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| Gallo hit 41 HRs with just 80 RBI in 2017 |
By hitting his fortieth and forty-first home runs on the
next-to-the-last day of the regular season, Texas Rangers slugger Joey Gallo
became the ninth player since 2015 to finish a season with 40 or more home
runs and fewer than 100 RBI. Prior to
2015, a hitter reaching the 40 home run plateau without driving in 100 runs was
a rare occurrence--only being completed sixteen times by thirteen different
sluggers. However, with the trend over
the last several seasons showing a rise in strikeouts and home runs, the odd
combination of 40 home run campaigns with fewer than 100 RBI continues to
become more common.
Balls were flying out of the park at a noticeable rate
during 2017. In fact, new records for
total number of home runs hit during the season (6,105) and average number of
homers per game (1.26) were set in 2017--shattering the previous marks. However, 2017's incredible longball totals
were tempered by records set for total number of strikeouts for a season
(40,104) as well as average number of strikeouts per game (8.25). Yet, as substantial the increase in home runs
has been over the last few seasons, the rise in strikeouts has been even more
dramatic with new records for total number of whiffs per season and average
whiffs per game set each year since 2008.
Furthermore, the strikeout per game rate has increased from 6.77 in
2008 to the whopping 8.25 it was in 2017.
On top of that, 141 hitters struck out 100 or more times in 2017--a
total which is more than double the 67 hitters who reached that dubious mark
between 1871 and 1960.
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| Sluggers with 40 home run/sub-100 RBI seasons between 2015 and 2017 |
By reaching the 40-home run plateau while driving in fewer
than 100 RBI, Gallo joined Albert Pujols, Carlos Gonzalez, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Nelson Cruz, Todd Frazier, Chris Carter, and Brian Dozier as the ninth
player since 2015 to finish a season with that odd combination of totals. At age 23 in his first full year in the major
leagues, Gallo struck out a staggering 196 times in 2017, trailing only Aaron Judge for the highest total in all of baseball.
Strikeouts undoubtedly played a role in Gallo falling shy of 100 RBI but
the Rangers slugger is not alone in his tendency to punchout with regularity
as, aside from Pujols, each of the other sluggers to put together 40 home
run/sub-100 RBI campaigns over the past three seasons have fanned at least 131
times.
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| Sluggers with 40 longball/sub-100 RBI campaigns prior to 2015 |
Lofty strikeout totals became more commonplace during the
mid-1990s and early 2000s but the scoring environment was so high that the 40
home run/sub-100 RBI campaigns either took place during the strike-shortened
1994 season or had special circumstances like in 2003 when pitchers walked
Barry Bonds at an abnormally frequent rate rather than risk giving up the
longball to him or in 2006 when Alfonso Soriano was batted leadoff, a rarity
for a home run hitter. Prior to the
increase in strikeouts, sluggers with 40 home run/sub-100 RBI seasons generally
did not put up the high punchout totals of modern day hitters and were not
among the league leaders in strikeouts. However,
the first three sluggers with 40 home run/sub-100 RBI campaigns--Hall of Famers
Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle, and Harmon Killebrew--resembled modern day sluggers
by finishing among the league leaders in both longballs and strikeouts. In contrast to the sluggers of today, Snider,
Mantle, and Killebrew were exceptions to their era rather than the rule as
whiff rates typically hovered around just five per game in their times.
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| Gallo & fellow "Three True Outcomes" slugger Adam Dunn |
Aside from his "Three True Outcome" hitting style,
Texas' use of Gallo in the latter part of the batting order also played a role
in his lack of RBI. Gallo made his
highest number of starts, 37, hitting out of the seven-spot for the Rangers but
was also written into the batting order in the five, six, eight, and nine-holes
at least 20 times.
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| Seasons where hitter had more home runs than singles while qualifying for the batting title |
Another unique aspect of Gallo's 2017 campaign is that the
youngster joined Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire as just the third slugger to hit
more home runs than singles while still amassing enough plate appearances to qualify
for the batting title. Interestingly
enough, Bonds and McGwire accomplished this odd feat during years in which they
broke the single-season home run record.
