Game Notes – 04/15/2025

In 1956, Henry Aaron – playing in his age-22 season – led the NL with 340 total bases.  Over in the AL, Mickey Mantle – playing in his age-24 season – paced the Junior Circuit in this same category, with 376.  This excerpt from that season is notable not only for the names that emblazon the convergence, but also because it disappeared for many years.  After those two inner circle Hall of Famers, this particular feat – players in age-24 or younger seasons leading their respective leagues in total bases in the same year – required a new century to again appear. 

The 2000s have witnessed three additional additions:  Albert Pujols and Vernon Wells made star turns in 2003; Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton awed in 2014; Cody Bellinger and Rafael Devers cannonballed into the conversation in 2019.  A little more frequent than in the past, but no less worthy of remark, of salute, of rah-rah.  It’s only mid-April in 2025, teams have completed between 10 and 13% of their schedules:  this is all true.  It’s also true that right now, 24-year-old Corbin Carroll leads the NL with 50 total bases and 23-year-old Tyler Soderstrom is tops in the AL, with 47.

Corbin Carroll drove in five runs, courtesy of an RBI double and a grand slam, and paced the Diamondbacks through a 10-4 victory over the Marlins.  

~The 24-year-old is tied for fourth in the NL in two-base hits (7) and tied for the top spot in homers (6).  The whole package sees him holding the top spots – all by himself – in extra-base hits (14) and total bases (50).  In Arizona history, for all players through 17 games, Carroll:

*Is tied for the 10th most doubles.  Eric Byrnes (2008) and David Peralta (2019) each produced nine for the most.

*Is tied for the third most home runs.  Luis Gonzalez had 11 in 2001 and that same year, Reggie Sanders hit seven.  Eduardo Escobar, with six in 2021, had been the most recent to reach Carroll’s bar.

*Is tied for the most XBH.  Matt Williams (1999) and Kelly Johnson (2010) also amassed 14.

*Owns the third most total bases.  He’d have to be at 54 to shake hands with the leaders:  Williams (1999) and Gonzalez (2001).

~This line marked the fifth time Carroll has driven in at least five runs and the fourth time he’s done it while batting leadoff.  There are 11 players since 1901 to have at least four of these run-producing efforts out of the top spot in the order, but none of the others below had four before turning 25 years old, like Carroll (Betts had three):

1901-2025:  Most 5+ RBI Games Batting Leadoff

10    Mookie Betts

6      Marcus Semien

5      Eddie Joost, Alfonso Soriano

4      Bobby Bonds, Wade Boggs, Denard Span, Curtis Granderson, George Springer, Kyle Schwarber,                    Corbin Carroll

Batting right behind Carroll, Geraldo Perdomo contributed a home run and three RBI.  In Tuesday Morning’s Notes, I mentioned how the Dodgers’ 1-2 hitters in 2025 (mostly Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts) were combining for a notably high OPS.  Diamondbacks 1-2 hitters (Carroll, Perdomo and a little bit of Ketel Marte) are doing even better.  The four highest marks in 2025 belong to the Diamondbacks (1.049), Yankees (.906), Padres (.894) and Dodgers (.877).  The highest OPS for any team’s 1-2 hitters since 1901 (but taking out the shortened 2020 season) is the Dodgers’ .970 in 2023.

Tyler Soderstrom produced his third multi-homer game of the 2025 campaign – a significant part of a line that also saw him drive in a career-best six runs.  

~The 23-year-old is the fifth player in the modern era to have three multi-homer games by the time his club had 17 games played.  Here’s the chronological list, adding each player’s age during the stretch:

1948  Ken Keltner for the Indians (31 years old)

1974  Reggie Jackson for the Athletics (27 years old)

2001  Carlos Delgado for the Blue Jays (28 years old)

2020  Teoscar Hernández for the Blue Jays (27 years old)

2025  Tyler Soderstrom for the Athletics (23 years old)

~Soderstrom’s Major League-leading eight homers are tied for the fourth most for any Athletic through 17 team games.  Jackson had nine in 1974 and was later matched by Mark McGwire (1992) and Khris Davis (2019).  At eight:  Bob Cerv (1958), Rocky Colavito (1964) and Mike Davis (1985).  

