The Pecan Park Eagle

Triple Milestones – 2013

By Bill Gilbert

Offensive production in the major leagues was down in 2013.  The number of runs and home runs per game both decreased in 2013 after a slight increase in 2012.  Batting average, on-base percentage and slugging average dropped in 2013 to the lowest levels in over 20 years.

Year    Runs/Game HR/Game  BAVG      OBA    SLG    OPS    Triple Milestone Hitters
—-    ——— ——-  —-   —-   —-   —     ————————
1990     8.51     1.58   .258  .324   .386   .710            2
1991     8.62     1.61   .255  .323   .384   .707            3
1992     8.23     1.44   .256  .322   .377   .699            2
1993     9.20     1.78   .266  .332   .404   .736            5
1994     9.85     2.07   .270  .339   .424   .763            3
1995     9.69     2.02   .267  .338   .417   .755            8
1996      10.07    2.19   .270     .340      .427   .767             21
1997       9.53    2.05   .267     .337      .419   .756            7
1998       9.58    2.08   .266     .335      .420   .755             14
1999      10.17    2.28   .271  .345   .434   .779             19
2000    10.28     2.34   .271  .345   .437   .782             26
2001     9.55     2.25   .264  .332   .427   .759               21
2002     9.24     2.09   .261  .331   .417   .748             12
2003       9.46    2.14     .264     .332   .422   .754            8
2004     9.63     2.25   .266  .335   .428   .763             12
2005     9.18     2.06   .265  .330   .419   .749             10
2006     9.72     2.22   .269  .336   .432   .768             13
2007       9.59     2.04   .268  .336   .423   .759            8
2008       9.30    2.01     .264  .333   .417   .750              7
2009     9.23     2.02   .262  .333   .418   .751                 6
2010     8.77     1.90   .257  .325   .403   .728                 6
2011     8.57     1.87   .255  .321   .399   .720                 7
2012     8.64     2.03   .255  .319   .405   .724                 4
2013     7.77     1.79   .253  .318   .396   .714                 3

Runs were down in 2013 to the lowest level in over 20 years.  Home runs were at the lowest level since 1993.  Only two players hit 40 or more home runs in 2013 compared to six in 2012. The 30 home run level was reached by only 14 players in 2013 compared to 27 in 2012.

A useful indicator for tracking offense is the number of players who hit for both power and average by achieving a .300 batting average, 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in.  A record 26 players reached all three milestones in 2000, but that figure has dropped significantly in recent years. Only three players reached all three milestones in 2013, the lowest since 1992, Of the 14 players with 30+ home runs, only four batted over .300 and three had 100+ RBIs.

The three players who made the .300-30-100 club were Miguel Cabrera, for the seventh time, David Ortiz, for the fourth time and Paul Goldschmidt, the only National League player, for the first time.  Goldschmidt became the 172nd player to register at least one .300-30-100 season starting with Babe Ruth in 1920.

Following is a listing of players who achieved triple milestones in 2013.

Player         Times  BAVG-HR-RBI           Comments

Miguel Cabrera     7    .348-44-137     Comparable to Triple Crown year in 2012.
David Ortiz        4    .309-30-103  First time since 2007.
Paul Goldschmidt   1    .302-36-125  Also recorded 15 stolen bases.

Three players achieved triple milestones in 2012 but fell short in 2013:

2012           2013
Player         Times  BAVG-HR-RBI    BAVG-HR-RBI
Ryan Braun         3    .319-41-112    .298- 9- 38  Derailed by PED suspension.
Adrian Beltre      2    .321-36-102    .315-30- 92  Came up short on RBIs.
Prince Fielder     1    .313-30-108    .279-25-106  Had an off-year.

Since baseball is now in a low scoring era, it has become more difficult for players to achieve triple milestones.  Several players came close this year

Player        BAVG-HR-RBI       Comments
Mike Trout        .323-27- 97       Walks too much to put up big power numbers.
Robinson Cano     .314-27-107       Comes close every year.
Adrian Beltre    .315-30- 92       Has done it before.
Chris Davis        .286-53-138       BAVG fell in September.
Adam Jones        .285-33-108       Best year of career.

