Something clicked late in the year, however, as Jiménez not only increased his hard-hit rate, but also began to elevate the ball more. After slugging 24 home runs in each of his first two full seasons, Mancini took his power game to another level last year with a team-leading 35 long balls. Still just 23 years old, he's capable of more offensively, and all it will take is turning a few of those doubles into home runs for him to lead the team. requirements, Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, October 17, 2:04AM. "He's talking about 50-50. Do you have a blog? Many historical player head shots courtesy of David Davis. It's not coincidence that Vladito is on a short list with the most recent slugger to chase 60 homers and another who smashed 50 that same year. For LF, CF, RF fielding stats, we Many thanks to him. You can't learn how to hit the ball 120 mph. Lewis, the No. Find out more. After he led the majors with 53 home runs as a rookie, Alonso is a no-brainer choice for the Mets. If Sanó can finally stay in the lineup all year -- and perhaps trim one of the game’s highest K-rates just a bit -- the sky’s the limit. The easy answer would be J.D. That group was led by New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, who hit a rookie record 53 home runs en route to NL Rookie of the Year honors. The 32-year-old still finished with 34 home runs, marking the fifth time in the past seven years that he's topped the 30-homer mark. This guy has averaged one homer for every 12 at-bats across a career that might still be peaking (Gallo is only 26), and that’s a McGwire-esque, Ruthian pace. Once he came back from a fractured hamate bone and got things going with his first homer on May 12 last year, Olson dingered roughly once every 13 at-bats -- not far removed from his career 14.1 AB/HR rate. Toronto Blue Jays: 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He hits the ball at the absolute extreme end of exit velocity. All he needs to do is get the ball off the ground. Simply put, the 26-year-old destroys baseballs like few others. Barrels typically result in extra-base hits, and that high rate bodes well for Reyes’ chances at leading the league. Alonso wasn't even guaranteed a spot on the big league roster when Spring Training began last year, but he made the club and took the league by storm, leading all MLB players in the home run department and setting a new rookie record, surpassing Judge's monster 52-homer 2017 on the second-to-last day of the year. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. He upped that to a 179 OPS+ and 44 home runs last season, despite suffering a fractured kneecap that ended his campaign in the middle of September. For pitcher fielding the 0.67 Gm and Chances/Team Game (fielding), He's talking about 50-50. That’s a great recipe. Max Muncy could give him a run for his money after back-to-back 35-homer seasons, and blockbuster addition Mookie Betts has averaged 29 home runs over the past four years, but Bellinger still looks like the smart pick as he enters his age-24 campaign. And he's Mike Trout. indicates the player had fewer than the required number of at bats or The guy who popped 53 over 161 games as a rookie is as good a pick as any. A wrist injury interrupted his 2019 season, but he quietly reduced his strikeout rate from 36.9 to 29.5 percent, and his 55-grade power and 30-30 potential remain. But in 2019, Bellinger was on another level, knocking 47 home runs, the third-most by a Dodgers player in a single season. Soler entered 2019 with a disappointing total of 38 career big flies in 307 games over parts of five seasons, but he finally stayed healthy, playing in all 162 games, and shattered the franchise single-season record. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. He barreled the ball more than he ever has, his .669 expected slugging percentage led MLB (his real .645 slugging percentage, a career high, ranked second to Christian Yelich), and he drove the ball in the air more often than any other hitter. But a little unpredictability won't stop us. Eugenio Suárez, who followed Alonso with 49 home runs, set a career best by a margin of 15. 2020 Regular Season Stats 2020 Spring Training Stats 2019 Regular Season Stats 2019 Sortable Team Stats Statcast Leaders Baseball Savant Top Prospect Stats Offseason Leagues Glossary. generally needed for rate statistics. But a little unpredictability won't stop us. Eugenio Suárez, who followed Alonso with 49 home runs, set a career best by a margin of 15. Check out this comprehensive MLB home run leaderboard featuring sluggers from each division and their most recent statistics. Meadows hit 21 of his team-high 33 home runs during the second half last season. What Sanó needs now is more of those chances. Look at him now, the reigning home run king and MLB's only 50-home run hitter of 2019. Last year, 14.8% of his batted balls were barreled, tied for the 10th-highest such rate in the Majors (min 250 batted balls). We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. -- Matt Kelly. There's a 50-homer season lurking in there, and