2 0.0 1.1
1987 MIN 38 20 58 14 1 0 0 5 12 4 0 1 .286 .397 .306 113 0.9 -0.1 0.0 0.1
1988 OAK 39 92 313 58 7 0 7 34 44 12 0 1 .220 .332 .326 104 1.6 -2.3 0.0 0.3
Career229294012135366283388051069267285120.260.342.436120248.217.1-60.235.4

Statistics for All Levels

'opp' stats - Quality of opponents faced - have been moved and are available only as OPP_QUAL in the Statistics reports now.
Minor league stats are currently shownClick to hide.
YEAR Team Lg LG G PA oppAVG oppOBP oppSLG BABIP BPF BRAA repLVL POS_ADJ DRC+ DRC+ SD FRAA BRR DRAA BWARP
1970 BAL MLB AL 8 20 .242 .316 .366 .267 100 -0.8 0.5 -0.1 76 14 -0.3 0.4 -0.4 0.0
1971 BAL MLB AL 1 5 .247 .335 .341 .000 109 0.4 0.1 0 105 11 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.0
1972 BAL MLB AL 102 363 .239 .300 .347 .267 93 9.7 8.5 -2.3 122 12 -3.0 3.5 10.1 2.0
1973 BAL MLB AL 118 459 .264 .330 .388 .298 95 17 12.1 -3.1 114 13 -0.7 1.5 9.8 2.1
1974 BAL MLB AL 137 549 .258 .319 .372 .288 95 12.3 14.2 -3.9 112 9 -19.3 6.2 9.9 0.8
1975 BAL MLB AL 145 598 .260 .325 .385 .280 95 26.2 15.7 -3.9 138 13 -5.8 0.7 28.9 3.8
1976 OAK MLB AL 157 685 .253 .314 .358 .254 96 9.8 17.3 -8.5 112 12 -5.6 4.6 11.9 2.2
1977 CAL MLB AL 154 645 .265 .327 .405 .248 94 13.4 18.0 -7.9 111 13 -6.1 2.9 11.1 1.9
1978 CAL MLB AL 158 677 .260 .321 .383 .235 97 27 17.6 -9.6 131 8 -6.6 -2.5 25.8 2.7
1979 CAL MLB AL 162 722 .270 .329 .412 .271 96 46.4 20.2 -8.5 145 7 -9.2 1.6 41.4 4.7
1980 CAL MLB AL 90 380 .266 .325 .397 .260 99 -8.2 10.2 -4.3 91 10 -1.9 -1.6 -3.1 -0.1
1981 CAL MLB AL 103 432 .254 .317 .367 .232 98 6.8 10.9 -6.9 117 9 0.1 0.0 7.0 1.2
1982 CAL MLB AL 157 680 .265 .327 .406 .260 99 8.8 18.3 -11.7 112 12 0.0 1.8 11.1 2.1
1983 NYA MLB AL 144 597 .268 .328 .404 .301 96 33 16.2 -10.2 137 13 -0.2 3.0 25.0 3.6
1984 NYA MLB AL 134 558 .262 .321 .397 .254 95 25.6 14.9 -9.4 137 12 -0.4 -2.5 25.1 3.0
1985 NYA MLB AL 142 564 .262 .327 .410 .233 97 9.9 15.4 -9.8 112 8 0.0 0.3 9.7 1.6
1986 BOS MLB AL 160 687 .261 .327 .404 .241 101 14.4 19.0 -12 119 10 -1.3 -0.5 16.3 2.2
1987 BOS MLB AL 108 409 .264 .330 .421 .230 102 2.1 12.1 -7.5 112 7 0.0 0.2 6.3 1.1
1987 MIN MLB AL 20 58 .252 .324 .401 .378 106 -1.8 1.7 -1 113 7 0.0 -0.1 0.9 0.1
1988 OAK MLB AL 92 313 .266 .327 .400 .236 96 0.3 8.2 -5.1 104 10 0.0 -2.3 1.6 0.3

