2017 APBA Baseball by the Numbers: Hitting

altuve rueck

Hey APBA Fans,

I’ve posted 2017 by the Numbers: Fielding last week and earlier this week, we saw 2017 by the Numbers: Pitching.  It’s time to look at the hitting numbers of the 2017 APBA set!  This one is especially fun because well, everyone enjoys looking at APBA cards and while pitching grades and fielding ratings may win games, most love looking at the hitting result numbers.

Let’s begin with power numbers.  First, who had the most first column (or single column) ones on their card in 2017?  Used to be that three ones belonged to Babe Ruth and Babe Ruth only.  This year, four players were BTR (Better Than Ruth).

 

Player Team Ones
Giancarlo Stanton MIA 3
J.D. Martinez ARI 3
Rhys Hoskins PHI 3
Matt Olson OAK 3

Stanton and Martinez are legit sluggers (especially Giancarlo who is a J-0).  Hoskins and Olson however, are J-4.  Worth noting, Matt Olson has a 5 to go along with his three 1s.

If you’re wondering which team had the most total first column 1s on their entire roster (non-pitchers only), it was a three-way tie.

 

Team First column 1s
Milwaukee Brewers 13
New York Yankees 13
Texas Rangers 13

Every Brewer except three sported a 66-1.

If you want to know who was the pathetic slugging team was, I would have to go with San Francisco.  Only three players could boast a 66-1.

How many hitters had a extra base hit number (0-6) at 44?

 

Player Team EBH
Giancarlo Stanton MIA 5
Nolan Arenado COL 5
Jose E. Ramirez CLE 5
Justin Upton LAA 5
J.D. Martinez ARI 5
Cody Bellinger LAD 5
Mike Trout LAA 5
Freddie Freeman ATL 5
Pat Valaika COL 5
Brian Goodwin WAS 5
Devon Travis TOR 5

Nolan Arenado gets extra credit for also being the only 3B-6 in the 2017 set.  He is joined on this list by Colorado teammate Pat Valaika who admittedly is a J-3.

Switching gears from sluggers to pure hitters, who had the most hit numbers on their card in the 2017 card set.  For this purpose, hit numbers are defined as numbers 1 through 11.

 

Player Team Hit numbers
Charlie Blackmon COL 12
Jose Altuve HOU 12
Eduardo Nunez BOS 12
Avisail Garcia CWS 12
Ronald Torreyes NYY 12
Jorge Alfaro PHI 12

Only six had as many as twelve.  To put that in perspective, these players most likely, had a 42-9 but no better.

Blackmon, Altuve Garcia and Alfaro have a 66-1 on top of all their hit numbers.

The 14s topped out at six with seven players.

 

Player Team 14s
Joey Votto CIN 6
Aaron Judge NYY 6
Matt Carpenter STL 6
Mike Trout LAA 6
Alex Avila CHC 6
Logan Forsythe LAD 6
Rhys Hoskins PHI 6

Not too surprising, Joey Votto is one of those.  He’s been on this list for years.

While we’re on the topic of on-base numbers, only two players received two 42s.

 

Player Team 42
Tyler Flowers ATL 2
Carlos Gomez TEX 2

Both received a 35-42.  Flowers’ second 42 came on his 13 while Gomez received a 61-42.

When all of the hit numbers, 14s, even 42s are calculated, which card has the best chance to get on base given a D pitcher is on the mound and the bases are empty?

 

Player Team OB vs. D pitcher
Joey Votto CIN 16
Kris Bryant CHC 16
Tommy Pham STL 16
Mike Trout LAA 16
Justin Turner LAD 16
Bryce Harper WAS 16

I was surprised to see Kris Bryant on this list. Since he didn’t land on the top hits list or walks list.  However, he does have a 42 and that brought his total numbers up to join this elite crowd.

If we narrow the requirements to on-base against an A pitcher, that is hit numbers 1-7, 10, 11 as well 14 and 42, Bryant falls off the list.

 

Player Team OB vs. A pitcher
Tommy Pham STL 12
Mike Trout LAA 12
Joey Votto CIN 11
Aaron Judge NYY 11
Jose Altuve HOU 11
Austin Barnes LAD 11
Bryce Harper WAS 11

A few of these would make excellent leadoff men, no doubt!

Speaking of leadoff men, here are the only cards that received a 15-11 and a 25-11.

