Royals Killers

The Baseball Reference Play Index, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, has a new batting splits function (currently in beta) that I've of course fallen into a wormhole playing with. Below are a bunch of lists of the hitters who have faced the Royals the most or done the most damage against them. First up are the top 20 players by plate appearances against the Royals and their stats in those PAs:

Rk	Player	From	To	G	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Paul Konerko	1999	2012	225	949	117	222	40	0	42	142	107	137	.271	.360	.473	.834
2	Paul Molitor	1978	1998	205	920	125	242	46	5	17	81	76	89	.293	.352	.423	.775
3	Cal Ripken	1981	2001	206	885	125	237	50	6	37	130	86	83	.303	.371	.524	.895
4	Reggie Jackson	1969	1987	223	873	105	196	32	1	37	126	97	172	.256	.340	.445	.785
5	Rod Carew	1969	1985	205	862	107	263	38	14	10	90	83	61	.345	.408	.471	.880
6	Rickey Henderson	1979	2002	189	853	143	199	35	2	17	62	133	98	.283	.401	.411	.812
7	Robin Yount	1974	1993	198	836	113	232	50	7	18	94	50	91	.303	.347	.458	.805
8	Harold Baines	1980	2000	203	824	91	220	42	2	27	101	71	114	.294	.353	.464	.817
9	Magglio Ordonez	1997	2011	190	823	112	234	45	0	31	131	52	85	.310	.355	.492	.847
10	Wade Boggs	1982	1999	183	808	100	230	34	5	7	62	106	43	.332	.418	.426	.844
11	Frank Thomas	1990	2007	182	802	120	199	45	0	37	121	122	86	.303	.411	.540	.952
12	Lou Whitaker	1978	1995	184	801	98	197	45	5	18	79	84	87	.283	.360	.440	.800
13	Omar Vizquel	1989	2012	199	790	101	190	23	3	7	57	76	61	.278	.347	.351	.698
14	Jim Thome	1992	2011	193	787	133	194	34	1	49	139	127	182	.299	.414	.582	.996
15	Brian Downing	1973	1992	201	777	88	176	27	4	25	95	94	92	.265	.361	.431	.792
16	Toby Harrah	1971	1986	195	771	85	167	33	5	15	68	84	77	.251	.342	.383	.726
17	Bert Campaneris	1969	1983	182	754	89	161	17	6	0	49	55	87	.238	.294	.281	.575
18	Rafael Palmeiro	1989	2005	172	747	110	191	53	2	41	126	92	83	.296	.383	.574	.958
19	Ivan Rodriguez	1991	2010	179	735	94	231	52	4	21	103	44	88	.337	.376	.516	.892
20	Carlton Fisk	1972	1993	182	734	98	178	40	7	26	100	59	100	.272	.338	.473	.811

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 1/3/2013.

I compared the career OPS of those 20 players to their OPS against KC. Here are the five who improved the most against the Royals:

Player	OPS v KC	OPS	diff
Cal Ripken	0.895	0.788	0.107
Ivan Rodriguez	0.892	0.798	0.094
Rafael Palmeiro	0.958	0.885	0.073
Rod Carew	0.880	0.822	0.058
Jim Thome	0.996	0.956	0.040

And the five who performed the worst against the Royals compared to their career norm:

Player	OPS v KC	OPS	diff
Bert Campaneris	0.575	0.653	-0.078
Reggie Jackson	0.785	0.846	-0.061
Paul Molitor	0.775	0.817	-0.042
Toby Harrah	0.726	0.760	-0.034
Paul Konerko	0.834	0.858	-0.024

After the jump are many more lists of the top Royals nemeses.

Batting average (min. 500 PA):

1. Joe Mauer .355
2. Rod Carew .345
3. Ivan Rodriguez .337
4. Roberto Alomar .333
5. Wade Boggs .332

On-base percentage (min. 500 PA):

1. Joe Mauer .440
2. Alex Rodriguez .431
3. Chuck Knoblauch .427
4. Wade Boggs .418
5. Roberto Alomar .414
5. Jim Thome .414

Slugging percentage (min. 500 PA):

1. Alex Rodriguez .640
2. Manny Ramirez .636
3. Juan Gonzalez .585
4. Jim Thome .582
5. Rafael Palmeiro .574

On-base percentage plus slugging percentage (min. 500 PA):

1. Alex Rodriguez 1.071
2. Manny Ramirez 1.048
3. Jim Thome .996
4. Rafael Palmeiro .958
5. Frank Thomas .952

Runs:

1. Rickey Henderson 143
2. Jim Thome 133
3. Alex Rodriguez 129
4. Cal Ripken 125
4. Paul Molitor 125

Hits:

1. Rod Carew 263
2. Paul Molitor 242
3. Cal Ripken 237
4. Magglio Ordonez 234
5. Robin Yount 232

Doubles:

1. Rafael Palmeiro 53
2. Ivan Rodriguez 52
3. Robin Yount 50
3. Cal Ripken 50
5. Paul Molitor 46

Triples:

1. Rod Carew 14
2. Chuck Knoblauch 13
3. Cristian Guzman 9
3. Luis Polonia 9
5. seven tied with 8

Home runs:

1. Jim Thome 49
2. Alex Rodriguez 48
3. Paul Konerko 42
4. Rafael Palmeiro 41
5. Frank Thomas 37
5. Cal Ripken 37
5. Reggie Jackson 37
5. Manny Ramirez 37

Runs batted in:

1. Paul Konerko 142
2. Jim Thome 139
3. Magglio Ordonez 131
4. Cal Ripken 130
5. Alex Rodriguez 127

Bases on balls:

1. Rickey Henderson 133
2. Jim Thome 127
3. Frank Thomas 122
4. Paul Konerko 107
5. Wade Boggs 106

Strikeouts:

1. Jim Thome 182
2. Reggie Jackson 172
3. Paul Konerko 137
4. Jose Canseco 134
5. Brandon Inge 131

Stolen bases:

1. Rickey Henderson 98
2. Bert Campaneris 41
3. Paul Molitor 39
4. Kenny Lofton 36
4. Bill North 36