2011 saw the advacement of some veteran players, the entrance of some talented rookies and the return of a future Hall of Famer. Some of these players used the season to add themselves to the annuls of Tribe lore, entering or maintaining their positions in the Cleveland Indians all time career statistical leader charts.
Jim Thome
The return of Jim Thome was a welcome surprise in 2011. He already lead the team in a few statistical categories over his career and, while he didn’t move up any, he did add a few more numbers to his already gaudy stats. Thome currently leads all Indians all time in career home runs (337), walks (1,008) and strike outs (1,400). Thome has about 150 more home runs, almost 500 home runs and more than 500 more strike outs than the next best active Indian in all those categories. Coincidentally, that Indian is Travis Hafner in all three cases. Thome remains where he stood in the top ten in runs (4th all time with 928), doubles (10th with 263), RBI (2nd with 937), total bases (4th with 2,667), OBP (3rd with .414), slugging percent (4th with .566), OPS (second with .980) and ISO (2nd with .279).
The Bullpen Mafia
As with the single season records, many career records were imposed upon by this year’s bullpen, mostly due to the recency of the use of a bullpen and certain relief stats. Four pitchers moved into the top 8 in career holds as an Indian this season, replacing such lofty names as Scott Sauerbeck and Jensen Lewis. Those pitchers were Rafael Perez (2nd place with 69 holds), Tony Sipp (3rd with 48), Joe Smith (5th with 42) and Vinnie Pestano (8th with 23). The all time record holder remains Rafael Betancourt wi 84, but he could be unseated as soon as next season if Perez has another great season.
Chris Perez also moved his name up in the record books in both saves and save opportunities. Perez is now 5th all time in saves with 68, directly trailing Mike Jackson‘s 94 and ultimately behind Bob Wickman‘s 139. He is second in save opportunities (83), because they have not been keeping track of those as long as they have been saves.
Negative Records
Fausto Carmona has surprisingly hit the 4th most batters of all Indians pitchers ever. This is despite being 40th in innings pitched. His 58 hit batters is only one behind Mel Harder and two behind Bob Feller, basically making him a lock for second if he plays at all next season. George Uhle remains on top with 95. Uhle, Harder and Feller all pitched at least 1,300 more innings than Carmona has to this point.
While Thome maintains his crown as the all-time strike out king, his spot is not as safe as it should be. Moving up the line, Travis Hafner is now second all time wi 833 k’s and Grady Sizemore is 4th with 816. Good thing Manny Acta fired John Nunnally so they won’t strike out anymore.
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