[Mick]

22) Who is the position player with the most innings pitched in the Wild Card era? (hint: he started a game for the Padres and gave up one run in six innings).  Jason Lane, who was a position player between 2002 and 2007 mainly for Houston, lost his hitting stroke, played in AAA for six more years, then decided he wanted to pitch.  Tried it as a lark in 2009 and 2010, got six starts (again, all at AAA) in 2011, then started 24 games at AAA in 2014.  He got called up to MLB, seven years after he appeared as a batter.  He got a start, gave up one run in six innings, pitched 10 1/3 innings overall with a 0.87 ERA in the majors, and a 0.677 WHIP.  Next year, back to the minors, where he went 10-10 in 28 starts.  Allowed a .202 OBP in MLB.

re: #22…

Rick Ankiel pitched 242 innings in his career.  The catch is that he started his career as a pitcher and ended it as a position player.  Wouldn’t that be the correct answer?

No.  The same could be said for Babe Ruth and Lefty O'Doul.  All three were professional pitchers, either successfully or unsuccessfully, but they were pitchers in the main at the start of their careers.  And conversely, there were many players who started out as position players, but became professional pitchers (Tim Wakefield, Trevor Hoffman, Dave Stieb, Troy Percival, etc.)

I was referring exclusively to players like Pablo Sandoval who were full time position players from the beginning.

What about Chris Gimenez? he was a catcher/first baseman for the Indians and other teams from 2009 through 2018 who recorded over 1,000  plates appearances but he was called upon to finish blowouts sometimes, and ended up with 11 innings pitched in the major leagues before he was done, which is 2/3 of an inning more than Jason Lane.

You're right, it's Gimenez.  Not only more batters (11 vs. 10 1/3), he's thrown the most pitches by a position player, 167.  Christian Bettencourt threw 150, Lane threw 141.  Lane was by far the better of the three.

Not-so-odd trivia: since 2008, the Giants have used the fewest position players to pitch in MLB.  When Sandoval pitched on 4/28/18, it was the first Giants position player to pitch since Greg Litton pitched the last inning of a 14-6 blowout on the 4th of July in 1991.

[Mick]

22) Who is the position player with the most innings pitched in the Wild Card era? (hint: he started a game for the Padres and gave up one run in six innings).  Jason Lane, who was a position player between 2002 and 2007 mainly for Houston, lost his hitting stroke, played in AAA for six more years, then decided he wanted to pitch.  Tried it as a lark in 2009 and 2010, got six starts (again, all at AAA) in 2011, then started 24 games at AAA in 2014.  He got called up to MLB, seven years after he appeared as a batter.  He got a start, gave up one run in six innings, pitched 10 1/3 innings overall with a 0.87 ERA in the majors, and a 0.677 WHIP.  Next year, back to the minors, where he went 10-10 in 28 starts.  Allowed a .202 OBP in MLB.

re: #22…

Rick Ankiel pitched 242 innings in his career.  The catch is that he started his career as a pitcher and ended it as a position player.  Wouldn’t that be the correct answer?

No.  The same could be said for Babe Ruth and Lefty O'Doul.  All three were professional pitchers, either successfully or unsuccessfully, but they were pitchers in the main at the start of their careers.  And conversely, there were many players who started out as position players, but became professional pitchers (Tim Wakefield, Trevor Hoffman, Dave Stieb, Troy Percival, etc.)

I was referring exclusively to players like Pablo Sandoval who were full time position players from the beginning.

What about Chris Gimenez? he was a catcher/first baseman for the Indians and other teams from 2009 through 2018 who recorded over 1,000  plates appearances but he was called upon to finish blowouts sometimes, and ended up with 11 innings pitched in the major leagues before he was done, which is 2/3 of an inning more than Jason Lane.

You're right, it's Gimenez.  Not only more batters (11 vs. 10 1/3), he's thrown the most pitches by a position player, 167.  Christian Bettencourt threw 150, Lane threw 141.  Lane was by far the better of the three.

Not-so-odd trivia: since 2008, the Giants have used the fewest position players to pitch in MLB.  When Sandoval pitched on 4/28/18, it was the first Giants position player to pitch since Greg Litton pitched the last inning of a 14-6 blowout on the 4th of July in 1991.