Hello Baseball Fans,
Well there is much buzzing about the rate of home runs per MLB game being up again this year. So with that buzz, we here at VFTD took to the stat sheets to make some sense of the fuzz that is home run statistics. To date, there are 1.22 home runs hit per game per team. This is a slight increase from last year’s rate of 1.16, and that was a significant increase from 2015’s rate of 1.01. Can 2017 trump last year’s rate, which was the highest since 2000’s 1.17 spot? The answer is up to the players who play all the games. And with that, let’s look at a few of those players contributing to this year’s increased home run rate.
In 2001, four MLB players hit 50 or more home runs. Alex Rodriguez led the American League with 52 long balls. However, in the National League, Luis Gonzalez hit 57 and that was only good enough for 3rd place in the league as Sammy Sosa slugged 64 and Barry Bonds banged out a record 73 round trippers.
Since those four men all posted 50 or more homers in 2001, there have only been eight such 50+ homer seasons. TOTAL. And only ONCE was there two players who hit fifty from the same league in the same year since Bonds, Sosa, and Gonzalez’ 2001 trifecta. That was back in 2002 when Rodriguez led the A.L. with 57 while Jim Thome tallied 52 home runs. And since then, we’ve only had Andruw Jones’ 51 HR in 2005, Ryan Howard’s N.L.-best 58 and David Ortiz’ 54 in 2006, Rodriguez again in ’07 with 54 while Prince Fielder led the N.L. with exactly 50, Jose Bautista batted 54 in 2010, and Chris Davis was the most recent 50 HR club member at 53 in 2013.
What’s all that new-millennium history have to do with this year’s increased home run rate? Well, the early stats for 2017 of Khris Davis of Oakland, Aaron Judge of NYY, and Mike Trout of LAA indicate potential for repeating that feat by Bonds and company in becoming the FIRST trifecta since 2001 to each hit 50 home runs while representing the same league. Through all games played as of Wednesday 5/24, Davis was at a rate of .318181 home runs per game appearance with a total of 14. Judge had 15 HRs and a rate of 0.357142 per game appearance, and Trout also had 15 HRs at a rate of 0.348837 per game appearance. IF all three play all of their teams’ remaining games, and that’s likely a big if because there will surely be a ‘rest day’ or two, or if they can hit a hot streak, they will reach the 50, 57, and 54 home run marks, respectively. Potentially having three guys with 50 home runs in the same league from two different states and coasts is something to trot around the bases about. STAY TUNED!!!!
Later Baseball Fans.