Devon Young sends this message about Andrew McCutchen:
Woah… have you seen McCutchen’s batting line from May 12 – July 17 (246 PA)?
This actually puts him into unique territory. Remember a couple years back, when I researched to find the longest stretches anyone’s hit .400 since 1969 season started? I found 18, that had at least a 238 PA stretch of hitting .400, so McCutchen fits in this list now. He’s also the 1st one I’ve found whose stretch doesn’t start at the beginning of a season. That’s much harder to search for, so I might’ve missed somebody else who did it, but I did find some guys like Madlock who had stretches of nearly 200 PA. Anyway, here’s the list from 1969 – 2009:
- 461 PA’s, George Brett (1980)
- 450 PA’s, John Olerud (1993)
- 407 PA’s, Larry Walker (1997)
- 394 PA’s, Tony Gwynn (1997)
- 366 PA’s, Rod Carew (1977)
- 317 PA’s, Nomar Garciaparra (2000)
- 299 PA’s, Tony Fernandez (1999)
- 298 PA’s, Rod Carew (1974)
- 293 PA’s, Chipper Jones (2008)
- 282 PA’s, Rod Carew (1983)
- 274 PA’s, Roberto Alomar (1996)
- 274 PA’s, Andrés Galarraga (1993; Link stops at 271, but he stayed over .400 for first 3 PA’s of next game)
- 250 PA’s, Rico Carty (1970)
- 250 PA’s, Carney Lansford (1988)
- 250 PA’s, Todd Helton (2000)
- 246 PA’s, Wade Boggs (1986)
- 242 PA’s, Lenny Dykstra (1990)
- 238 PA’s, Paul O’Neill (1994)
Andrew is having an amazing season. With both Matt Kemp and Joey Votto missing significant time due to injury, Andrew becomes the leading MVP candidate in the NL, at least on the batting side.
I’m surprised Al Oliver is not on the list.
How many of McCutcheon’s PAs have been in PA?
Oliver had some good PAs in PA. Dykstra did, too.
I’m surprised Carney Lansford isn’t on the list as well.
A friend of mine’s step dad is a scientist and he did a study on the players who made the most solid contact in baseball history.
The results surprised me:
#1. Al Oliver
#2. Denny Walling
#3. Dave Winfield
The Astro that got the best wood on the ball in 1980 was Gary Woods with an OPS of .985. Its true. You can look it up.
http://millercards.net/im_xd_large/xd628.jpg
Sam Horn had one of the hottest streaks I’ve ever witnessed. He was like a God that had decended from Mt. Olympus.
James crabtree » There was a Charles Woods who played in the minors in 1960, but we don’t know if he went by Chuck.
Update:
Through the game of 7/20, McCutchen has hit exactly .400 over the past 267 PAs, dating 5/9-7/20. With a strong weekend, McCutchen could move past Galarraga & Alomar.