Many Good Hitters Still Stuck Under Mendoza Line

By Dan Schlossberg

Quick! What do Corbin Carroll, Cedric Mullins, Randy Arozarena, and D.J. Stewart have in common?

Answer: they all limped through the first two months of the 2024 season with batting averages below the Mendoza Line.

And they weren’t alone.

Throw in George Springer, Daniel Vogelbach, Chris Vasquez, Chris Taylor, Hunter Renfroe, Sean Murphy, Adam Duvall, Vaughn Grissom, and Yan Gomes, among others.

Even Aaron Judge and Matt Olson struggled mightily well into May before righting their ships.

What gives?

Mario Mendoza spent nine years in the majors but didn’t hit much.Photo byPittsburgh Pirates

Named after Mario Mendoza, a good-field, no-hit shortstop who’s been out of the majors for 36 years, the Mendoza Line refers to players with batting averages above or below .200.

In five of his nine major-league season, the 5-11, 170-pound Mexican hit less than .200, bottoming out with a .118 average for Texas in 1982.

But at least he wasn’t Luis Pujols, a third-string catcher who hit .193 over nine seasons.

Like Mendoza, he stayed afloat solely because of his glovework.

Mendoza, the 28th Mexican native to reach the majors, is actually a member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a minor-league manager and coach for years after he left the big leagues.

But Mexicans remember the bespectacled infielder as Manos des Seda — SilkHands in English. The guy could really pick it at short.

He even helped thwart George Brett’s quest for a .400 season late in the 1980 season by making three tough plays against the Kansas City superstar during a series in Seattle.

Ironically, it was the brainy Brett who gets the credit for creating the “Mendoza Line” tag. He once told Kansas City writers that “the first thing I look for in the Sunday papers is who is below the Mendoza Line.”

Mendoza argues that Bruce Bochte and Tom Paciorek, his teammates in Seattle, were the originators, one year earlier. “They were giving George a hard time because he had a slow start and told him, ‘Hey man, you’re going to sink down below the Mendoza Line if you’re not careful.’”

Then Brett mentioned it to Chris Berman, Mendoza said, and the new nickname stuck.

For Mendoza, the appelation was well deserved: he had four home runs in 1415 plate appearances. Plenty of pitchers hit more, with Rick Wise hitting a pair and pitching a no-hitter in the same game.

Mendoza played for the Pirates, Mariners, and Rangers, hitting a combined .215 with a .245 on-base percentage. Outfielders came in when he came up to bat.

But teams loved his defense. The M’s even used him in 148 games in a single season.

He never made the All-Star team — not even as a defensive replacement — but Mario Mendoza’s name lives in baseball history.

Former AP newsman Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers the game for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, MLB Report, and Here’s The Pitch, among others. He also finds time to write baseball books, including the new Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.