Outfielder Chili Davis did two tours of duty in Anaheim. He signed as a free agent for three seasons with the Angels before the 1988 season. He went to Minnesota as a free agent for two years, won a ring with the Twins in the first and re-signed with the Halos for 1993. He then was traded after the 1996 season to the Royals (infamously bringing Mark Gubicza to the club for a terrible stint as a pitcher but an enjoyable tenure as a broadcaster). He ended up winning two more rings with the Yankees on 1998 and 99.
All that playing time gave him plenty of Angels records. His 4,031 Plate Appearances ranks thirteenth most by an Angels player. His On Base Percentage (.365) ranks eighth and his Slugging % (.464) eleventh, but most impressive is when you combine the two – his .829 OPS ranks eighth best in club history but many of the seven men on that chart, five have less than half the Plate Appearances as an Angel of Chili. Only Tim Salmon and Mike Trout have more PA with the club than him with a higher Slugging %.
Chili is also in the club Top Fifteen for some counting stats – Home Runs (156, 8th), RBI (618, 7th), Hits (973, 13th), Total Bases (1,620, 12th) and Runs Scored (520, 15th).
Wait a minute, why is a guy with these numbers ranked only 46th-best in club history? Well…
Chili ranks 15th in outs made (2,691) 11th in strikeouts (713) and 6th in GIDP – he grounded into 108 double plays. He started 586 games as Designated Hitter, just a squeak behind Brian Downing’s 598 games as a DH. When calculating a player’s all around value, Designated Hitter does pull one down a lot. It is notable that the Angels have not had a consistent DH of more than two seasons since Chili’s last year unless you count Shohei Ohtani and he is a part time pitcher really. But all of this is to really ignore one salient point. Chili was a terrible outfielder. Based on number of chances given to field the ball, Chili may be the worst defender in the history of the franchise.
How bad was he? His Defensive Wins Above Replacement was in negative territory. How negative? Negative 9.4 dWAR. -9.4 is just a pit from whence it is impossible to climb out. So despite the Ks and the GIDPs, had Chili just been ensconced as the DH for his entire tenure as an Angel he would certainly rank higher on this list considering his offensive numbers. But the games lost on his watch in the field render him fortunate to still be in the top 50.
my Chili memory is one afternoon looking over the top row grandstand in PS during ST and see him sitting there and talking to a young Devon White.
Chili was a good dude and disappointed we never brought him back as a coach
I loved Chili Davis from the early days in SF – was stoked to see hi as an Angel the first time – and then the second time he really rounded out the lineup. His 1995 was bad ass.
Are there enough players for an all food lineup?
we are pescatarians in these parts
Yeah gidp will certainly hurt your list rankings.
Tell that to Pujols.