Game Notes – 04/03/2025

There are 1,197 players who’ve accumulated at least 4,000 plate appearances through their first 10 big league seasons.  Imagine this immense gathering, where the head table is reserved for the top 10 in OPS+.  You’ll have heard of these guys.  Ted Williams commands the table, with a 190 through his first 10 campaigns.  Then there’s Ty Cobb and Lou Gehrig, each with a 182.  Rogers Hornsby is calling out with a 180 and Mike Trout proudly sports a 176.  There’s Jimmie Foxx with a 173, just ahead of Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle and Albert Pujols, all with a 172.  That’s nine.  The 10th, purposely left out of the roll call, comes in with the sixth highest mark (174) and goes by the name of Aaron Judge.

Aaron Judge singled, doubled and homered to help guide the Yankees to a 9-7 win over the Diamondbacks.  

~Through New York’s first six games, Judge has scored 11 runs, generated eight extra-base hits (with five homers) and has driven in 15 runs.  For all Yankees through six team games, the 11 runs match Derek Jeter (1999) for the most, the eight extra-base hits match Álex Rodríguez (2007) for the most, his five home runs also match Rodríguez in 2007 for the most and his 15 RBI surpass Mickey Mantle (13 in 1956) and Rodríguez (13 in 2007) for the most.  If one wants to glue this all together, Judge is the only player for any team in the modern era to reach these specific runs, RBI and extra-base hit numbers through his club’s first six games.

~In 31 March/April games in 2024, Judge scored 12 runs, had 12 extra-base hits, collected six home runs and drove in 18.  Again, in six games in 2025, he’s at 11 runs, eight extra-base hits, five homers and 15 RBI.

~Judge’s first-inning homer marked the 500th extra-base hit of his career – it came in his 999th game.  According to the Yankees’ press notes, by games played, he’s the third-fastest in franchise history to get to the milestone.  Joe DiMaggio (853 games) and Lou Gehrig (874 games) got there quicker.

Jazz Chisholm, Jr. also homered in the Yankees’ victory – his fourth longball of the season.  With Judge’s five and Anthony Volpe’s four, this Yankees team is the first in franchise history to have a trio all with at least four round-trippers through the team’s first six games.  Before 2025, there hadn’t been any evidence of a pair of teammates doing this, with just Babe Ruth (1932), Mickey Mantle (1956), Bill Skowron (1957), Mantle (1961), Álex Rodríguez (2007) and Mark Teixeira (2011) getting to at least four.  In the larger picture of all franchises in the modern era, this trio of Yankees stands alone as the only to each have four-or-more homers through six team games.

Charlie Morton fanned 10 in a loss to the Red Sox.  At 41 years and 142 days old, Morton is the oldest pitcher in Browns/Orioles history to reach double-digits, outdistancing 38-year-old Harvey Haddix from an outing in 1964.  Across the Majors, Morton’s effort marked the 73rd time a 41-year-old (or older) pitcher rang up at least 10 batters.  On the full list, Morton is the exact same age as Dazzy Vance when that hurler had his second of two double-digit strikeout games in 1932.  The full list:

Games with 10+ K’s Once Reaching 41 Years Old

41    Nolan Ryan

10    Randy Johnson

6      Roger Clemens

3      Johnny Niggeling, Gaylord Perry, Rich Hill

2      Dazzy Vance, Steve Carlton

1      Phil Niekro, Orlando Hernández, Charlie Morton

Kristian Campbell went 2-for-4 with a single and a home run to raise his seasonal tallies to 10 hits with six going for extra-bases (four doubles and a pair of homers).  It’s quite a prolific start for the 22-year-old, who has now played seven Major League games and finds himself leading the AL in hits and doubles.  The two tallies also prop him up in the story of Red Sox batters rocketing out of the gate.  

~Campbell is one of 13 Red Sox to compile at least 10 hits through his first seven games.  Olaf Henriksen, with 14 in 1911, leads the pack and Rafael Devers (12 in 2017) is second.  Ted Williams (1939) headlines the quartet who had 11, and then Campbell is matched with six others at 10.  If age is introduced into the organization, the list shrinks considerably, with Campbell one of four to be short of his 23rd birthday, along with Williams, Devers and Ted Cox (11 in 1977).

~Campbell’s six extra-base hits tie for the second most for any Red Sox batter through his first seven games.  23-year-old Will Middlebrooks had seven in 2012 and 27-year-old Daniel Nava had six in 2010.  

