40 Home Run seasons by catchers. Can Gary Sanchez join them?

Javy Lopez: most Home Runs in a season as a catcher. Friday, February 8, 2019

		HR	HR	HR	HR	HR	HR	HR	HR	HR	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB	AB
	Year	Tot	C	1B	3B	LF	CF	RF	PH	DH	Tot	C	1B	3B	LF	CF	RF	PH	DH
Bench	1970	45	38	1	0	5	0	1	0		605	509	21	1	33	7	29	5		Bench
Lopez	2003	43	42						1	0	456	433						11	12	Lopez
Hundley	1996	41	41						0		540	532						8		Hundley
Campanella	1953	41	40						1		519	508						11		Campanella
Bench	1972	40	34	0	2			4			538	463	8	14			53			Bench
Piazza	1997	40	40						0	0	556	520						5	31	Piazza
Piazza	1999	40	40						0	0	534	527						4	3	Piazza
Piazza	2000	38	35						1	2	482	458						6	18	Piazza

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Played at least 75% of games at Catcher. Home Runs include some hit while playing other positions or pinch hitting. Javy Lopez hit the most at the catching position: 42. Johnny Bench hit 38 catching in 1970. Read the post above for details.

Below are the 17 seasons in which a catcher hit at least 35 Home Runs (HR) to include those who came close to 40 HR:

Rk	Player	HR	OPS+	RBI	SLG	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	OPS	Pos
1	Johnny Bench	45	141	148	.587	1970	22	CIN	NL	158	671	605	97	177	35	4	54	9	102	0	1	11	12	5	2	.293	.345	.932	*273/9H85
2	Javy Lopez	43	169	109	.687	2003	32	ATL	NL	129	495	457	89	150	29	3	33	5	90	4	0	1	10	0	1	.328	.378	1.065	*2H/D
3	Todd Hundley	41	140	112	.550	1996	27	NYM	NL	153	624	540	85	140	32	1	79	15	146	3	0	2	9	1	3	.259	.356	.906	*2H
4	Roy Campanella	41	154	142	.611	1953	31	BRO	NL	144	590	519	103	162	26	3	67		58	4	0		13	4	2	.312	.395	1.006	*2H
5	Mike Piazza	40	135	124	.575	1999	30	NYM	NL	141	593	534	100	162	25	0	51	11	70	1	0	7	27	2	2	.303	.361	.936	*2/HD
6	Mike Piazza	40	185	124	.638	1997	28	LAD	NL	152	633	556	104	201	32	1	69	11	77	3	0	5	19	5	1	.362	.431	1.070	*2/DH
7	Johnny Bench	40	166	125	.541	1972	24	CIN	NL	147	653	538	87	145	22	2	100	23	84	2	0	12	18	6	6	.270	.379	.920	*29/35
8	Mike Piazza	38	155	113	.614	2000	31	NYM	NL	136	545	482	90	156	26	0	58	10	69	3	0	2	15	4	2	.324	.398	1.012	*2/HD
9	Carlton Fisk	37	115	107	.488	1985	37	CHW	AL	153	620	543	85	129	23	1	52	12	81	17	2	6	9	17	9	.238	.320	.808	*2D/H
10	Gabby Hartnett	37	144	122	.630	1930	29	CHC	NL	141	577	508	84	172	31	3	55		62	1	14			0		.339	.404	1.034	*2/H
11	Mike Piazza	36	148	94	.573	2001	32	NYM	NL	141	573	503	81	151	29	0	67	19	87	2	0	1	20	0	2	.300	.384	.957	*2/HD
12	Mike Piazza	36	166	105	.563	1996	27	LAD	NL	148	631	547	87	184	16	0	81	21	93	1	0	2	21	0	3	.336	.422	.985	*2/H
13	Joe Torre	36	156	101	.560	1966	25	ATL	NL	148	614	546	83	172	20	3	60	8	61	2	2	4	18	0	4	.315	.382	.943	*23/H
14	Ivan Rodriguez	35	125	113	.558	1999	27	TEX	AL	144	630	600	116	199	29	1	24	2	64	1	0	5	31	25	12	.332	.356	.914	*2/HD
15	Terry Steinbach	35	116	100	.529	1996	34	OAK	AL	145	571	514	79	140	25	1	49	5	115	6	0	2	16	0	1	.272	.342	.871	*2H/D3
16	Mike Piazza	35	153	112	.561	1993	24	LAD	NL	149	602	547	81	174	24	2	46	6	86	3	0	6	10	3	4	.318	.370	.932	*2/H3
17	Walker Cooper	35	140	122	.586	1947	32	NYG	NL	140	547	515	79	157	24	8	24		43	3	4		13	2		.305	.339	.926	*2/H

Only once did a catcher hit at least 40 HR in fewer than 500 at bats (AB): Javy Lopez 2003: 43 HR in only 457 AB. Mike Piazza is the only other catcher to hit at least 35 HR in fewer than 500 AB: in 2000 38 HR in 482 AB.

Johnny Bench had by far the most AB of any catcher 40 HR season when he set the record for catchers with 45 HR in 605 AB in 1970. Among the 17 seasons with at least 35 HR, the only other one with at least 600 AB: Ivan Rodriguez: 35 HR in 600 AB in his MVP season of 1999.

Gabby Hartnett was the first catcher to hit at least 35 HR: 37 in 508 AB in 1930. Hartnett's Cub teammate outfielder Hack Wilson set the National League record with 56 HR that stood until 1998.

Brooklyn Dodger Roy Campanella was the first catcher to hit at least 40 HR: 1953 41 HR in 519 AB. Campanella was NL MVP in 1951, 1953, 1955.

Johnny Bench was the next to hit 40 and the first of two to do it twice:
1970 45
1972 40

Mike Piazza:
1997 40 Dodgers
1999 40 Mets

Piazza is the only catcher to hit at least 35 more than twice: SIX times! But Piazza never held the Mets record for HR in a season. Met catcher Todd Hundley hit 41 HR in 1996, a Met record that was later tied by center fielder Carlos Beltran. Hundley is the only catcher to currently hold his team's season record for HR.

Four of the 17 catcher seasons with at least 35 HR are by Dodgers or Mets, the most of any teams. OK, Piazza has three for each of those two teams. Campanella and Hundley the other ones.

Javy Lopez is the most recent catcher to hit at least 40 HR: 43 in 2003.

So, can Yankee catcher Gary Sanchez join this very exclusive club? In 2017 Sanchez hit 33 HR in 471 AB; career: 53 HR in 674 AB. That's one career HR every 12.7 AB. At that rate Sanchez would hit 40 HR in about 508 AB. Here are the Marcel the Monkey Forecasting System baseball-reference.com 2018 projections for Sanchez and two of his Yankee teammates:

Rk	Name	Age	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR ▼	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Rel
1	Giancarlo Stanton	28	593	516	90	136	26	1	43	104	3	2	67	154	.264	.352	.568	.920	293	10	5	1	3	9	84%
2	Aaron Judge	26	549	453	94	123	20	2	37	86	7	3	89	161	.272	.395	.570	.964	258	12	5	1	3	7	76%
3	Gary Sanchez	25	485	432	71	121	21	0	31	80	3	1	42	111	.280	.351	.544	.894	235	9	7	1	4	2	75%

Would Yankee fans take that, 111 HR for the three of them? The fans probably should ... but probably won't. After all, Yankee fans have this dancing in their heads:

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