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Scott Spiezio
Time with Angels: 2000-2003
Stats: .268/.341/.446/.787, 58 HR, 268 RBI, 474 H, 110 2B, 253 R, 105 OPS+
Baseball Reference WAR: 6.3
FanGraphs WAR: 6.5
Combined WAR: 6.4
After spending the first four seasons of his career with the Oakland A’s, Scott Spiezio signed with the Angels in January of 2000.
He missed about 40 games during his first season in Anaheim, but still had the best OPS (.799) of his career up to that point. Though he played in only 123 games, he still hit 17 home runs and drove in 49. Nearly half of his time was spent as a pinch-hitter. He started 69 games, and came off the bench in 54.
Spiezio was a much better hitter when he started games. In 69 games as a starter he had an OPS of .833 and had 15 home runs. Had he started 162 games, that would have been a pace of 35 home runs.
He got more opportunity in 2001, as he started 114 games while coming off the bench for 25. Yet again, he was significantly better when he was a starter. In those 114 games he started, Spiezio hit .276 with 13 home runs and 52 RBI. He also had 121 hits and scored 55 runs.
For about two months, Spiezio was the best hitter on the Angels. Over a 51 game stretch from July 8 through September 2, he hit .339/.388/.566/.954 with nine home runs, 29 RBI and 64 hits. He had 19 multi-hit games during that time.
For the third year in a row, Spiezio’s playing time went up. He played in 153 games in 2002, starting 133 of them. Overall, this was his most productive year at the plate for the Angels, as he hit .285 with an OPS of .807. After a rough April, he was consistent at the plate the rest of the season, hitting just under .300 from May through the end of September.
Spiezio was fantastic for the Angels during their 2002 World Series run. He started 16 games, hitting .327/.424/.600/1.024 with three home runs and 19 RBI. One of those home runs came in Game 6 of the World Series, and might be the biggest home run in the history of the franchise.
2003 was his final year with the Angels. He played in a career-high 158 games and hit .265/.326/.453/.779. Spiezio added 16 homers and 83 RBI, the most he drove in during his career. He also finished with 138 hits, two shy from tying a career-high that was set the previous year.
That offseason, Spiezio signed a free-agent contract with the Seattle Mariners.