Statistics For All Levels

Minor league stats are currently shownClick to hide.
Year Team lvl LG PA AB R H 2B 3B HR TB RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG ISO SF SH
1970 BAL MLB AL 20 17 4 4 0 0 0 4 4 2 3 1 1 .235 .300 .235 .000 1 0
1971 BAL MLB AL 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 .000 .600 .000 .000 0 0
1972 BAL MLB AL 363 320 33 81 13 3 11 133 38 29 50 24 2 .253 .330 .416 .163 3 2
1973 BAL MLB AL 459 405 64 116 20 4 11 177 51 35 48 32 9 .286 .357 .437 .151 6 0
1974 BAL MLB AL 549 489 66 133 22 1 10 187 59 43 56 29 12 .272 .341 .382 .110 4 3
1975 BAL MLB AL 598 524 79 148 21 6 25 256 76 53 64 32 17 .282 .360 .489 .206 4 4
1976 OAK MLB AL 685 595 85 147 25 1 15 219 68 58 72 52 12 .247 .329 .368 .121 11 1
1977 CAL MLB AL 645 561 87 141 27 0 25 243 75 62 76 26 12 .251 .334 .433 .182 8 2
1978 CAL MLB AL 677 591 103 151 26 0 34 279 99 56 71 22 9 .255 .332 .472 .217 12 0
1979 CAL MLB AL 722 628 120 186 33 3 36 333 139 71 51 22 12 .296 .371 .530 .234 12 0
1980 CAL MLB AL 380 340 39 85 12 2 5 116 51 24 32 6 6 .250 .316 .341 .091 5 0
1981 CAL MLB AL 432 377 52 90 18 1 17 161 66 42 51 3 3 .239 .322 .427 .188 6 0
1982 CAL MLB AL 680 608 80 160 24 1 24 258 93 57 69 10 4 .263 .329 .424 .161 8 0
1983 NYA MLB AL 597 534 82 162 33 3 21 264 85 40 53 17 7 .303 .361 .494 .191 8 2
1984 NYA MLB AL 558 493 84 129 29 1 27 241 89 38 68 1 1 .262 .341 .489 .227 3 1
1985 NYA MLB AL 564 477 70 110 24 1 23 205 91 52 90 0 4 .231 .330 .430 .199 10 1
1986 BOS MLB AL 687 585 93 139 23 1 31 257 94 62 111 3 5 .238 .344 .439 .202 5 0
1987 BOS MLB AL 409 339 64 81 8 0 16 137 57 40 47 5 2 .239 .355 .404 .165 6 0
1987 MIN MLB AL 58 49 3 14 1 0 0 15 6 5 12 0 1 .286 .397 .306 .020 0 0
1988 OAK MLB AL 313 264 28 58 7 0 7 86 34 34 44 0 1 .220 .332 .326 .106 3 0

Plate Discipline

YEAR Pits Zone% Swing% Contact% Z-Swing% O-Swing% Z-Contact% O-Contact% SwStr% CSAA

Injury History  —  No longer being updated

Last Update: 12/31/2014 23:59 ET

Date On Date Off Transaction Days Games Side Body Part Injury Severity Surgery Date Reaggravation
1980-05-10 1980-06-26 47 40 Left Wrist Surgery Fracture 1980-05-13 -

Compensation

Year Team Salary

 

Service TimeAgentContract Status

Details

2019 Preseason Forecast

Last Update: 1/27/2017 12:35 ET

PCT PA R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG DRC+ VORP FRAA WARP
Weighted Mean???????00??.000.000.00000.0?0.0

BP Annual Player Comments

No BP Book Comments have been found for this player.

BP Articles

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BP Chats

DateQuestionAnswer
2012-08-01 13:00:00 (link to chat)I was at the Seaver game and, if I recall correctly, it was Phil Rizzuto too and they brought a cow onto the field. My clearest memory is Don Baylor coming up in the ninth and hitting the ball to the warning track to end the game on what was almost a tying or winning home run.
(edwardarthur from Illinois)
You have a good memory, edwardarthur! Baylor just missed a sinker and hit one of the tallest fly balls I have ever seen, but it was caught by Reid Nichols in LF. I spoke with Don about this years later, and he knew he was on it, just enough off the barrel to stay in the park. And yes, I think there might have been a cow on the field pre-game! (Dan Evans)
2008-02-28 14:00:00 (link to chat)Christina, great work over the offseason, as always. My question is about roster construction, and specifically the hitter/pitcher divide. It seems like it was just yesterday that we were mocking the Rockies and/or Don Baylor for taking 12 pitchers, but at least it was mildly defensible on the grounds that they needed extra arms to throw in Coors Field. Now we're at a point where almost everyone is at a 13/12 divide. What the heck happened, and what do you think are the chances of some squad going back to 15/10 simply by employing 2 good long men in the pen at all times?
(ElAngelo from New York, NY)
Baylor's mistake was that he made that choice for a post-season roster. While I would like to see more teams invest the roster space in observing one of Earl Weaver's rules and put their young starters in long relief roles, and thereby save themselves multiple spots sunk on multiple situational playthings in the pen, you could also save roster space by effectively committing to a four-man rotation that exploits the fact that we're in a world that doesn't have doubleheaders and a schedule that features plenty of off-days to reduce the fifth slot to a sometime thing. That might mean shorter starts for the front four, and it might not, but I think we're at a point where the industry has probably overcorrected, costing us the next Jack Morris or Tom Seaver.

You could also expand your roster by not resorting to Eck-style closer usage patterns--make the money pitcher for the endgame something more than a sundae's cherry, and you'll get more quality innings. Condition them to be Eck-style closers, and you're investing a roster spot on a single-purpose single-inning reliever, forcing you to commit to 11 at the outset, and making 12 seems plausible.

Now, to be fair to major league managers, managing pitching staffs involves anticipating a lot of different scenarios, not all of them happy, and committing resources in the form of those roster spots. But it can also mean not giving lineups the same depth of consideration, because you know you'll have nine guys out there, and beyond someone who can play the corners, someone who can play the outfield, and someone who can catch, you figure you're covered. It's not the way I look at the problem of in-game tactics or in-season operations, but I was reading Earl Weaver's books at an impressionable age. (Christina Kahrl)


BP Roundtables

DateRoundtable NameComment
2009-11-02 17:00:002009 WS Game FiveMy point's this: Victorino squares to bunt as the pitch is delivered, and flinches when the pitch comes inside. It wasn't Don Baylor turning a shoulder and taking his base. It's interesting that this comes up at the same time as people complaining about Ruiz blocking the plate without the ball. (Christina Kahrl)