In the 32 seasons Major League ball has been played a mile (or so) above sea level, the Rockies franchise has produced 11 batting champs, six almost-there Triple Crown winners (a player took home two of the three components) and a bevy of Non-Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame seasons. In summary, it’s rare to experience a year in which a Rockies batter doesn’t author something fun and interesting. For the 2024 candidate, may I present a youngster who joined three Hall of Famers and a non-Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame season inner circle guy: Ezequiel Tovar.
Tovar, who became the youngest player to lead the NL in doubles since Gregg Jefferies in 1990, rode that league-high tally to 75 extra-base hits. That mark was the second most in the NL and a significant bar in its own right (he joined Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1983 and Álex Rodríguez in 1996 and 1998 as the only shortstops in age-22 or younger seasons to produce so many). But the ultra-fun aspect of Tovar’s season comes when that extra-base hit total is paired with his almost complete disinterest in taking a walk. The shortstop accepted a free pass 23 times over 695 plate appearances, for a 3.31 walk percentage. When I first put this combo together, I was concurrently flabbergasted and intrigued: who else has done this?
Typically, when this experience occurs, I file through the mental rolodex before wading into Baseball Reference’s Stathead research tool, conjuring up some (I hope) educated guesses as to potential answers. Here, I thought that Andre Dawson might qualify, maybe Jim Rice, perhaps Dante Bichette during his heyday with the Rockies. Nope, none of them make the list.
More Than 70 Extra-Base Hits, Walk% Below 3.5
| Player | Extra-Base Hits | Walk% | Season | Age-Season |
| Nap Lajoie | 72 | 2.60 | 1897 | 22 |
| Alfonso Soriano | 92 | 3.10 | 2002 | 26 |
| Joe Medwick | 76 | 3.25 | 1934 | 22 |
| Ezequiel Tovar | 75 | 3.31 | 2024 | 22 |
| Kirby Puckett | 71 | 3.33 | 1988 | 28 |
A pair of Hall of Fame outfielders (Medwick and Puckett), an inner circle second sacker (Lajoie), and the producer of one of those overstuffed-stat line seasons from a non-immortal (Soriano): that’s who lists toward Tovar.
Thus, Tovar now has a home in a larger category of my stat-inspired imagination, one fascinated by those who rarely complete an appearance at the dish by bypassing four pitches outside the strike zone. A lot of outs – naturally – are produced by these guys, but what they may lack in overall offensive value, they make up in splash and color, standing out for their expression of something different, non-conformative. Inspired by Tovar’s dalliance with the four other names in the table, I’ve put together a few other clubs that tickle my taste for this type of profile in the game.
More Homers Than Walks in a Season
Through 2024, a player has clubbed at least 30 homers on 1,530 occasions. Only 70 of those individual player seasons saw the basher’s longball tally exceed his number of walks (this includes the one Negro League season that fits the bill, from Mule Suttles in 1926, with 32 home runs and 31 walks). The previously celebrated Soriano accounts for three of the 70 seasons, as do Tony Armas, Matt Williams and Rockies legend, Vinny Castilla. But that quartet cannot claim top honors for volume; that honor goes to Dave Kingman and Juan González, who each did this four times. Most of the guys who accomplished this more than once managed their silly seasons in a fairly compact stretch, except for Kingman, who produced his first such campaign in 1975 and then his last 11 seasons later.
The fewest walks among the 30-homer club is 19, a tally produced by Rougned Odor in 2016 (along with 33 bombs) and yep, another Colorado Rockie, Andrés Galarraga, who went yard 31 times in 1994. But the real hero of the seasonal ratio of homers to walks, in my opinion, is yet another Blake Street Bomber, the one and only Bichette.
A Lot(!) More Homers Than Walks in a Season
In 1995, batting in the heart of Colorado’s lineup, Bichette paced the NL in homers (40) and RBI (128), but finished third in batting, his .340 mark far behind Tony Gwynn’s leading .368. Perhaps if he had drawn more than 22 walks, that average might have been closer to the Padres’ great. Although Bichette failed in a Triple Crown pursuit, his close encounter with doubling his walk tally with a big longball number remains unmatched.
Closest to a 2:1 Ratio of HR:BB, Min. 40 Homers
| Player | Year | HR | BB | HR:BB Ratio |
| Dante Bichette | 1995 | 40 | 22 | 1.818 |
| Salvador Perez | 2021 | 48 | 28 | 1.714 |
| Andre Dawson | 1987 | 49 | 32 | 1.531 |
That year, Bichette also posted the first qualifying season of at least a .340 average and a walk% at or below 3.60 since Puckett in 1988 (when the Twins’ icon batted .356) and only the eighth such season in modern AL-NL history (Robinson Canó would make it nine seasons in 2006).
There was a moment in 2021 when I thought that Perez had a great shot at toppling Bichette from the apex. It was a quick recognition – on the morning of August 24 – ironically brought on by the fact that the Royals backstop had, the night before, coupled a solo homer with (gasp) two walks, bringing his seasonal tallies to 33 longballs and 17 free passes. Alas, the separation between the two slimmed down after that (15 to 11), forcing him to only ride shotgun to Bichette’s awesome display. But all is not lost.
More Homers Than Walks for a Career
13 years in, Perez awaits the 2025 campaign holding a 273 to 243 homers to walks advantage – history is closing in! He’s one of 253 players ever with at least 250 round-trippers, and yet the only one to have more homers than walks. Armas is closest to having done this for a career, with a 251-260 balance (González comes next, with 434 homers and 457 walks). I’d feel a lot more confident in Perez’s staying power if not for 2024, which saw him, for the first time since 2014, take more free passes than collect home runs. Perhaps absurdly, his tallies in 2025 are among my more anticipated storylines to follow.
I’ll be watching and tracking, for sure. As I’ll be with Tovar, the guy who got all of this started. Intellectually, I understand and appreciate the value of a walk, and have enormous respect for someone like Juan Soto, who has showcased an historic combo of power and patience. Still, there’s room for the polar opposites, for they provide an edge of your seat energy to their approaches at the plate. The game is richer for the likes of Bichette and Dawson and Galarraga and Puckett and Kingman and Soriano and Perez and Tovar, for the exquisite jolt of expected action is always present, always just a pitch away.
Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.
Roger Schlueter
As Sr. Editorial Director for Major League Baseball Productions from 2004-2015, Roger served as a hub for hundreds of hours of films, series, documentaries and features: as researcher, fact-checker, script doctor, and developer of ideas. The years at MLB Production gave him the ideal platform to pursue what galvanized him the most – the idea that so much of what takes place on the field during the MLB regular and postseason (and is forever beautifully condensed into a box score) has connections to what has come before. Unearthing and celebrating these webs allows baseball to thrive, for the present can come alive and also reignite the past.