Is Ben Francisco having the worst April ever for a Yankee?

My first thought was to make this a one-word article:

Yes.

But I decided not to give him the title if he did not truly earn the crown. Given all of the injuries, most fans have to be reasonably satisfied with winning over 60 percent of the games to start the season. There is nothing remotely reasonable with Ben Francisco's production over the first month of the season.

G: 12

PA: 33

H: 3

XBH: 0

BB: 3

BA: .103

OBP: .212

SLG: .103

wOBA: .165

To put some of that into perspective, Brendan Ryan, the best fielding shortstop in the majors, just got benched and his wOBA so far is .186. Francisco has received almost all of his plate appearances from the Designated Hitter spot. If the Yankees continue to give at bats to Francisco, he is obviously going to hit better. He could not possibly do worse, but now that the month is almost done, let's just see how historically bad the results on the field have been.

Using the play index at baseball-reference.com I narrowed down some finalists. From 1916 to 2013, there have been seven players with an on base percentage less than .225 and a slugging percentage less than .150 in at least 30 plate appearances and playing in at least ten games over the month of April.

Roger Peckinpaugh (1916)

Peckinpaugh had a truly dreadful month at the plate with slash lines of .133/152/133, getting only six singles and a walk in 47 plate appearances. However, he did so while playing shortstop and also stole three bases.

Ed Levy (1942)

Levy managed five singles and four walks in 45 plate appearances for a slash line of .122/200/.122. He did steal a base and play first base. Those would be the only at bats he would receive. His career was interrupted by World War II.

Dick Howser (1968)

Howser put up the worst OPS of the bunch with a meager .280 in 38 plate appearances. That would be his final year on the field, playing mostly second base in the Year of the Pitcher.

Mike Ferraro (1968)

Another Year of the Pitcher victim, Ferraro actually has the highest batting average of the bunch at .148, all singles. He only managed one walk and played third base for the Yankees.

Bill Robinson (1969)

Robinson managed only three hits in 44 plate appearances, but also walked five times and two of the three hits were doubles. He played all three outfield positions.

Lou Piniella (1980)

Lou managed five hits including a double to go along with four walks in 45 plate appearances while playing left field. His .346 OPS is tops among this group.

Choosing a truly worst candidate is difficult, but for me Francisco wins it. All of these other guys contributed in the field, some stole a base or got an extra base hit. Francisco has not done any of those things, unless you count three innings in the outfield. Who am I kidding, Francisco is the choice because he is playing this year and it's no fun to complain about what Roger Peckinpaugh did in 1916.