Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Hits/(AB-SO): Judge that.

Harry Murphy noticed that Aaron Judge had a very high Hits/(AB-SO) so far in 2025: .517. In fact, Judge had >= .430 multiple times.

SeasonAgeTeamLgWARGPAABRH2B3BHRRBISBCSBBSOH/(AB-SO)
201624NYYAL-0.3279584101520410019420.35714286
201725NYYAL8.115567854212815424352114941272080.46107784
201826NYYAL6.011249841377115220276763761520.44061303
201927NYYAL5.610244737875103181275532641410.43459916
202028NYYAL1.1281141012326309220110320.37681159
202129NYYAL5.914863355089158240399861751580.40306122
202230NYYAL10.8157696570133177280621311631111750.44810127
202331NYYAL4.61064583677998160377531881300.41350211
202432NYYAL10.8158704559122180361581441001331710.46391753
202533NYYAL6.59040233180119212337463651010.51739130

If only Judge could reduce his Strike Outs to go along with his BA in the .360s in 2025. But his SO rate wasn't so different in 2025 as it had been in the previous three non injury seasons:

SO/PASO/ABSeason
44.2%50.0%2016
30.7%38.4%2017
30.5%36.8%2018
31.5%37.3%2019
28.1%31.7%2020
25.0%28.7%2021
25.1%30.7%2022
28.4%35.4%2023
24.3%30.6%2024
25.1%30.5%2025

But what of other high SO, high BA sluggers like Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle? What of any batters?

1903-2024, AB >= 400, Hits/(AB-SO) >= .430:

