Jones and Berkman Stats
Comparing Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman in the 2008 MLB Season
May 31, 2008
Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones and Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman have three things in common. They both currently play on third place teams -- the Braves (29-27) in the NL East and the Astros (30-26) in the NL Central. They’re both switch-hitters. And so far this season, they’re both on pace for two of the greatest individual offensive seasons in MLB history.
Chipper Jones 2008 Stats
In 51 games this season, Chipper Jones is batting a mind-boggling.409; he also has amassed 12 HRs, 35 RBIs, and 39 runs scored. He’s reaching base at an astounding .489 clip, and his 1.142 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) is second in the NL.
Jones, who is obviously seeing the ball incredibly well, has only 19 strikeouts while walking 31 times. As a comparison, Ryan Howard of the Phillies has already struck out 78 times in the same time frame.
The last player to bat .400 in an entire season was the great Ted Williams, who hit .406 in 1941. But some others have come close. In the strike-shortened season of 1994, Tony Gwynn hit .394; he also hit .372 in 1997. Some other close-calls include Larry Walker in 1999 (.379), Nomar Garciaparra and Todd Helton in 2000 (.372), Barry Bonds in 2002 (.370), and Ichiro Suzuki in 2004 (.372), just to name a few.
With the month of May just about over, Jones certainly still has his work cut out for him with about two-thirds of the season left to play. But as a switch-hitter, Jones has an advantage over all of the other hitters above who missed the .400 mark.
Normally much more of a power hitter from the right side, Jones has hit 316 of his 398 career HRs right-handed. But at 36 years old, Jones has lost some of his power from the right side; of his 12 HRs, only one has come from the right. But that has forced him to become much more of a contact hitter from that side, as he’s hitting .425 from the right (and still .400 from the left).
Lance Berkman 2008 Stats
Jones may be hitting over .400 right now, but Lance Berkman is right behind him at .386. Berkman, the jokingly self-proclaimed “Big Puma,” has been absolutely tearing the cover off the ball. He has accumulated 17 HRs, 47 RBIs, and 57 runs, and he has even been able to steal 10 bases, a feat he hasn’t been able to accomplish in any single season in his career. Berkman’s walk-to-strikeout ratio isn’t as solid as Jones’s, but he has still managed to walk more than strikeout: 33-32.
His .471 OBP is good enough for third in the entire league, and he has an MLB-leading OPS of 1.228. If Berkman is able to keep his OPS that high, he’ll be approaching Barry Bonds type numbers from his unbelievable seasons from 2001 to 2004.
As an added bonus to his huge offensive numbers, Berkman has played outstanding defense at first base. He’s made only one error, which places him second in the league with a group of six other first basemen.
Can They Keep It Up?
It seems unlikely that Jones and Berkman will be able to keep up their torrid paces for the strenuous 162-game season. Players frequently go through slumps and the highs and lows of each season, and of course, injuries happen all the time. But both players definitely have enough talent to continue playing inspired baseball, and maybe if they both keep hitting so well, they will have some competition to drive them along the way. Some luck here and there probably wouldn’t hurt either.
