|
|
|
|
|
|
Vina Masters The Art Of Taking One For Team, Boosts His On-Base Rate
By Mike Eisenbath of the Post-Dispatch
August 24, 2000
When Fernando Vina attended junior college in Sacramento, his baseball coach would line up all the players on the team and throw whiffle balls at them. The purpose of the drill was for each player to roll his body inward and allow himself to get hit by the pitch.
Vina apparently learned better than most.
He was hit twice by pitches Tuesday night. He has been plunked by pitches a major-league-leading 22 times, five more than any other player.
"I don't have a fear of it," Vina said. "Some people do. And it does hurt more than a whiffle ball. Either I just have a gift for not being afraid of it, or I'm more stupid than everyone else."
He has concentrated on "taking it for the team," he says, more often the past several years. He set a Brewers single-season record when he was hit by 13 pitches in 1996, then almost doubled his own record when he was nailed 25 times last season.
It's all about improving his on-base percentage, which he considers a most vital statistic in his role as leadoff man. In the preseason, Vina set a goal of reaching base 38 percent of the time. Before Wednesday's game, he was slightly better than that at .390.
"With this lineup and the guys hitting behind me, I've got to get on base as often as I can," Vina said. "It doesn't matter how I do it."
The single-season Cardinals record for being hit by a pitch is 31, set by Lou Evans in 1910.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
|
| |