with free-agent addition Anthony Rendon protecting him in the batting order, 2020 could be the year we see it. Over the past five seasons, Arenado has averaged 40 home runs and 124 RBI as one of baseball's most productive hitters. The Padres shipped out last year's team leader, Renfroe (33 HR), and Reyes (27 HR) was traded to Cleveland at the deadline, so the biggest competition for Machado appears to be 21-year-old phenom Fernando Tatis Jr. who had 22 home runs in 84 games as a rookie. With that in mind, we set out to predict who will lead each team in home runs during the upcoming season, based on past track record, recent performance and future potential. He has to do it eventually, right? If he leads the Twins in home runs again in 2020, no one will be surprised. actual value and not the value used to rank them, therefore some Alonso might be the game's next 60-homer bat. Among those with at least 400 plate appearances in 2019, only teammate Nelson Cruz homered in a higher percentage of those chances than Sanó (7.7%). After a 35-homer season last year and with a 38-homer campaign on his resume, Moustakas would be the easy answer, but there's no ignoring the way Castellanos finished 2019. min. Gallo finished fourth on the Rangers last season with 22 home runs and only played 70 games while battling a left oblique strain and a broken hamate bone in his right wrist. With Josh Donaldson gone, first baseman Freddie Freeman looks like Acuna's biggest competition after he slugged a career-high 38 home runs last year. Are you a Stathead, too? A record 6,776 home runs were hit across Major League Baseball last season, eclipsing the previous leaguewide mark by a staggering 671 long balls. To put that into perspective, only Mark McGwire (10.61) and Babe Ruth (11.76) have gone deep more frequently among players with the requisite 3,000 plate appearances for qualifying for the all-time list. -- Andrew Simon, . "I didn't do too much with my swing, but I think it's just the mindset up at the plate and setting your sights a little higher, almost," Mancini told reporters regarding last year. Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were It's only a matter of time until Vladimir Guerrero Jr. takes his light-tower power Home Run Derby display to the regular-season diamond. Martinez who leads the majors with 124 home runs over the past three seasons, including a team-high 36 last year. Some defensive statistics Copyright © Baseball Info Solutions, 2010-2020. Bell should easily top the team for a second straight year. A brutal outfield defender, he can focus solely on hitting as the team's full-time DH, and that could mean more offensive production. After years of battling injury and tantalizing with his potential, Soler led the AL with 48 home runs. He may never live up to his 13-year, $330 million contract, but that doesn't mean he's not an excellent player. -- Langs. So what's next? #ComingSoon pic.twitter.com/8VgDoTod1R. Alex Bregman led the Astros with 41 home runs in 554 at-bats last season, which comes to one every 13.51 at-bats. Escobar has a more fly-ball-driven approach (44.6 percent) than Marte (34.8 percent), so he seems like the safer bet to repeat those numbers. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. That comes to one every 11.59 at-bats. OK, maybe that's easier said than done. Nelson Cruz topped 40 home runs for the fourth time in the past six seasons last year, and his 244 long balls during that span lead all of baseball. -- Thomas Harrigan. In fact, he hit just .235/.291/.446 over his first 79 games, as a ground-ball rate north of 50% offset his solid 43.2% hard-hit rate. Or write about sports? Judge is not there quite yet (1,417 ABs), but it's impressive nonetheless. Be sure to check out Mr. Harrigan's detailed breakdown of Matt Olson' slugging ability, too, but I'll start with a very simple reason to pick him as the home run king: Olson’s left-handed swing is beautiful, and it’s made to crush. In a "disappointing" first season with the Phillies, Harper posted a 125 OPS+ with 35 home runs and a career-high 114 RBI in a 4.2-WAR season. We’d already seen Cody Bellinger's penchant for homers in his rookie year in 2017, when he set a National League rookie record with 39 (since broken by Alonso). Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball. Jorge Soler ’s American League-leading 48 more than doubled his previous career total. If there's something he hasn't done, he will. The 23-year-old hit .340/.383/.710 with nine home runs and 25 RBI over 24 September games, and if he can build off that momentum, there's no reason he can't best teammates Jose Abreu and Edwin Encarnacion in the South Side showdown. Last year’s injury seemed more like an aberration than a trend, and Olson has been durable since his days in the Minors. If he gets in a groove with that lovely pull swing, I like his chances as much as anyone. In between, he hit 15 home runs in a solid rookie season that fell well short of absurd expectations. So, if Gallo puts a full season together and continues to make gains with his approach -- look out.