In his short career, Gallo has already established himself
as one of the game's most powerful sluggers, often hitting highlight reel, tape
measure home runs. In fact, Gallo
crushed 494 and 490 foot longballs which ranked second and third, behind only
Aaron Judge's 496 foot blast for longest home run distance in 2017. Overall, eight of Gallo's 41 round-trippers
this seasons were of at least 450 feet.
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| Gallo played three defensive positions in 2017 |
Gallo's power is undisputed, however, if the slugger fails
to progress from being a "Three True Outcomes" hitter, he may need to
rely on his defense to stay in the starting line up. The importance of Gallo's defense is
underscored by the differing career paths of two fellow "Three True
Outcome" sluggers, Todd Frazier and Chris Carter, who both put together 40
home run/sub-100 RBI campaigns in 2016. Frazier
plays a competent third base and also has the ability to fill in at first as
well. By contrast, Carter proved himself
too immobile to play the outfield regularly and was thus limited to first base
or relegated to designated hitter duties.
In recent years, Frazier has been a hot commodity in the trade market,
first being the centerpiece of a three-team deal that sent him from the
Cincinnati Reds to the Chicago White Sox prior to the 2016 season before being
swapped to the New York Yankees this past July and aiding the club in capturing
the top seed in the AL Wildcard game. Carter,
on the other hand, hit the free agent market but found few teams interested in
signing him despite leading the NL with 41 home runs. Carter ultimately signed with the New York
Yankees but struggled for playing time, was released mid-season, and finished
the year with the Nashville Sounds--the AAA minor league affiliate of the
Oakland Athletics.
Fortunately for Gallo it appears his defensive skill set
more closely resembles Frazier's than Carter's.
In his short career Gallo has already spent time at both corners of the infield
as well as left field. Gallo started the
majority of his minor league games at third base and filled in for five-time
Gold Glove winner Adrian Beltre at the hot corner to start 2017 season while
the veteran spent most of April and May on the disabled list. Gallo was error prone at third as evidenced
by his .930 fielding percentage but the advanced defensive metrics did not
completely discount his glove as both total zone and DRS saw him as just 4
fielding runs below average. Following
Beltre's return from injury, Texas mostly used Gallo at first base but also
started him in left field as well.
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| Gallo and sluggers who just missed putting together 40 home run/sub-100 RBI campaigns in 2017 |
After the once rare combination of 40 or more home runs with
fewer than 100 RBI was completed by eight different sluggers between 2015 and
2016--having just Gallo turn the odd trick in 2017, one might assume 40
longball/sub-100 RBI seasons are a declining trend. However, in 2017, several sluggers nearly
reached the 40 home run plateau while finishing well under the 100-RBI
mark. Three sluggers--Justin Smoak, Mike
Moustakas, and Logan Morrison--each hit 38 home runs while driving in 90, 85,
and 85 runs, respectively. In addition,
Cody Bellinger ended the year one longball shy of 40 and three RBI short of 100
en route to breaking Frank Robinson's long standing NL rookie home run
record. Like most sluggers to reach 40
home runs without driving in 100 runs in recent years, Bellinger, Smoak, and
Morrison all walked frequently while posting lofty strikeout totals.
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| Gallo's 41 HRs were part of a record 6,105 in 2017 |
Another sign that the trend of 40 longball/sub-100 RBI
campaigns will continue is the fact that the past two seasons have been the
only times in major league history that total number of RBI for the season has
been less than four times the total number of home runs. In 2017, there was an average of just 3.53
RBI per home run, down from 3.70 in 2016.
Although the number of runs scored continues to rise, more and more of
these runs are being driven in via the longball by sluggers who post high
walk, strikeout, and home run numbers or even hit in the "Three True
Outcome" style like Gallo. Once a
statistical oddity, 40 home run/sub-100 RBI seasons have now become a yearly
occurrence.
----by John Tuberty
Follow my Twitterings @BloggerTubbs
Sources: Baseball Reference, Baseball Reference Play Index, ESPN
Photo Credit: Joey Gallo 2017 Topps Heritage, Joey
Gallo 2016 Topps Chrome Baseball Refractor, Adam Dunn 2011 Topps Heritage, Joey
Gallo 2013 Bowman Platinum, Joey Gallo 2015 Topps Update
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