Today’s Sports Stat: April 14, 2018
One of the biggest stories of baseball’s off-season was home run champ Giancarlo Stanton becoming a New York Yankee. Stanton led the majors last year with 59 HRs with the Miami Marlins.
Is it possible that Stanton is “striking out” in his short tenure with the Yanks? Figuratively speaking, we are only 14 games into the season and the jury is still out about whether or not Stanton will have a major impact on the Bronx Bombers. A 7-7 record is nothing to get too concerned about two weeks into the 2018 season.
But from a literal sense, Stanton is “striking out” with the Yankees; in fact, he leads the majors with 25 strikeouts in 59 at-bats. He has already had two games this season where he struck out five times (more on that in a moment). On the plus side, he has hit three home runs.
But let’s look at the strikeouts. Last season Stanton’s current teammate, Aaron Judge became the first player in MLB history to have 50 or more home runs and over 200 strikeouts in the same season (he had 52 HRs and 208 strikeouts). With 25 strikeouts in 14 games, Stanton is on a pace to strike out 289 times this season… the MLB record is 223 strikeouts in a season by Mark Reynolds with Arizona in 2009.
Here’s a look at the players who hit 50 or more home runs in a season and had the most strikeouts that same season.
Aaron Judge, NY Yankees, 2017, 52 HRs-208 strikeouts
Chris Davis, Baltimore, 2013, 53 HRs-199 strikeouts
Cecil Fielder, Detroit, 1990, 51 HRs-182 strikeouts
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia, 2006, 58 HRs-181 strikeouts
Sammy Sosa, Cubs, 1998, 66 HRs-171 strikeouts
Sammy Sosa, Cubs, 1999, 63 HRs-171 strikeouts
Sammy Sosa, Cubs, 2000, 50 HRs-168 strikeouts
Giancarlo Stanton, Miami, 2017, 59 HRs-163 strikeouts
Mark McGwire, two teams, 1997, 58 HRs-159 strikeouts
Mark McGwire, St. Louis, 1998, 70 HRs-155 strikeouts
Sammy Sosa, Cubs, 2001, 64 HRs-153 strikeouts
For the record, the fewest number of strikeouts in a season by a player who hit 50 or more home runs is 42 by Johnny Mize. He hit 51 HRs in 1947. He is the only player with 50 or more home runs in a season that had less than 50 strikeouts that same campaign.
As mentioned above, Stanton has already struck out five times in a game twice this season. The MLB record is three games with five or more strikeouts in a game, held by Ray Lankford in 1998.
Stanton became the 14th player in MLB history to strike out five of more times in a game multiple times in his career. Sammy Sosa holds the MLB record… he fanned five or more times in four games in his career. Lankford is next with his three games. The 12 players who did it twice in their careers are: Jim Thome, Mark Teixeira, Ron Swoboda, Stanton, Richie Sexson, George Scott, Alex Rios, Benny Kauff, Andruw Jones, Deron Johnson, Chris Davis and Dick Allen.
One last note: Sosa, Lankford and Brian Dozier are the only three players in baseball history to strikeout five times in a game and hit a home run that same game.
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Today’s Sports Stat: February 19, 2018
Last baseball season, Miami Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton and New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge each hit 50 home runs … Stanton had 59; Judge had 52. (These two are now teammates with Stanton’s trade to the Yankees in the off-season.) It was the first time since the 2007 season that two players hit 50 in a season; that year Alex Rodriguez had 54 and Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder had 50.
Stanton and Judge became the 44th and 45th players to hit 50 in a season. Of the 45 times it has happened in MLB history, there have been 29 different players who have reached the 50-HR milestone. Here are the nine players who have hit 50 or more home runs in multiple seasons:
4: Mark McGwire, Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa
3: Alex Rodriguez
2: Jimmie Foxx, Ken Griffey, Jr., Ralph Kiner, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays.
Stanton and Judge will look to become only the sixth and seventh players to hit 50 HRs in consecutive seasons. The five players who have consecutive seasons with 50 homers: Rodriguez (2001 and 2002), Ruth (1920 and 1921, also 1927 and 1928), Griffey (1997 and 1998), McGwire (1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999) and Sosa (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001).
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Today’s Sports Stat: November 21, 2017
Last week Major League Baseball announced its MVP recipients for the 2017 season. In the National League, Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton was selected, while in the American League, Jose Altuve won the award. Both were first-time winners.
Stanton was the first Marlins player to ever win an MVP Award. That leaves the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Mets as the only N.L. teams without a league MVP honor. Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt finished third in this year’s voting; the Mets did not have a player in the Top 20 of this year’s voting… Yoenis Cespedes finished eighth in the N.L. MVP balloting in 2016.
Altuve became the second Houston Astros player to win the MVP Award, although he is the first Houston player to win the American League MVP honor. Jeff Bagwell won the N.L. MVP Award in 1994 as a member of the Astros when the team was in the National League.
The Tampa Bay Rays are the only A.L. team without a player winning the A.L. MVP. The Rays did not have a player finish in the Top 20 of the A.L. MVP voting this past season; the Rays’ Evan Longoria finished in 19th place in the voting in 2016.
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Today’s Sports Stat-August 16, 2017
Here’s a couple of stats to ponder for today…
- Giancarlo Stanton hit his MLB-leading 44th home run yesterday and his 11th in the month of August. With 16 days remaining in the month, Stanton has a legitimate shot at breaking the MLB record for most HRs in the month of August, held by Rudy York, who hit 18 in 1937. York also hit 17 in August of 1943 for the second most August homers in MLB history, tied with Willie Mays (in 1965) and Sammy Sosa (2001) who also hit 17 in August.
- Brewers starting pitcher Zach Davies upped his record to 14-6 this season with the win last night in the Brewers 3-1 victory over Pittsburgh. Davies recorded only two strikeouts in the win. It was the fifth time in his career that he got the win in a game with two or fewer strikeouts in the contest. He is tied for the most wins in the majors this season with two or fewer strikeouts in victory with four. Mike Caldwell holds the Brewers record for most wins with two or fewer strikeouts with 49. He is followed by Bill Wegman (30) and Jim Slaton (29). Lary Sorenson holds the Brewers’ single-season record with 11 wins in 1978 with two or fewer strikeouts.
Today’s Sports Stats-August 14, 2017
Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton hit home run #42 yesterday and now leads the majors in that stat this season.
Stanton is only the second Marlins player to ever hit 40 or more home runs in a season for the franchise (Gary Sheffield had 42 HRs for the Marlins in 1996).
There are now only two current MLB franchises that have not had two or more of its players hit 40 or more home runs in a season. The Kansas City Royals have never had one of its players hit 40 in a season (Steve Balboni holds the team record with 36 homers in 1986) and Tampa Bay has had only one player slug 40 in a season when Carlos Pena had 46 in 2007. The Atlanta Braves top the list with 11 different players who have hit 40 or more home runs in a season for the franchise.
Here are the number of players that have hit 40 or more home runs in a season for each of the 30 MLB franchises. (For the record, Babe Ruth holds the MLB record for most 40-HR seasons with 11.)
11: Braves
10: Red Sox, Yankees
9: Cubs, Blue Jays
8: Giants, Reds, Rockies
7: A’s, Dodgers, Indians, Orioles, White Sox
6: Brewers, Phillies, Rangers, Tigers
5: Cardinals
4: Mariners, Padres
3: Angels, Astros, Mets, Nationals, Twins
2: Diamondbacks, Marlins, Pirates
1: Rays
0: Royals
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