Game Notes – 08/03/2025

Baseball Reference’s accounting delivers a list of 58 position players who generated at least 20.0 WAR through their age-24 seasons.  There are three who are credited with a number above 40.0, with the Angels’ Mike Trout (47.5) ahead of the Tigers’ Ty Cobb and the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle.  The Seattle Mariners then get heavily involved, submitting the fourth highest entry (Álex Rodríguez, at 38.1) and the sixth best (Ken Griffey, Jr., with 37.1).  Not bad for a single franchise who has only been around since 1977 – to have a pair of representatives to have soared so high so early.   The M’s get a third ID card as well, with their current center fielder, Julio Rodríguez, just a few decimal points above 20.0.  There are a few other franchises who can boast of such a high-player volume splash like the Mariners show – the Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, Braves, Red Sox, Reds and Athletics.  Of course, all these franchises were playing big league ballgames when Theodore Roosevelt was president.  

Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez went 2-for-4, hitting his 20th home run of the year and adding his 21st stolen base of the season.

~With the longball, Rodríguez became the first player in history to have at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in each of his first four seasons.  Bobby Bonds, Darryl Strawberry and Grady Sizemore got through their fourth seasons with three 20-20 campaigns.  

*Note:  Bobby Witt, Jr. needs four more home runs this season to join Rodríguez in the 4-for-4 club.  

~ Rodríguez’s home run also marked the 100th of  his career, making him the third player – after Bobby Bonds and Darryl Strawberry – to have 100+ longballs and 100+ steals through four big league seasons.  

Bonds           100 HR and 135 SB

Strawberry    108 HR and 100 SB

Rodríguez     100 HR and 107 SB

José Ramírez hit his 278th career home run, further implanting his recent status as the 17th member of the 275-homer, 275-steal club (he tallied his 275th steal on Friday, August 1).  The Guardians’ third baseman is one of two switch-hitters – along with Carlos Beltrán – to be so high in both categories and is also just the fourth player ever to get to these two numbers through an age-32 season.  In this latter lens, it’s Bobby Bonds, Barry Bonds and Álex Rodríguez who make up the association with Ramírez.

Ramírez’s former teammate, Francisco Lindor, connected on his 269th career homer.  There are three shortstops in history with more through their respective age-31 seasons:  Álex Rodríguez (518), Ernie Banks (335) and Cal Ripken, Jr. (273).  

~Even in their early 30s, Lindor and Ramírez already rank among the 15 most prolific homerers among switch-hitters.  In this top-15, they are joined by another former teammate, Carlos Santana (Lindor, Ramírez and Santana all played for Cleveland from 2015-2017, 2019-2020).  

All-Time, Most HRs by a Switch-Hitter

536    Mickey Mantle

504    Eddie Murray

468    Chipper Jones

435    Carlos Beltrán

409    Mark Teixeira

366    Lance Berkman

350    Chili Davis

335    Carlos Santana

314    Reggie Smith

306    Rubén Sierra

287    Bobby Bonilla

287    Bernie Williams

278    José Ramírez

275    Jorge Posada

269    Francisco Lindor

Justin Turner delivered a pinch-hit, game-ending two-run home run for the Cubs as they took down the Orioles.  Turner’s walk-off home run marked the first for a Cub while pinch-hitting since David Bote did just about the greatest thing one can do; on August 12, 2018, Bote’s pinch-hit homer came with two strikes, the bases loaded and his team down by three with two outs.  

Pirates leadoff hitter Spencer Horwitz homered twice, doubled and drove in six runs to star in Pittsburgh’s 9-5 win over Colorado.  The 27-year-old became the third Pirates batter since 1901  to drive in at least six runs while batting leadoff, joining Stan Rojek (1948) and Andrew McCutchen (2009).  Horwitz and McCutchen are two of 29 leadoff hitters in the Modern Era to have a line featuring at least six RBI and at least three extra-base hits (McCutchen had three longballs in his command performance).  Of the 29 instances, two players are responsible for two apiece:  Matt Carpenter (one in 2016 and one in 2018) and Kyle Schwarber (two in 2024).  

Kyle Schwarber hit his 38th homer of the year, his 15th longball this season against a left-hander.  Dating back to 1969, there are five lefty swingers who had at least 20 round-trippers against left-handers in a season.

22    Matt Olson (2021)

21    Ken Griffey, Jr. (1996, 1998), Barry Bonds (2002)

20    Darryl Strawberry (1988)

Cristopher Sánchez worked eight scoreless innings while allowing five hits and a walk against six strikeouts – an effort that brought the Phillies’ southpaw a Game Score of 77 – his second highest of the year and the fifth time in 2025 he’s reached a 70.  Those five make him the third left-hander for Philadelphia this season with that many, joining Jesús Luzardo and Ranger Suárez.  In the Liveball Era, no previous Phillies club had ever had three southpaws with as many as five in the same season.  On the other hand, this trio’s combined 15 aren’t close to the most for any Phillies southpaw in one season since 1920; in that case, Steve Carlton’s tally of 24 in 1972 takes the prize.  

Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz drove in a pair of runs on Sunday, raising his tally to 61 RBI in 73 games played (or, for the purposes of this note, .836 RBI per game).  Players in debut seasons – like Kurtz – rarely produce at such high rates.  

All-Time:  Debut Seasons with 100+ Games & an RBI/Game Rate of at Least .800