 

Player Team 11s
Dee Gordon MIA 3
Whit Merrifield KC 2
Delino Deshields TEX 2
Starling Marte PIT 2
Ben Revere LAA 2
Mallex Smith TB 2

Dee Gordon received a 51-11 in addition.

If Gordon somehow doesn’t get to second, these guys would be good to have at the plate.  MVP Jose Altuve was among three players who received three hit and run-friendly 31s.

 

Player Team 31s
D.J. LeMahieu COL 3
Joe Mauer MIN 3
Jose Altuve HOU 3

The same three players received three 31s last year.

These are the cards from 2017 (remember non-pitchers) which were punished with the most 13s.

 

Player Team 13s
JaCoby Jones DET 13
Keon Broxton MIL 12

Yikes.  JaCoby Jones has the dreaded run of three 13s in a row.  He has a 62-13, 63-13, and a 64-13.  I shouldn’t talk… Joc Pederson had that on my Twin City Thunderchickens and did fine.  Oh wait, JaCoby just has two zeroes.

Now that we’re on negative stats, how about 24s?

 

Player Team 24s
Matt Kemp ATL 6
Yunel Escobar LAA 6
Stuart Turner CIN 6
Zack Granite MIN 6
Brandon Phillips LAA 5
J.D. Martinez ARI 5
Salvador Perez KC 5
Wilson Ramos TB 5
Jorge Soler KC 5
Ryan Hanigan COL 5
Juan Graterol LAA 5
Ruben Tejada BAL 5
Adonis Garcia ATL 5

Interesting that there are some notable players on this list.  I’m looking at you, J.D.

I thought I would throw out interesting, oddball numbers just for fun…

Which card had the most second column 1s?

 

Player Team 2nd col. ones
Kevin Pillar TOR 31
Brandon Crawford SF 30
Max Moroff PIT 27
Jeimer Candelario DET 26
Josh Phegley OAK 23

Now, I’ll take a 1 any way I get it.  However, you might suspect that these players probably don’t have many zeroes and you would be right.  In fact, each one has just one zero (with no other power number).

That said, there is something to be said about hitting a homerun on a 16.  Four of these five players indeed have a 1 on 16 in second column.

On the opposite end of the spectrum it’s the bane of APBA offense.  You get into the second column and yet, you still get a single.  These players’ cards had the most second column 7s and 8s on their card.

 

Player Team Nasty Second column
Chris Gimenez MIN 23
Matt Reynolds NYM 18
Kelby Tomlinson SF 17

Even rolling a 13 or a 53, Gimenez suffers a single.

Getting to the good stuff now.  Which players have the magic combination of five power numbers (0-6) and a 15-11?

 

Player Team 11 EBH
Jose E. Ramirez CLE 1 5
Mike Trout LAA 1 5

Trout sports a 1-1-0-0-0 and one 11.  Ramirez received a 1-4-5-6-6 and one 11 as well.

Finally, here are the ultimate cards from the 2017 set.  To get on this list, the card needed to:

  • at least four 14s
  • be a J-2, J-1 or J-0
  • have at least four power numbers
  • have at least 10 hit numbers

 

Player Team 14 EBH Hits
Joey Votto CIN 6 4 10
Giancarlo Stanton MIA 4 5 10
Kris Bryant CHC 5 4 10
Nelson Cruz SEA 4 4 10
Paul Goldschmidt ARI 5 4 10
Anthony Rendon WAS 5 4 10
Domingo Santana MIL 4 4 10
Jed Lowrie OAK 4 4 10
Justin Turner LAD 4 4 11
Freddie Freeman ATL 4 5 11
Mike Trout LAA 6 5 10
J.D. Martinez ARI 4 5 10
George Springer HOU 4 4 10
Willson Contreras CHC 4 4 10
Zack Cozart CIN 4 4 10

That’s it for hitting!  If you’re interested, check out last’s year’s By the Numbers: Hitting for comparison.

Here is the link for all of the 2017 by the Numbers articles.

Thomas Nelshoppen

I am an IT consultant by day and an APBA media mogul by night. My passions are baseball (specifically Illini baseball), photography and of course, APBA. I have been fortunate to be part of the basic game Illowa APBA League since 1980 as well as the BBW Boys of Summer APBA League since 2014. I am slogging through a 1966 NL replay and hope to finish before I die.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.