Danny McClellan

Danny McClellan was roughly league average as a pitcher and as a hitter–and a two-way player that is average each way has real value when constructing a roster. He was at his best overall from 1904 to 1907 and had an offensive resurgence late in his career. Don’t read too much into that–McClellan was never a threat for the leaderboards either way, but he certainly warranted a spot in the lineup most days.

He’s better remembered on the mound, so let’s start there.

McClellan had exceptional control, which compensated for a tendency to give up a lot of hits. He struck out his fair share of batters, but no more than that, and did a decent job of keeping the ball in the ballpark. Like a lot of the 2-way players, he had a fair number of relief appearances, but McClellan for some reason had fewer of those than others. In 1904 and 1906 to 1908, he deserved a regular rotation spot on a good team; for the rest of his career, he was serviceable until the early 1910s, when he declined fast (indeed, his last year on the mound could have been any season from 1911 on).

At bat, he was essentially a slap hitter, but better than most. He didn’t hit for much power and didn’t take many walks, but had a little speed and didn’t strike out terribly often. McClellan usually played in the OF, and while he was decent in RF, he was not good in CF, although he played there a lot–presumably a testament to his athleticism and his very strong arm. He had a smattering of ineffective innings at 1B and 2B as well.

As always, usage projections for 2-way players are one of the thing subject to quite a bit of churn in future iterations. Beyond that, I like this set of numbers for McClellan. He was a borderline all-star a few years, clearly a useful piece, but never a true star. That could change if his pitching performance improves by projecting fewer hits allowed–that could quite easily move his WHIP into a front-of-rotation range. I could also see him, especially from 1906 through 1910, getting a dozen more starts each year, which would also of course increase his value (the argument against this is that McClellan was never the #1 starter on his team, even through those years).

NameDanny McClellan
ID / Statusmcclel000dan / Draft
PosP
DOB / i9s Career07/01/1878 / 1903 - 1913
BirthplaceNorfolk, VA (USA)
Height / Weight5'5" / 168
B / TL / L

 

Batting Projections

YearABH2B3BHRBBSOSBCSBAOBPSLGOPS
1899366113124025191670.3090.3530.3630.716
1900298799201621650.2650.3030.3090.611
190130176140018311040.2520.2950.2990.594
19021935510311017620.2850.3200.3830.704
1903195399102124620.2000.2780.2560.534
1904217527201722730.2400.2950.2900.585
190531280124026391540.2560.3140.3210.634
19061794051016231320.2230.2870.2630.550
190738798123031321850.2530.3090.3000.608
19084209482024401850.2240.2660.2520.518
190930992113124281350.2980.3480.3620.711
1910224335001533320.1470.2010.1700.370
19112595512202935540.2120.2920.2740.566
1912194627001627540.3200.3710.3560.727
1913167465101524430.2750.3350.3170.653

 

Pitching Projections

YearGGSIPHAWKHRAeDeTeHBPBB/9H/9K/9ERAWHIP
18992822188.0169394010071.98.11.92.901.11
19002019153.0188414440072.411.12.63.931.50
19012215132.0148294340052.010.12.93.551.34
19022014121.0143274410042.010.63.33.421.40
19032823200.0249489420072.211.24.23.631.49
19043623216.01904010920061.77.94.52.221.06
19052724204.0210469130062.09.34.03.011.25
19063528249.0237508940061.88.63.22.731.15
19072620175.0142426920052.27.33.52.151.05
19082214132.0116275010031.87.93.42.311.08
19092818168.0179395820042.19.63.13.051.30
19102214135.0135275130031.89.03.42.901.20
19111613111.0149304930032.412.14.04.341.61
191219580.0101212910022.411.43.34.141.53
1913141293.0127202810021.912.32.74.321.58