Pablo Sandoval
Posted by Raphy on June 24, 2009
Giants corner-man Pablo Sandoval is following up his impressive rookie season with another excellent year. Through yesterday's games Sandoval was hitting .336 in 241 AB. In fact Sandoval can become just the second player since WWII (with 1 player doing it around the war) to hit at least .330 with at least 100 PA in each of his first 2 big league seasons. Here are all the players since 1901:
Pablo Sandoval 2008 2009 21-22 2 Ind. Seasons Wade Boggs 1982 1983 24-25 2 Ind. Seasons Johnny Pesky 1942 1946 22-26 2 Ind. Seasons Earl Averill 1929 1930 27-28 2 Ind. Seasons Chuck Klein 1928 1929 23-24 2 Ind. Seasons Lloyd Waner 1927 1928 21-22 2 Ind. Seasons Paul Waner 1926 1927 23-24 2 Ind. Seasons Riggs Stephenson 1921 1922 23-24 2 Ind. Seasons Patsy Dougherty 1902 1903 25-26 2 Ind. Seasons
Of course, a lot of players only have a few PA in their first season. Here are the overall leaders in BA after 2 seasons (min. 300 PA)
Cnt Player **BA** PA From To Ages G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams ----+-----------------+---------+-----+----+----+-----+----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+----------- 1 Benny Kauff .368 681 1912 1914 22-24 159 582 124 214 44 13 8 97 75 0 55 8 16 0 0 76 0 .447 .529 .976 /987 NYY-IND 2 Jim Bottomley .361 748 1922 1923 22-23 171 674 108 243 42 19 13 129 51 0 57 6 17 0 0 7 7 .410 .537 .947 *3 STL 3 Paul Waner .360 1327 1926 1927 23-24 299 1159 215 417 77 40 17 210 126 0 33 7 35 0 0 16 0 .426 .539 .965 *9/37 PIT 4 Wade Boggs .357 1066 1982 1983 24-25 257 920 151 328 58 8 10 118 127 6 57 1 7 11 24 4 3 .431 .470 .901 *5/37 BOS 5 Chuck Klein .357 954 1928 1929 23-24 213 869 167 310 59 10 54 179 68 0 83 1 16 0 0 5 0 .404 .634 1.038 *9/8 PHI 6 Johnny Mize .349 1090 1936 1937 23-24 271 974 179 340 70 15 44 206 106 0 89 6 4 0 9 3 0 .416 .587 1.003 *3/9 STL 7 Al Simmons .349 1340 1924 1925 22-23 305 1248 191 436 74 21 32 231 65 0 101 3 24 0 0 23 29 .383 .519 .902 *8/7 PHA 8 Earle Combs .346 712 1924 1925 25-26 174 628 127 217 41 13 3 63 69 0 45 4 11 0 0 12 14 .414 .467 .881 *8/79 NYY 9 Lloyd Waner .345 1403 1927 1928 21-22 302 1288 254 444 39 20 7 88 77 0 36 10 28 0 0 22 0 .386 .422 .808 *8/74 PIT 10 Dick Porter .344 766 1929 1930 27-28 190 672 126 231 59 13 5 81 72 0 45 4 18 0 0 6 8 .410 .493 .903 *9/47 CLE 11 Pablo Sandoval .339 416 2008 2009 21-22 106 386 53 131 32 3 11 58 21 5 51 4 0 5 10 2 2 .375 .523 .898 /*532D SFG 12 Maurice Archdeaco .339 437 1923 1924 25-26 117 375 82 127 14 4 0 29 46 0 38 4 12 0 0 13 10 .416 .397 .813 /*89 CHW 13 Fred Lynn .338 656 1974 1975 22-23 160 571 108 193 49 9 23 115 68 12 96 4 6 7 11 10 5 .408 .576 .984 *8/79 BOS 14 Al Bumbry .338 406 1972 1973 25-26 119 367 78 124 15 12 7 34 34 0 49 3 1 1 5 24 11 .398 .501 .899 /*79D8 BAL 15 Wally Moses .338 1028 1935 1936 24-25 231 930 158 314 56 14 12 101 87 0 50 5 6 0 0 15 10 .397 .467 .864 *8/9 PHA 16 Ichiro Suzuki .336 1466 2001 2002 27-28 314 1339 238 450 61 16 16 120 98 37 115 13 7 9 11 87 29 .385 .441 .826 *9/D8 SEA
Everything can change with a dip of a few percentage points, but as he stands today Sandoval (#11) is still second only to Boggs since 1940.
I'm not trying to evaluate Sandoval here . Aside from the obvious problem of just using batting average as a measure, there are certainly players who have done better in more chances in their first season alone. However, I did notice Sandoval's numbers in Andy's post today and was struck by his double .330.