Thursday, October 3, 2024

MLB set a record in 2024 for most players with 20+ HRs and a batting average under .250

There were 42 such players. Click here to see the results from Stathead.Those results also show all the players each year who did it.

Previous high was 36 in 2016. 1968 only had 6 such players. Before 2016 the record was 19 in 2013

First time was in 1946. The first two were Ralph Kiner and Pat Seerey. From 1946-1961 there were a total of 40 cases.

The first year with 10+ guys like this was 1985 when there were 15. But from 1985-2007, there were only 8 seasons with as many as 10. Been 10+ ever since 2008.

The 42 guys this year works out to 1.4 per team. If we had that in the 1960s, it would have been 28 (if we assume 20 teams but there were 16 in 1960, 18 in 1969 & 24 in 1969). Yet the highest total in any year in the 1960s was 7 in 1966.

The chart below shows the annual number starting with 1946. There were 0 in 1948 and 0 in 2020 (that was the Covid year of a 60 game schedule and only one player hit 20+ HRs).

 

There was a big jump in the early 1980s, going from 3 in 1980 to 15 in 1985. Prior to 1980 the high was 8 in 1973.

Then it stayed fairly low until 2008 when it went up to 15 after being 9 the previous year.

Then the biggest jump was from 2015 to 2016 after creeping up a bit for a few years. It went from 17 to 36.

After staying fairly high for a few years (not counting 2020), we had another big gain in 2024, going up by 11, from 31 to 42.

There were also 9 guys with 18-19 HRs who hit under .250 and 7 of them were below .240 in 2024.

18 players hit 20-21 HRs and hit under .250 in 2024.

There were 4 guys who hit 20+ HRs and hit between .250 & .255 in 2024.

There were also 22 guys who batted under .240 with 20+ HRs in 2024, beating the previous record of 21 set in 2021 & 2023.

This chart show HRs as a percentage of all hits in AL history. If this trend continues all hits will be HRs in a few hundred years.

Now for the NL

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