~Across the Majors since 1901, Campbell is one of nine players younger than 23 to open his career with at least 10 hits and have at least six of them be of the extra-base variety.  By debut season:

1936    Roy Weatherley with 11 and 7

1959    Willie McCovey with 14 and 7

1969    John Sipin with 10 and 6

2008    Jay Bruce with 15 and 6

2013    Yasiel Puig with 13 and 6

2014    Jorge Soler with 12 and 8

2018    Ronald Acuña, Jr. with 10 and 6

2019    Bo Bichette with 13 and 7

2025    Kristian Campbell with 10 and 6

In Baltimore’s loss, Cedric Mullins connected on his 17th career homer to lead off the game.  Mullins is second in franchise history for the category, albeit a distant second to Brady Anderson and his 44.  

Anderson’s 44 are now 10th all-time (when he ended his career after the 2002 season, his 44 stacked up as the second most ever).  One of those who’ve passed him is Kyle Schwarber, who is currently tied with Jimmy Rollins in eighth place, with 46.  On Thursday, Schwarber was batting leadoff and while he didn’t go yard in the first, he did leave the park in the seventh.  In 2,319 plate appearances batting in the #1 spot in the order, Schwarber owns a .507 slugging percentage.  There are four players in the modern era to have a higher mark out of the spot (min. 2,000 PA):  Alfonso Soriano (.539), Mookie Betts (.537), Ronald Acuña, Jr. (.534) and Francisco Lindor (.519).

The Rockies’ Antonio Senzatela was at it again, allowing one unearned run in five-and-a-third innings despite allowing 11 baserunners (in his first start of the year, the righty allowed 11 baserunners and came away unscathed).  In some sort of sorcery, Senzatela is tied for the Majors’ lead with a 0.00 ERA despite having the worst WHIP (2.172) among all qualifiers.  This sort of wizardry cannot go on for much longer, but it did inspire a few pursuits:

~For all pitchers since 1893 to lead either the NL or AL in ERA in a season, the worst WHIP among them belongs to Amos Rusie, who paced the NL in 1894 with a 2.78 ERA and had a 1.410 WHIP (the WHIP was also was the best in the league; 1894 was insane).  So that’s really not what we’re (I’m) looking for.  Let’s find the second worst WHIP among the ERA title-holders.  Bill Walker paced the NL with a 3.09 ERA in 1929 and had a 1.379.  Chet Nichols comes in third, with an NL-best 2.88 ERA in 1951 paired with a 1.353 WHIP.

~I was curious about the worst WHIP for a really good ERA+, let’s say a 140 or better.  Here’s the three highest WHIPs for any NL or AL pitcher since 1893:

1932    Tommy Bridges (140 ERA+) with a 1.458 WHIP

1950    Ned Garver (146 ERA+) with a 1.431 WHIP

1998    Chuck Finley (140 ERA+) with a 1.428 WHIP

~Finally, the WORST WHIP for any pitcher since 1901 to qualify for an ERA title belongs to Les Sweetland.  In 1930, the southpaw posted a 1.982 WHIP over 167.0 innings and unlike Senzatela, had the ERA to match:  a 7.71.  

~In his first start since surrendering eight runs and five homers in two innings, Brewers’ left-hander Nestor Cortes was in control, permitting a lone hit in six scoreless outings.  Behind the rebound, the Brewers defeated the Reds, 1-0.  Since allowing 47 runs through their first four games of the year, the Brewers have surrendered just two over the past three (with two team shutouts).  Since the Brewers started making postseason appearances a yearly habit (2018), the club has produced 16 1-0 victories, which is third most in the Majors over this span, after the Rays’ 18 and the Giants’ 17.

~This Reds 1-0 loss marked the third time in as many games the team dropped a contest by that exact score.  This is rare:

Teams With 3 Straight 1-0 Losses, Since 1901

1908 Brooklyn Superbas

1909 St. Louis Browns

1909 Washington Nationals 

1917 Pittsburgh Pirates

1960 Philadelphia Phillies

2025 Cincinnati Reds

(Before this stretch, the 2023 Reds had been the most recent team to even have two straight 1-0 losses).       

In Thursday’s light slate of games, starting pitchers combined for 54 strikeouts and 12 walks, or a 4.5:1 ratio.  Since 1893, Curt Schilling owns the best career ratio for any pitcher with at least 3,000 innings, with 4.38 strikeouts for every walk. 

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.