April 2019 is on it’s way to being the best April ever for home runs. The record for home runs in the month was set in 2000, when MLB teams combined for 931 long balls. April totals can be misleading, as sometimes the season starts early or later in the month. In the last 60 years, 2000 also had the highest percentage of HR (100*HR/PA), 3.26%.
| Month | Season | Home Runs | Plate App | HRPct |
| April | 2019 | 403 | 11378 | 3.54 |
| April | 2000 | 931 | 28587 | 3.26 |
| April | 2017 | 863 | 28022 | 3.08 |
| April | 2001 | 860 | 28342 | 3.03 |
| April | 2006 | 845 | 28157 | 3.00 |
| April | 1996 | 826 | 28297 | 2.92 |
| April | 1999 | 736 | 25937 | 2.84 |
| April | 2018 | 831 | 29300 | 2.84 |
| April | 1994 | 708 | 24978 | 2.83 |
| April | 2004 | 717 | 25879 | 2.77 |
| April | 2016 | 740 | 26755 | 2.77 |
| April | 2009 | 679 | 25064 | 2.71 |
| April | 1960 | 203 | 7526 | 2.70 |
In 2019, teams have already combined for 403 home runs and are hitting them in 3.54% of plate appearances. This does not count the HR barrage in March, in which 134 ball left the yard.
It may be a bit unfair to compare the two seasons. Players are relatively clean compared to that time. There is a different set of ballparks, and no doubt the ball has changed also. The last couple of seasons, however, fly in the face of the idea that the steroid era was a huge outlier in terms of power. Somehow, baseball found a way to bring that power back, and then some. The steroid era showed us what humans were capable of achieving, and twenty years later modern players got there with a drug testing regimen in place.
from baseballmusings.com http://bit.ly/2VEF6bb
No comments:
Post a Comment