The peak performance of Barry Bonds, a renowned baseball player, failed to achieve a batting average of .400, highlighting the substantial challenge the numbers pose for every athlete.
Heyy there! So, Aaron Judge is currently killing it in the MLB, leading the pack with an astonishing .423 batting average and a whopping 1.287 OPS. You'd think that makes him a shoo-in to repeat Ted Williams' .400 record from 1941, right? Well, not exactly.
There are some significant differences between these two power hitters, the main one being strikeouts. While Williams struck out only 27 times in the entire 1941 season, Judge has already racked up 31 strikes. Ouch!
In fact, even in the live ball era, only one player managed to hit .350 with a strikeout rate of at least 20%. That was Manny Ramirez back in 2000, but he still fell short of the .400 mark.
But let's not get down! Judge's impressive performance has given us a roadmap for aspiring .400 hitters, and even though it's a long shot, it's not impossible.
First things first, you've gotta shrink the sample size. It's no coincidence that all the baseball players who hit .400 did so before the season expanded to 162 games. Smaller samples lead to more extreme stats, and keep in mind that legends like Williams only played in 143 games when he hit .406.
Next up, make contact. This is a bit tricky for power hitters like Judge, who often strike out in 20% of their plate appearances. To hit .400, a player needs to hit .500 on the balls they don't strike out, which is not an easy feat to sustain.
Then, ride a BABIP heater. A player's batting average on balls in play (BABIP) involves a lot of luck, but you can boost it by hitting line drives and turning grounders into infield hits. George Sisler had a BABIP of .422 in 1922 when he hit .420.
Finally, hit homers. Unfortunately, BABIP numbers like Sisler's don't happen much, especially now. But one way to avoid defensive outs is to hit a bunch of homers. When Rod Carew hit .388 in 1977, he managed to pack in a BABIP of .408 thanks to his 14 homers.
So, there you have it. It's not an easy path, but with some luck and strategic playing, who knows? Maybe one day, we'll see another .400 hitter in the MLB. Until then, we'll just have to enjoy watching Aaron Judge crush it out there!
By the way, did you know that Judge hit two homers and drove in seven runs in Houston's 8-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday? He tied a franchise record with 13 total bases! Crazy stuff!
And if you thought that was impressive, check out the Toronto Blue Jays. In a crazy comeback, they rallied from a 6-0 deficit in the sixth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-6 in 10 innings. Even Baseball Savant gave them a 1.6% chance to win in the sixth. Insane!
- Despite Aaron Judge's impressive statistics in the MLB, his strikeout rate of 20% makes it challenging for him to repeat Ted Williams' .400 record from 1941.
- To hit .400, an MLB player needs to have a high contact rate, hit a large number of homers, and benefited from a favorable batting average on balls in play (BABIP).
- George Sisler had a BABIP of .422 in 1922 when he hit .420 by hitting line drives and turning grounders into infield hits.
- In a match between the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox, Aaron Judge tied a franchise record with 13 total bases after hitting two homers and driving in seven runs.
- In a surprising turn of events, the Toronto Blue Jays came back from a 6-0 deficit in the sixth inning, defeating the Boston Red Sox 7-6 in 10 innings, despite having only a 1.6% chance to win according to Baseball Savant.
