Offensive production in the major leagues in 2010 was down significantly from 2009. The number of runs per game has declined each year from 9.72 in 2006 to 8.77 in 2010. The home run rate of 1.90 per game was down from the 2.02 rate in 2009. The major league batting average, on-base percentage and slugging average were all the lowest since 1992. All offensive categories are significantly below the peak year of 2000 as illustrated in the following table:<\/p>\n
Year Runs\/Game HR\/Game BAVG\tOBA SLG OPS\tTriple Milestone Hitters\r\n---- --------- ------- ---- ---- ---- --- ------------------------\r\n1990 8.51 1.58 .258 .324 .386 .710\t\t\t2\r\n1991 8.62 1.61 .255 .323 .384 .707\t\t\t3\r\n1992 8.23 1.44 .256 .322 .377 .699\t\t\t2\r\n1993 9.20 1.78 .266 .332 .404 .736\t\t\t5\r\n1994 9.85 2.07 .270 .339 .424 .763\t\t\t3\r\n1995 9.69 2.02 .267 .338 .417 .755\t\t\t8\r\n1996\t10.07 2.19 .270 .340 .427 .767\t\t 21\r\n1997\t 9.53 2.05 .267 .337 .419 .756\t\t 7\r\n1998\t 9.58 2.08 .266 .335 .420 .755\t 14\r\n1999\t10.17 2.28 .271 .345 .434 .779\t 19\r\n2000 10.28 2.34 .271 .345 .437 .782\t\t 26\r\n2001 9.55 2.25 .264 .332 .427 .759\t 21\r\n2002 9.24 2.09 .261 .331 .417 .748\t\t 12\r\n2003\t 9.46 2.14 .264 .332 .422 .754\t\t 8\r\n2004 9.63 2.25 .266 .335 .428 .763\t\t 12\r\n2005 9.18 2.06 .265 .330 .419 .749\t\t 10\r\n2006 9.72 2.22 .269 .336 .432 .768\t\t 13\r\n2007\t 9.59 2.04 .268 .336 .423 .759\t\t 8\r\n2008\t 9.30 2.01 .264 .333 .417 .750 \t\t 7\r\n2009 9.23 2.02 .262 .333 .418 .751 6\r\n2010 8.77 1.90 .257 .325 .403 .728 6<\/pre>\nJose Bautista of Toronto hit 54 home runs, the first player to reach 50 since Alex Rodriguez in 2007. Two players hit 40 or more home runs in 2010 compared to five in 2009. The 30 home run level was reached by 18 players in 2010 compared to 30 in 2009.<\/p>\n
A useful indicator for tracking offense is the number of players who hit for both power and average by achieving a .300 batting average, 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in. A record 26 players reached all three milestones in 2000, but that figure has dropped significantly in recent years. Only six players reached all three milestones in 2010, the same as in 2009. Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera were the only players who made it in both 2009 and 2010.<\/p>\n
The remarkable career of Albert Pujols merits further attention. He has now played exactly 10 full seasons in the major leagues, establishing his Hall of Fame credentials. In each season, he has batted over .300 with over 30 home runs and 100 RBIs. Only Babe Ruth (12) has more such seasons and his best was eight in a row. An average season for Pujols is .331-41-123. Surprisingly, he has led the National League in batting and RBIs only once, and in home runs twice.<\/p>\n
Three players from each league achieved all three milestones in 2010. Pujols became the only player to do it in his first 10 seasons. There were two newcomers to the .300-30-100 club in 2010, Joey Votto and Carlos Gonzalez, bringing the total to 166 players who have registered at least one .300-30-100 season starting with Babe Ruth in 1920.<\/p>\n
Following is a listing of players who achieved triple milestones
\nin 2010:<\/p>\nPlayer\t Times BAVG-HR-RBI Comments\r\nNational\r\nAlbert Pujols 10 .312-42-118 One of the all-time greats.\r\nJoey Votto 1 .324-37-113 Strong contender for MVP.\r\nCarlos Gonzalez 1 .336-34-117 An emerging superstar.\r\n\r\nPlayer\t Times BAVG-HR-RBI Comments\r\nAmerican\r\nMiguel Cabrera\t 4\t.328-38-126 New high in home runs.\r\nJosh Hamilton 2 .359-32-100 Three RBIs in last weekend.\r\nPaul Konerko 2 .312-39-111 Consistent all year.<\/pre>\nFour players achieved triple milestones in 2009 but fell short in 2010:<\/p>\n
Player\t Times BAVG-HR-RBI BAVG-HR-RBI\r\n In Past 2009 2010 Comments\r\nDerrek Lee 2 .306-35-111 .260-19- 80 Couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get untracked.\r\nRyan Braun 3 .320-32-114 .304-25-103 Power down.\r\nKendry Morales 2 .306-34-108 .290-11- 39 Season wrecked by injury.\r\nAdam Lind 2 .305-35-114 .237-23- 72 Couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t overcome slow start.<\/pre>\nThe biggest obstacle in reaching triple milestones in 2010 was batting average. Nine players had 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in 2010 but fell short of a .300 batting average.<\/p>\n
