With just one-sixth of the season completed, Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons had already grounded into a majors-leading 10 double plays in 27 games before Wednesday, putting him on a pace that would shatter all records in that category.
Jim Rice grounded into 36 double plays in 1984, and the former Red Sox slugger also has the second-highest total with 35 GIDPs in 1985. No one else has grounded into more than 32 double plays in a season.
“Hitting into double plays is a bad thing – always,” said Simmons, who grounded into 25 double plays in 2014, second-most in the National League behind Miami’s Casey McGehee (31) and just ahead of Braves teammate Chris Johnson (23). “I don’t like hitting into double plays. I’m not trying to. But sometimes they go to the wrong place.
“I’d rather pop them up or hit a line drive, but sometimes it rolls right to the shortstop of second base.”
Fortunately for Simmons and the Braves, the defensive whiz has had an otherwise strong start to the season offensively. Simmons was 7-for-17 with three extra-base hits and four walks in his past five games, raising his average to .275 and his on-base percentage to .345 with 10 extra-base hits.
His 14 RBIs were tied for second-most on the team before Wednesday’s series finale against the Phillies, and Simmons had only five strikeouts including none in his past eight games.
He had also grounded into five double plays in the past six games including once in each of the past three games, prompting teammate Freddie Freeman to kid him during batting practice Wednesday about going for the record of consecutive games with a GIDP.
The fact that Simmons makes so much contact – 54.8 percentage of his swings put balls in play, third-most in the NL – and is a right-handed hitter without great speed all contribute to his double-play frequency.
He’s so extraordinary defensively, the team views his offense almost as a bonus. The two-time Gold Glove winner will turn a whole lot more double plays than he grounds into, that much is certain. But Simmons doesn’t just shrug off grounding into double plays. He doesn’t like it.
“I’m not too concerned about it, though,” he said. “As long as we win.”
He smiled and added, “I could start hitting fly balls. Those don’t cause double plays.”
