The 540 club: Less pain this year

Oh, the agony of watching one of your star players fall just shy of the 550-at-bat mark that would make them unlimited in I-75 League play.

A year ago, Joey Votto was Captain Unfortunate, falling short by just three at-bats at 547 and ultimately leading Savannah manager Steve Hart to trade him to Margaritaville. But Votto still had 96 at-bats left in him heading into October play.  Masher Miguel Cabrera has had his 548 at-bats nursed by Superior manager Mike Renbarger, and Cabrera came into October with just 41 at-bats to play with in the heat of a divisional race.  With 543 at-bats available to the Bushwood Gophers, Hanley Ramirez has found himself batting ninth in the order a lot to protect his plate appearance count. He had 72 at-bats going into October.

But going into the 2012 season, the close-but-no-cigar list is marked by several players who are not having impact years offensively (Chatfield’s Alcides Escobar, 548 at-bats, hit .254; Wisconsin’s Casey McGehee, 546 ABs, hit .223; Superior’s Kelly Johnson, 545 ABs, hit .222). The noteworthy exceptions and qualifiers on this year’s hard-luck list are:

1. Paul Konerko, 1B, Wisconsin. Fourth on this list last year, Konerko moves to the top with a 31-homer, .300 season accomplished in 543 at-bats. We’re guessing Wisconsin manager Dan Wilson would have gladly taken an 0-for-7 in order to get Konerko unlimited. This year he’s been splitting Wisconsin time with Prince Fielder, an arrangement likely to continue, so maybe the Warhawks won’t be scrimping and scraping all season anyway.

2. Derek Jeter, SS, Bismarck. Presuming Jeter gets a decent fielding rating, it would be nice to throw him in the lineup as an everyday shortstop and not have to worry about counting ABs. The Bombers may not have to anyway; Jeter is skewed toward lefties, and his card against righties will either have him out of the lineup or batting low enough that 546 ABs will be quite manageable.

3. Victor Martinez, DH, Margaritaville. Switch-hitter hit .330 in 540 ABs, but since he’ll likely see little time in the field, DH is one of the easiest positions to conserve at-bats at, so the Volcanoes may not feel the pain too severely.