Knowledge is power: 10 facts on Stanton surge

August 11th, 2017

's home run surge hasn't stopped yet.
The Marlins slugger went deep for the sixth time in seven games on Thursday night in Washington, smacking a two-run shot off in the third inning. That extended Stanton's career-high homer total to 39, also the most in the Majors this season, and left him one shy of joining Gary Sheffield (42 in 1996) as the only players to reach 40 in Marlins history.
As Stanton continues to punish opposing pitchers and take aim at the record books, here are 10 facts and figures to know about the game's hottest hitter:
• Stanton is setting a dizzying pace with his homer production this season, as Thursday's long ball lowered his at-bat-per-homer ratio this season to 10.64. That places him with the third-best at-bat-per-homer ratio in the Majors, behind only the Rangers' Joey Gallo (9.88) and the Dodgers' (10.61). For his career, Stanton has averaged one home run for every 13.74 at-bats, putting him just ahead of Jim Thome (13.76) and into fourth in Major League history behind Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76) and Barry Bonds (12.92).
After another HR, Stanton's power surge shows no signs of slowing down
• Stanton finished 2015 with 27 homers in 74 games and matched that output in '16 in 119 games. Thursday's blast was his 28th homer since May 26. That's a span of 66 games and 64 starts. During that same time, Bellinger is second in the Majors with 24 homers, and nobody else has more than 21.

• The homer binge began in Stanton's third game after moving up to second in Miami's lineup, where he has been stationed since. His 28 homers out of that spot are four more than any other hitter this year, and Stanton is already closing in on the 16th 30-homer season from a No. 2 hitter on record. Only twice has anyone gone deep 40 times while hitting second -- Eddie Mathews in 1959 (46) and Ryne Sandberg in 1990 (40).
• More recently, Stanton has launched 18 homers in his past 30 games (29 starts). That big-fly burst alone would tie him for the season lead for the Red Sox with , and make him the club leader on the Cardinals and Phillies.
• Stanton's most recent blast came off his bat with a 104.1-mph exit velocity. That marked his MLB-high 37th home run this year with an exit velocity of 100 mph or harder. As you climb up the velocity ladder, Stanton remains at the top. The Marlins slugger has also hit the most homers with an exit velocity of at least 105 mph (35), 110 mph (22) and the second most of at least 115 mph (four) behind the Yankees' .

• Overall, Stanton's 109.5-mph average exit velocity on his 2017 home runs rank second only to Judge (110.4 mph) entering Thursday's action among players with at least 10 tracked homers on the year. That's right in line with his 109.7-mph average home run exit velocity since Statcast™ was launched at the beginning of 2015, the highest of any big league hitter who's hit at least 50 homers in that span (the Mariners' is second at 107.1 mph).
• Stanton has made a habit of leaving his mark at the stadiums he visits -- one that remains even after he leaves town. Per Statcast™, the Marlins star not only owns the current Marlins Park record for longest home run since 2015 (479 feet, hit June 23, 2015), he's also the current record holder in that span at SunTrust Park (477 feet), Dodger Stadium (a ballpark he memorably left completely with a 475-foot shot), Citi Field (468 feet) and Coors Field (504 feet). Cruz and Arizona's J.D. Martinez are the only other players who own the current longest home runs in at least two Major League stadiums since 2015.
• It's no secret that Stanton loves to pull the ball with authority. Thursday's dinger marked his 66th hit to the pull side out of the 93 (71 percent) home runs he's hit since Statcast™ began tracking in 2015.
Entering Thursday, no right-handed hitter had averaged a higher exit velocity (101.3 mph) or a longer distance (328 feet) on his fly balls and line drives to the pull side than Stanton since the beginning of 2015 (minimum 150 pulled balls in play).
• Stanton is at least tied for the MLB lead in home runs this season against each of the Braves, Mets and Phillies, and only the Cubs' has more against the Nationals than Stanton's four. But Thursday's was his 32nd against Washington in his career, with no other player hitting more than 15 over that span.
• Stanton has gone deep enough times that if you turned the rest of his hits this season into outs, he would still have a .376 slugging percentage. If you did the same thing for his run of 18 homers in 30 games, he would still be slugging .661, which is higher than any qualified player's season mark.