I’ve read a few places where people discuss the validity of accomplishments during a 60-game season. The most popular one seems to be whether or not someone could finish with a .400 average and whether or not is would really be considered the first .400 season since Ted Williams in 1941.
I’m sure it could happen, especially since it’s a 60-game season and it wouldn’t need to be a 60-game run to finish with a .400 average. If someone misses a handful of games, then they would still be eligible to win the batting title. The lower the games, the easier it would be to have the hot streak required to hit .400 in a season. Whether people will accept it as a true .400 season is another thing.
The talk about the hot streak got me thinking about the top batters for the Pirates and how they did during their best 60-game streaks in 2019. It also made me think of the worst case scenario for those players and how a slump could affect them over the course of a short season.
Using games played (not team games played), I looked at five players from the 2019 team. These are really the only players worth using because everyone else is either gone this season or they didn’t play enough last year to get a good sample size. Here are the best/worst 60-game stretches for those players from 2019:
Josh Bell
Best: April 6 – June 12, .338/.403/.705, 19 HR, 57 RBI
Worst: July 3 – Sept 13, .232/.348/.444, 12 HR, 38 RBI
Adam Frazier
Best: June 28 – Sept 7, .313/.371/.498, 34 runs, 25 RBI
Worst: April 8 – June 21, .248/.303/.350, 31 runs, 13 RBI
Bryan Reynolds
Best: April 20 – June 30, .355/.417/.550, 6 HR, 28 RBI (this is also his first 60 games)
Worst: July 20 – Sept 25, .288/.342/.490, 9 HR, 31 RBI (last 60 games of season)
Kevin Newman
Best: April 6 – July 13, .328/.370/.476, 6 HR, 32 RBI
Worst: June 30 – Sept 11, .294/.344/.400, 5 HR, 26 RBI
Colin Moran
Best: May 10 – July 19, .323/.353/.510, 7 HR, 37 RBI
Worst: July 16 – September 24, .255/.308/.368, 3 HR, 31 RBI
**We will have at least four articles today, including the one you’re currently reading. If any news comes up, we will have more. The other scheduled articles for today are as follows:
This Date in Pittsburgh Pirates History – Birthdays galore, including the first man to hit a ball in the air into the water behind the right field bleachers. Also, the Jermaine Allensworth trade.
Game Rewind – Pirates make a big comeback against the eventual NL champs.
1979 Season Recap – The Pirates didn’t look like a World Series contender against the New York Mets on June 27th.
Hope everyone has an 80 grade weekend!
SONG OF THE DAY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i03Yhey8DJ4
DAILY QUIZ
RANDOM STUFF OF THE DAY
How about some magic