The following list contains the names of players, active in 2013, who have had multiple .300-30-100 seasons in the past but have not done it in the last three years.  Many have been limited by injuries. Some are still very productive players like Matt Holliday, but not at the same level as in his peak years.  Since this list was started in 2004, Ortiz is the only player that has come back with another triple milestone season.
Last
.300-30-100  .300-30-100
Player          Seasons       Season       2013     Comments
Alex Rodriguez       8           2008    .244- 7-19   Played in only 44 games.
Todd Helton          5           2003    .249-15-61   Final year.
Jason Giambi         4           2002    .183- 9-31   Still hits the long ball.
Lance Berkman        3           2006    .242- 6-34   Hurting all year.
Mark Teixeira        3           2008    .151- 3-12   Played in only 15 games.
Aramis Ramirez       2           2004    .283-12-49   Still productive.
Travis Hafner        2           2006    .202-12-37   Good start didn’t continue.
Vernon Wells         2           2006    .233-11-50   Has become his norm.
Matt Holliday        2           2007    .300-22-94   Still very productive.
David Wright         2           2008    .307-18-58   Held back by injuries.

Twenty nine of the thirty major league teams have now had at least one triple milestone hitter since the year 2000. Kansas City has not had a triple milestone hitter since Danny Tartabull in 1991.

Five minor league players also recorded triple milestone seasons. Only three are under the age of 30.

Player        Team (Level)         Organization   Age      BAVG-HR-RBI

Japhet Amador     Mexico City (AAA)      Houston           26   .368-36-121
Oklahoma City (AAA)                         .302- 0-  2
.361-36-123

Ruben Mateo       Carmen Mex. (AAA)      None            35   .322-39-119

Brian Burgamy     Three Ind. Teams       None            32   .314-17- 66
Campeche Mex (AAA)                          .335-15- 35
.322-32-101

Maikel Franco     Clearwater (A+)        Philadelphia    20   .299-16- 52
Reading    (AA)                             .339-15- 51
.320-31-103

George Springer   Corpus Christi(AA)    Houston          23   .297-19- 55
Oklahoma City (AAA)                         .311-18- 53
.303-37-108

No college players achieved triple milestones in 2013

Pitchers also strive for triple milestones – 20 wins, 200 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00. Only one pitcher made all three in 2013 – Max Scherzer 21-240-2.90. In the current low scoring environment, it might be expected that more pitchers would make all three. Five pitchers (listed below) had over 200 strikeouts and an ERA under 3.00 but fell short of 20 wins.  There are factors that tend to make it more difficult for starting pitchers to pick up wins in the current environment. Low scoring games are frequently decided in the late innings when the starting pitcher is long gone. Starting pitchers tend to be taken out earlier in today’s game, which reduces their chances of being involved in the decision.

Pitcher                 Wins-Strikeouts-ERA
Yu Darvish                 13-277-2.83
Clayton Kershaw              16-232-1.83
Cliff Lee                    14-222-2.67
Adam Wainwright              19-219-2.94
Anibal Sanchez               14-202-2.57

A complete list of hitters with triple milestone seasons since 1920 can be found at Baseball-Almanac, with the following link.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/triple_milestones.shtml

TRIP2013.DOC
12/5/13

Pecan Park Eagle Footnote: Bill Gilbert was a long-time Houston area resident during his years of employment at Exxon and a stabilizing leader of the Larry Dierker Chapter of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research) during its early years in southeast Texas. Now retired in the Austin area, Bill remains active with the Rogers Hornsby Chapter of SABR, where he continues his “passionate dispassionate” ongoing evaluation of Houston Astros baseball. Thank you, Bill Gilbert, for making your assessments available to an even larger base of fans through the readership of The Pecan Park Eagle. God Willing in favor of us all, we shall look forward again to both your monthly Astros evaluation contributions in 2014 – and to whatever else you care to write for us, anytime, along this joyful baseball  way.

Bill Gilbert may be reached at billcgilbert@sbcglobal.net

Tags: 2013 MLB, Triple Milestones

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