The Rob Deer All-Stars: Can Chris Davis join the exclusive sub-.200 AVG, 25 homer club?
Chris Davis' 25th home run of the season on Wednesday night put him in position to join a very exclusive club. No, not Club 33 -- the Disneyland attraction that likely has Walt's head in a bucket of ice -- but a group of only four other players who have finished a season with more than 25 home runs despite an average below .200.
At first glance, that seems strange. After all, except for a very select few like Albert Pujols or Victor Martinez, most power hitters have to sacrifice contact in exchange for the ability to launch balls 450 feet. But then you realize how difficult this really is. A player must:
a) Hit the ball hard. Hard enough to knock out 25 home runs.
b) Have really bad luck on pretty much any ball that doesn't leave the stadium.
c) Stay in the lineup long enough to hit 25 home runs despite the low average.
With Davis and his .195 mark looking to get above the Mendoza line, here are the four who make up this group of all-or-nothing sluggers. Shockingly, despite two seasons with more than 35 home runs and averages at .210 or below, Dave Kingman never made the cut.
Rob Deer
1991: 539 PA, .179/.314/.386, 25 HR, 64 RBI, 175 SO, 92 OPS+
While Rob Deer always combined low batting averages (career .220 hitter) high strikeout totals (four-time league leader) and plenty of power (eight consecutive seasons with 20-plus HR) he combined them all into a particularly delightful stew in his first season with the Tigers. Besides being the first player to ever hit 25 HRs with an average under .200, Deer's batting average was the lowest among qualified batters since Bert Adams' .176 in 1918 (Dan Uggla would tie Deer in 2013).
Mark McGwire
2001: 364 PA, .187/.316/.492, 29 HR, 64 RBI, 118 SO, 105 OPS+
In his final season before retiring, McGwire added one dubious record to a career that saw him hit the most home runs by a rookie (49 in 1987) and knock out 70 in 1998. Though the rest of his game deserted him, more than half of McGwire's 56 hits in 2001 came by way of the long ball. That works out to a 53-homer pace over 550 plate appearances. Not too shabby.
Carlos Pena
2010: 582 PA, .196/.325/.407, 28 HR, 84 RBI, 158 SO, 103 OPS+
Carlos Pena's career took a strange path. The No. 5 prospect in baseball coming into 2002, Pena struggled to establish himself as a big leaguer, playing for five different organizations between 2001-2006 despite his prodigious power.
That changed when Pena signed with Tampa Bay on a Minor League deal in 2007, ending his year with 46 HR and a 1.037 OPS. Unfortunately, Pena's struggles to make contact would flare up in 2010 when he hit just .196, though he still drew a very respectable 87 walks.
Mark Reynolds
2010: 596 PA, .198/.320/.433, 32 HR, 85 RBI, 211 SO, 97 OPS+
The second 2010 class member on this list, Reynolds pulled off this feat during a four-year stretch of dingeritis mixed with whiffitude that may never be surpassed. From 2008 to 2011, Reynolds hit 141 homers while striking out 834 times, leading the league in K's all four seasons. That includes the MLB record of 223 he set in 2009. To put that in perspective, Joe DiMaggio struck out 369 times in his career.
Reynolds also has a chance of becoming the first ever two-time player on the list. Heading into Friday's action, Reynolds was hitting .198 with 21 HRs.
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Will 2014 see Chris Davis and Mark Reynolds make the cut? And could rookie Mike Zunino, currently hitting .199 with 19 HR, hit enough home runs to make the list? With only four weeks of the season left, you've got yet another reason to tune in every night.