QueryH/(AB-SO)
First Last yearID Bats PA HR AB H BB SO H/(AB-SO) BA OBP SLG OPS Team# Team
Manny Ramirez 2000 R 532 38 439 154 86 117 0.47826087 0.35079727 0.46022727 0.69703872 1.157266 1 CLE
Babe Ruth 1923 L 699 41 522 205 170 93 0.47785548 0.39272031 0.54454023 0.76436782 1.30890805 1 NYA
Aaron Judge 2024 R 703 58 559 180 133 171 0.46391753 0.32200358 0.45934379 0.70125224 1.16059603 1 NYY
Aaron Judge 2017 R 678 52 542 154 127 208 0.46107784 0.28413284 0.42433234 0.62730627 1.05163862 1 NYA
Babe Ruth 1920 L 615 54 457 172 150 80 0.45623342 0.37636761 0.53278689 0.84901532 1.3818022 1 NYA
Ryan Howard 2006 L 704 58 581 182 108 181 0.455 0.31325301 0.42836676 0.65920826 1.08757502 1 PHI
Yoan Moncada 2019 B 559 25 511 161 40 154 0.45098039 0.31506849 0.36936937 0.54794521 0.91731457 1 CHA
Rogers Hornsby 1924 R 640 25 536 227 89 32 0.45039683 0.42350746 0.50717703 0.69589552 1.20307256 1 SLN
Jim Thome 2001 L 644 49 526 153 111 185 0.44868035 0.29087452 0.41809672 0.62357414 1.04167087 1 CLE
Aaron Judge 2022 R 692 62 570 177 111 175 0.44810127 0.31052632 0.4279476 0.68596491 1.11391251 1 NYA
Jose Hernandez 2002 R 582 24 525 151 52 188 0.44807122 0.28761905 0.35628227 0.47809524 0.83437751 1 MIL
Babe Ruth 1924 L 681 46 529 200 142 81 0.44642857 0.37807183 0.51259259 0.73913043 1.25172303 1 NYA
Miguel Sano 2017 R 483 28 424 112 54 173 0.44621514 0.26415094 0.3526971 0.50707547 0.85977257 1 MIN
Sammy Sosa 2001 R 711 64 577 189 116 153 0.44575472 0.32755633 0.44492132 0.73656846 1.18148977 1 CHN
Mo Vaughn 1997 L 628 35 527 166 86 154 0.44504021 0.31499051 0.4224 0.5597723 0.9821723 1 BOS
Manny Ramirez 1999 R 640 44 522 174 96 131 0.44501279 0.33333333 0.44849445 0.66283525 1.1113297 1 CLE
Babe Ruth 1921 L 693 59 540 204 145 81 0.44444444 0.37777778 0.51233672 0.8462963 1.35863302 1 NYA
J. D. Martinez 2018 R 649 43 569 188 69 146 0.44444444 0.33040422 0.40654206 0.62917399 1.03571605 1 BOS
B. J. Upton 2007 R 548 24 474 142 65 154 0.44375 0.29957806 0.38858195 0.50843882 0.89702077 1 TBA
Sammy Sosa 2000 R 705 50 604 193 91 168 0.44266055 0.31953642 0.41032999 0.63410596 1.04443595 1 CHN
Larry Walker 2001 L 601 38 497 174 82 103 0.44162437 0.3501006 0.45531197 0.66197183 1.1172838 1 COL
J. D. Martinez 2014 R 480 23 441 139 30 126 0.44126984 0.31519274 0.3628692 0.55328798 0.91615718 1 DET
Bryce Harper 2015 L 654 42 521 172 124 131 0.44102564 0.33013436 0.46307692 0.6487524 1.11182932 1 WAS
Mo Vaughn 1998 L 681 40 609 205 61 144 0.44086022 0.33661741 0.40412979 0.591133 0.9952628 1 BOS
Aaron Judge 2018 R 498 27 413 115 76 152 0.44061303 0.27845036 0.39553753 0.52784504 0.92338256 1 NYA
Milton Bradley 2008 B 509 22 414 133 80 112 0.44039735 0.32125604 0.44135189 0.56280193 1.00415382 1 TEX
Matt Kemp 2011 R 689 39 602 195 74 159 0.44018059 0.32392027 0.40322581 0.58637874 0.98960454 1 LAN
Josh Hamilton 2010 L 571 32 518 186 43 95 0.43971631 0.35907336 0.41342756 0.63320463 1.0466322 1 TEX
Tyler O'Neill 2021 R 537 34 482 138 38 168 0.43949045 0.28630705 0.35459662 0.56016598 0.9147626 1 SLN
Babe Ruth 1926 L 652 47 495 184 144 76 0.43914081 0.37171717 0.51557632 0.73737374 1.25295006 1 NYA
Jeff Bagwell 1994 R 479 39 400 147 65 65 0.43880597 0.3675 0.46055437 0.75 1.21055437 1 HOU
Andres Galarraga 1993 R 506 22 470 174 24 73 0.43828715 0.37021277 0.408 0.60212766 1.01012766 1 COL
Paul Goldschmidt 2015 R 694 33 567 182 118 151 0.4375 0.32098765 0.43959243 0.5696649 1.00925733 1 ARI
Rogers Hornsby 1925 R 605 39 504 203 83 39 0.43655914 0.40277778 0.48896435 0.75595238 1.24491673 1 SLN
Nelson Cruz 2019 R 520 41 454 141 56 131 0.43653251 0.31057269 0.39458414 0.63876652 1.03335066 1 MIN
Rogers Hornsby 1922 R 704 42 623 250 65 50 0.43630017 0.40128411 0.4586357 0.7223114 1.1809471 1 SLN
Lou Gehrig 1927 L 717 47 584 218 109 84 0.436 0.37328767 0.47413793 0.76541096 1.23954889 1 NYA
Harry Heilmann 1923 R 626 18 524 211 74 40 0.43595041 0.40267176 0.48092869 0.63167939 1.11260808 1 DET
Carlos Gonzalez 2010 L 636 34 587 197 40 135 0.43584071 0.33560477 0.3799682 0.59795571 0.97792391 1 COL
