Oakland Athletics: 30 Worst Players in Franchise History

Scott Hemond

Serving as a back-up catcher to Terry Steinbach during parts of the 1989 to 1994 seasons, 1986 first round draft pick Scott Hemond never met expectations and seemed satisfied with his role as just a “back-up”, with a career .217 batting average.

Coming out of the University of South Florida where he was a two-time All American, Hemond was of high interest to many teams and was touted as one of ESPN’s ‘Top Three” picks coming out of the draft. Going into his first season of minor league ball, Hemond was the 1986 Batting Champ (.305) and Cape Cod League MVP – but the highlights end there.

Hemond’s best season with the Athletics was 1993 when he appeared in 91 games, hitting .256 with 6 HRs, after Steinbach landed on the disabled list for part of the season due to a broken wrist after the All-Star break.

In 1993, Hemond had a .990 fielding percentage and 10 passed balls, and he was no better than average at throwing out runners. Because of this lack of success behind the dish, he was tried as a back-up infielder due to injuries to Mark McGwire and Carney Lansford that season. He appeared in 43 games at first, second and third base with only 39 games behind the plate that season. His .960 fielding percentage around the horn and .222 BA (only .280 OBP) at the plate showed that wasn’t going to work either, and he was released at season’s end.

Although he set a single-season base stealing mark for Oakland Athletics catchers, with 14 – as if the A’s have ever had base thieves that were also backstops – Hemond also was not the best base runner, getting thrown out at ill-opportune times trying to stretch out hits. In his career, he got caught stealing 13 times in 31 attempts (including 6 of 13 in ’94) while with the A’s.

In 1995 Hemond was picked up by the Cardinals and got into 57 games. He hit just .144 in that final stint in the majors.

Next: The Worst A's Players in History: Herb Washington