~Since 1901 – players to have at least eight home runs through their clubs’ first 17 games and be younger than 24 years old:

9   Cody Bellinger (2019)

8   Carlos Delgado (1994), Bryce Harper (2016), Trevor Story (2016), Fernando Tatis, Jr. (2020), Tyler                   Soderstrom (2025)

~Soderstrom is the eighth Athletic to be younger than 24 and to have a line displaying two (or more) home runs and six (or more) RBI.  22-year-old Jimmie Foxx had two of these performances in 1930 and 23-year-old Eric Chávez had three of them in 2001.  22-year-old Franklin Barreto had one in 2018 and 23-year-old Reggie Jackson had one in 1969.  And now there’s Soderstrom.

Batting leadoff for Seattle, Dylan Moore launched two homers and drove in four runs.  He’s the fifth Mariner to hit a pair out and drive in at least four from the top spot, joining Larry Milbourne in 1978, Mickey Brantley in 1987 and Brad Miller (twice in 2013).  In terms of production, Brantley is king of the hill, with a three-homer, seven-RBI line on his résumé.

Alex Bregman enjoyed a hearty day at the plate on Tuesday, going 5-for-5 with two homers, a double and four RBI. The particulars for this line have not been generated often by a Red Sox batter.  Five previous reps had a day that featured at least five hits with no outs made, at least three of the hits going for extra bases and at least four RBI.  Ted Williams (1954) and Carl Yastrzemski (1965) appear first and set the stage for Tom Brunansky in 1990, Duston Pedroia in 2010 and Andrew Benintendi in 2017.  

Max Fried improved to 3-0 after allowing two runs in six-and-two-third innings.  The lefty is one of 25 Yankees hurlers in the liveball era to, by this point in the year (17 team games), have at least four starts, an unblemished record and a sub-two ERA.  The last six, which takes us back to 1993:

1993    Jimmy Key (2-0, 1.21 ERA in 4 GS)

1999    David Cone (3-0, 1.04 ERA in 4 GS)

2007    Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.78 ERA in 4 GS)

2010    Andy Pettitte (3-0, 1.29 ERA in 4 GS)

2023    Gerrit Cole (4-0, 0.95 ERA in 4 GS)

2025    Max Fried (3-0, 1.88 ERA in 4 GS)

Tyler Mahle improved to 3-0 with a 0.92 ERA after allowing three hits in six scoreless innings.  The righty is the ONLY Rangers hurler to, by this point in the year (17 team games), have at least four starts, an unblemished record and a sub-one ERA.  Across the Majors, there are 26 pitchers this century to meet the criteria; the last five before Mahle:  Boston’s Kutter Crawford in 2024; 2023 reps Luis Castillo (Mariners), Gerrit Cole (Yankees), Sonny Gray (Twins) and Shohei Ohtani (Angels).

Toronto’s Kevin Gausman picked up his second win of the year and more germane to the following exploration, fanned six and walked none.  For the year, Gausman has 20 strikeouts and three walks, and since the start of the 2020 season, owns a 4.47 K:BB ratio.  That ratio is the eighth best over this stretch, among the 55 pitchers who’ve made at least 100 starts since then.  From 2013-2019, Gausman’s 3.05 K:BB ratio ranked 27th among the 62 pitchers with at least 150 starts over that span.

Will Smith homered and singled in the Dodgers’ win over the Rockies.  The backstop is now second in the NL in batting (at .367), second in on-base percentage (.475) and 15th in slugging (.551).  There hasn’t been a catcher (67% of games behind the dish) who qualified for the batting title and finished a year with a .300/.400/.500 line since Buster Posey in 2012.  The rest of this century has seen only three others to do it:  Joe Mauer in 2006 and 2009 and Jorge Posada in 2007.  The Dodgers’ Mike Piazza did this three straight campaigns, from 1995-1997, to become only the second NL or AL’er ever to do it in at least three consecutive seasons.  Bill Dickey showed up for four straight, from 1936-1939.   All of NL and AL history has produced just 27 of these seasons. 

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