Adrian Gonzalez\t\t .298-31-101 Just missed.\r\nDan Uggla\t\t .287-33-105\t New highs in all three categories\r\nCorey Hart\t\t .283-31-102 New highs in HR and RBI.\r\nRyan Howard .276-31-108 Well below his norms.\r\nDavid Ortiz .270-32-102 Came on strong after slow start.\r\nAlex Rodriguez .270-30-125 Is he starting a decline?\r\nJose Bautista .260-54-124 The year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big surprise.\r\nAdam Dunn .260-38-103 Typical Dunn year.\r\nMark Teixeira .256-33-108 Another slow start.<\/pre>\nFour other players came close to triple milestones in 2010, just missing on home runs.<\/p>\n
Robinson Cano .319-29-109 Would have been first time.\r\nVladimir Guererro .300-29-115 Has done it 8 times.\r\nMatt Holliday\t .312-28-103 Did it in 2006-2007.\r\nAdrian Beltre .321-28-102 Did it with Dodgers in 2004.<\/pre>\nA growing list contains the names of players, active in 2010, who have had multiple .300-30-100 seasons in the past but have not done it in the last three years. Many have been limited by injuries. Some are still very productive players but not at the same level they were in their peak years. Since this list was started in 2004, not one player has come back with another .300-30-100 season.<\/p>\n
Last
\n.300-30-100 .300-30-100<\/p>\nPlayer\t Seasons Season 2010 Comments\r\nVladimir Guerrero 8 2006 .300-29-115 Comeback year fell just short.\r\nTodd Helton 5 2003 .256- 8- 37 In serious decline.\r\nChipper Jones 5 2001 .265-10- 46 Has become injury prone.\r\nJason Giambi 4 2002 .244- 6- 35 Strictly a bench player now.\r\nMagglio Ordonez 4 2002 .303-12- 59 Season cut short by injury.\r\nKen Griffey, Jr. 3 1997 .184- 0- 7 Two generations are now gone.\r\nLance Berkman 3 2006 .248-14- 58 Bat has slowed down.\r\nDavid Ortiz 3 2007 .270-32-102 Still has power.\r\nJim Thome 2 2002 .283-25- 59 Still a useful player.\r\nAramis Ramirez 2 2004 .241-25- 83 Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stay healthy.\r\nMiguel Tejada 2 2004 .269 15- 71 Gradual decline continues.\r\nTravis Hafner 2 2006 .278-13- 50 Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t play every day.\r\nVernon Wells 2 2006 .273-31- 88 Somewhat of a comeback.\r\nMatt Holliday 2 2007 .312-28-103 Made it only with Rockies.<\/pre>\nIn his 1988 Baseball Abstract, Bill James referred to triple
\nmilestone seasons as “Hall of Fame Seasons”. This was because all of the eligible players with 5 or more triple milestone seasons had been
\nelected to the Hall of Fame. This correlation has continued to hold but is likely to break down when Juan Gonzalez becomes eligible in 2011.<\/p>\nNo teams had two players with triple milestones in 2009. With Joey Votto of the Reds making the list, twenty nine of the thirty major league teams have now had at least one triple milestone hitter since the year 2000. Kansas City has not had a triple milestone hitter since Danny Tartabull in 1991.<\/p>\n
Minor league players also recorded triple milestone seasons in 2010.<\/p>\n
Player\t\tTeam (Level)\t Organization Age\tBAVG-HR-RBI \r\n\r\nRich Poythress High Desert (HiA) Seattle\t 22 .315-31-129 \r\n\r\nPaul Goldschmidt Visalia (HiA) Arizona 22 .314-35-108<\/pre>\nAnother had Triple Milestone Stats in the minors but not overall.<\/p>\n
Mark Trumbo Salt Lake City (AAA) Los Angeles 24 .301-36-122\r\n Los Angeles (AL) .067- 0- 2\r\n .294-36-124<\/pre>\nAnother came very close.<\/p>\n
Clint Robinson\tNW Arkansas (AA) Kansas City 24 .335-29- 98<\/pre>\nNo college players achieved triple milestones in 2010.<\/p>\n
Pitchers also strive for triple milestones \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 20 wins, 200 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00. No pitchers made it in 2009. However, in 2010, the year of the pitcher, two pitchers made it, Adam Wainwright (20-11, 213, 2.42) and Roy Halladay (21-10, 219, 2.44). Halladay made it in 2008 and Wainwright just missed in 2009.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Offensive production in the major leagues in 2010 was down significantly from 2009. The number of runs per game has declined each year from 9.72 in 2006 to 8.77 in 2010. The home run rate of 1.90 per game was down from the 2.02 rate in 2009. The major league batting average, on-base percentage and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":140,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-statistical-analysis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/140"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}