In recent weeks I keep noticing batters coming up with the best game scores of the day as being power hitters who do a poor job of getting on base. To be a bit more technical, players with a high isolated power (Slugging Percentage – Batting average, or Extra Bases/ AB) and a low OBP. In my lifetime, these hitter were rare. Even sluggers who hit for a low batting average struck enough fear into the opposition that they were often walked enough to produce a good OBP (the Ken Phelps school of hitters).
Has a new type of hitter really emerged, or is this just an random sampling looking like a trend?
The study looks at players with at least 300 PA in a season. They must have an isolated power greater than .200 and an OBP less then .300. The query yields 148 player seasons since 1920. Sixty eight of those seasons occurred from 2011 on. In fact there have been at least four such players in every full season since 2011. The only season outside of that range with as many players as five players was the 1986 season, with a total of six.
The first such player was Jack Graham in 1946, who had a very short career. The 1946 season was an inflection point as players started to return from WWII. Graham returned to the majors in 1949 for a full season with the Browns, but was out of the majors after that.
The 1955 season was the first year with multiple players as Bill Wilson, Don Zimmer, and Del Crandall all make the cut. Zimmer played in twelve season where his pop was his biggest offensive weapon. Multiple players do not appear in a season again until 1982, when Dave Kingman and a young Gary Gaetti make the list. Kingman makes the list five times, tied with Steve Balboni for most such seasons. The 1986 season is the first with more than three players, and between that and 2011, there were only four season with as many as four players.
This year’s list include Giancarlo Stanton, Salvador Perez, Tyrone Taylor, Cal Raleigh, and Jack Suwinski. Perez made the list multiple times.
Tolerating this type of offense may be a reaction to pitchers becoming tougher to hit due to high strike out rates. If hits are rare, it’s better if they are long distance hits, since they tend to do more damage.
