My hometown hit a new low for degrees below zero early Saturday morning. Don’t get excited, that’s for the season, I’ve been through 40 below before but luckily that was in the 90’s.
But 22 below will make you think about a few things. That is, until you’re hit by five feet of snow two days later and the brain switches into physical labor mode.
One of those things I was thinking about was a series I did on this blog sometimes, and by “sometimes” I mean twice. I did it once in 2014 and once in 2021. I wanted to do a few more, but I often forget. Probably all that snow.
The series is based on what I did with my cards when I was younger: I would go through an entire set and determine which players had the worst batting averages in their careers. I placed the 10 worst on the floor and moved the cards forward when a new contender joined the bottom 10.
So in 2014 I determined the bottom 10 for 1979 Topps. Then in 2021 I found the bottom 10 for 1989 Topps. This time I wanted to do something different. I wanted to see what passes for the bottom 10 these days. I pulled out my complete 2024 Topps set.
Considering how low batting average is valued these days, I wondered what those bottom 10 batting averages would look like. And who would those players be, maybe a few stars instead of the role players I showed in 1979 and 1989?
Well, I did find something, but not exactly what I thought I’d find. Let’s see if you can find it too. All ten of these cards have something in common. I bet it won’t last long.
.160
10. Tyler Soderstrom, Athletics
The “highest” of the bottom 10 is already this place’s worst in the three years I’ve covered. A batting average of .160 would be third worst in 1979 and second worst in 1989.
Soderstrom has risen quite a bit in batting average and in many other categories. And he doesn’t represent most of the players I found on the 1979 and 1989 bottom 10 lists.
.151
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9. Everson Pereira, Yankees
Everson Pereira, on the other hand, is more in line with the support staff from 1979 and 1989. At least for now.
.143
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8. Jonathan Ornelas, Rangers
Even more than two years after the 2023 stats on the back, Jonathan Ornelas has played just 32 total games in the Majors. I don’t think this would even warrant a card in 1979 or 1989, but I’ll get to that more later. Can you see what each of these cards represents?
.129
7. Jordan Lawlar, Diamondbacks
Jordan Lawlar would have the worst career batting average in the 1989 set and the second worst in 1979. He is still at .165 for the career.
.128
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6. Jordyn Adams, Angels
I can’t say his name rings a bell, nor do I remember drawing this card. After three years, he has played a total of 38 games and is hitting .165.
.115
5. Colton Cowser, Orioles
Like Tyler Soderstrom, Colton Cowser has blossomed since this card came out. However, he has slipped a bit in 2025 and his career average is still nothing to write home about. Furthermore, this .115 average is worse than anything in 1979 or 1989. DO YOU STILL FIND COMMUNITY?
.100
4. Kyren Parijs, Angels
Do you think the thrill of showing up on your rookie card in a Topps set would be somewhat diminished by that .100 career average on the back? I don’t know, but that’s exactly the kind of thing we’d laugh at ourselves about as card-collecting youngsters.
Paris has only played 80 games in his career and is strolling along at a career average of .157.
.000
3. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
Yes, a batting average of zeros, on the back of your baseball card. I would say this is a first in my experience, but of course we are only at number 3 in the countdown and I also seem to remember a card from the 1950s that had an average of .000. I’ll look that up.
Crow-Armstrong has done well, just look at his 2025 season – or listen to me when I complain that his Heritage card is the only thing keeping me from completing the set.
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2. Irving Lopez, Cardinals
Another zero-zero-zero guy, Irving Lopez hasn’t returned to the Majors since his five-game stint in 2023 – yes, five games.
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1. Jose Rodriguez, White Sox
Also listed at .000, but you can hardly blame him. He’s only played one Major League game and he hasn’t even made a plate appearance, so his average isn’t actually .000. He doesn’t even have an average! So I guess I should have left Rodriguez off the list, but Topps threw me off. Thanks Topps.
And by now you’ve probably figured out what all ten of these cards have in common. They are all rookie cards.
To be fair, there were a few newcomers in the bottom ten of 1979 and 1989, increasing each year. The 1979 list had two. The 1989 list had seven. By 2024 it will all be 10.
Players with limited playing time are naturals for a list like this. They’re still sensing things and players who continue to produce at such a low level aren’t going to stick around for long. But that is even more the case now than in 1979.
To illustrate, here’s a breakdown of each year and the average of career games, at-bats and years of service for the 10:
Every card in the bottom 10 for 2024 is of a hitter who played exactly one year in the Majors. There is no Bill Plummer (10 years) or Jim Mason (8 years) in the bottom 10 for 2024.
Also with an average of 17.1 games for the 2024 boys, I’m pretty sure Topps wouldn’t have even bothered putting a card of them in the 1979 or 1989 set in most cases, or at best putting them on a three-player rookie star card.
This is another example of how the dominance of rookie cards has affected virtually everything in collecting. Even obsessive, meaningless rankings like this.
Anyway, I plan to keep doing this – hopefully more often – because there is definitely a pattern and I’d like to see if it’s steady progress or not.
#Reached