White Sox leadoff man Alejandro De Aza was threatening to go the whole year without grounding into a double play, but his long streak ended in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s loss to the Indians.
With Gordon Beckham on first and the White Sox down by two, De Aza hit a grounder to second and the Indians managed to turn two despite De Aza’s hustle down the line. The Indians went on to win 4-3.
Before that grounder, De Aza had 570 plate appearances this season without a GIDP. Baseball-reference has double play data since 1939 and only two players have ever had more plate appearances in a year without ever grounding into a double play. Houston’s Craig Biggio went an incredible 744 plate appearances in 1997 without ever hitting into one. The Tigers’ Dick McAuliffe is No. 2 on the list. He had 658 plate appearances in 1968.