Jimmie Foxx 1932 R 701 58 585 213 116 96 0.43558282 0.36410256 0.46932953 0.74871795 1.21804748 1 PHA
Larry Walker 1997 L 664 49 568 208 78 90 0.43514644 0.36619718 0.45454545 0.72007042 1.17461588 1 COL
Christian Yelich 2019 L 580 44 489 161 80 118 0.43396226 0.32924335 0.43154246 0.67075665 1.10229911 1 MIL
Chris Davis 2013 L 673 53 584 167 72 199 0.43376623 0.2859589 0.37387387 0.63356164 1.00743552 1 BAL
Roberto Clemente 1967 R 632 23 585 209 41 103 0.43360996 0.35726496 0.40222576 0.55384615 0.95607191 1 PIT
Brent Rooker 2024 R 614 39 546 160 59 177 0.43360434 0.29304029 0.36721311 0.56227106 0.92948418 1 OAK
Mickey Mantle 1957 B 623 34 474 173 146 75 0.43358396 0.3649789 0.51451613 0.66455696 1.17907309 1 NYA
Mike Trout 2012 R 639 30 559 182 67 139 0.43333333 0.3255814 0.40348101 0.56350626 0.96698727 1 LAA
Mickey Mantle 1956 B 652 52 533 188 112 99 0.43317972 0.35272045 0.46676971 0.7054409 1.17221061 1 NYA
Manny Ramirez 2002 R 518 33 436 152 73 85 0.43304843 0.34862385 0.45067698 0.64678899 1.09746597 1 BOS
Jim Edmonds 2000 L 643 42 525 155 103 167 0.43296089 0.2952381 0.41640379 0.58285714 0.99926093 1 SLN
Jim Edmonds 2002 L 576 28 476 148 86 134 0.43274854 0.31092437 0.4245614 0.56092437 0.98548577 1 SLN
Alex Rodriguez 1996 R 677 36 601 215 59 104 0.43259557 0.3577371 0.4186747 0.63061564 1.04929034 1 SEA
Ted Williams 1957 L 546 38 420 163 119 43 0.43236074 0.38809524 0.52757353 0.73095238 1.25852591 1 BOS
Rogers Hornsby 1921 R 674 21 592 235 60 48 0.43198529 0.39695946 0.45827011 0.63851351 1.09678362 1 SLN
Babe Herman 1930 L 699 35 614 241 66 56 0.43189964 0.39250814 0.45467836 0.67752443 1.13220279 1 BRO
Jim Thome 1998 L 537 30 440 129 89 141 0.43143813 0.29318182 0.41651032 0.58409091 1.00060123 1 CLE
Jim Thome 1996 L 636 38 505 157 123 141 0.43131868 0.31089109 0.4511041 0.61188119 1.06298529 1 CLE
Ted Williams 1941 L 606 37 456 185 147 27 0.43123543 0.40570175 0.55280528 0.73464912 1.2874544 1 BOS
Albert Belle 1994 R 480 36 412 147 58 71 0.43108504 0.35679612 0.44210526 0.71359223 1.1556975 1 CLE
Jim Edmonds 2004 L 612 42 498 150 101 150 0.43103448 0.30120482 0.42384106 0.64257028 1.06641134 1 SLN
J. D. Martinez 2017 R 489 45 432 131 53 128 0.43092105 0.30324074 0.37938144 0.68981481 1.06919626 2 ARI
Brandon Marsh 2023 L 472 12 404 112 59 144 0.43076923 0.27722772 0.37473233 0.45792079 0.83265313 1 PHI
Ryan Braun 2007 R 492 34 451 146 29 112 0.43067847 0.32372506 0.37371663 0.63414634 1.00786297 1 MIL
Mo Vaughn 1996 L 752 44 635 207 95 154 0.43035343 0.32598425 0.42473118 0.58267717 1.00740835 1 BOS
Ryan Howard 2007 L 648 47 529 142 107 199 0.43030303 0.268431 0.39625585 0.58412098 0.98037683 1 PHI
Eric Davis 1998 R 508 28 452 148 44 108 0.43023256 0.32743363 0.39321357 0.58185841 0.97507198 1 BAL
George Sisler 1922 L 654 8 586 246 49 14 0.43006993 0.41979522 0.46708464 0.59385666 1.06094129 1 SLA
Larry Walker 1999 L 513 37 438 166 57 52 0.43005181 0.37899543 0.46351085 0.71004566 1.17355651 1 COL

Maybe the most interesting among these 68, is #58: Ted Williams in 1941 with his .406 BA and only 27 SO. And remember, Williams did not have Sacrifice Flies deducted from his AB in 1941. George Sisler is second from the bottom with the fewest SO: 14.

Hornsby (twice), Cobb, Heilmann, Terry lose .400 Batting Average when adding Sacrifice Flies to At Bats.  Monday, May 26, 2025

Judge is listed three times in the top 10 through 2024. Ruth three times in the top 12.

Mantle is only numbers 46 and 48.

Manny Ramirez 2000 edges out Ruth 1923 for #1.

Active players in addition to Judge: 7 Yoan Moncada, 23 Bryce Harper, 29 Tyler O'Neill, Yankee teammate 33 Paul Goldschmidt. 42 Christian Yelich, 45 Brent Rooker, 47 Mike Trout, 62 Brandon Marsh.

Maybe it's a hitter's version of BA on balls in play. Hey, it even includes Home Runs!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I've been fascinated by that for years and call it contact average when the ball is put into play, including foul ball outs. The average MLB player's contact average varies between .300 and .333.