Ryan Braun's first 162 games

[Blackout]

ok so technically its 163 games, BUT he only palyed 1 inning the other night and played 8 the next evening, so thats just like 162....


.310/.351/.610 205 hits in 661 atbats, 41 doubles 8 triples 47 HR 134 RBI 116 runs 16 SB (8 CS) 38 walks 156 K, 143 OPS+ and 403 total bases



the walk rate is horrible but Braun looks like he's the man so far!


in historical context, who had the best first 162 games of their career?

[brett]

Three of the greatest rookie seasons were Ted Williams, Frank Robinson and Mark McGwire. Not sure of their first 162.

[AstrosFan]

For Robinson and McGwire, go to baseball reference, and select gamelogs for the season in which they would play game 162. Under where it says CarGm on the left, click on the red 162, and you can see their career stats through game 162 (though OPS+ is missing). Game logs go back to 1956.

[AstrosFan]

Other good performances: Albert Pujols, Dick Allen, Tony Oliva, Carlton Fisk, Fred Lynn, Nomar Garciaparra,

[dgarza]

Pujols is a good one. His 1st 162 game were better than Braun's I think.

Others : Willie McCovey, Babe Ruth


Quite a few 19th Cent. players had better 162 game starts.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Pujols played 161 games in his rookie season (2001). He had 590 ABs.

.329/.403/.610, 157 OPS+, 363 TB, 37 HR, 130 RBI, 112 R, 69 BB, 93 K, 47 doubles, 194 H.

One caveat is that Pujols was 21 in his rookie season while Braun was 23-24 years old over his first 163 games.

[The Dude]

Braun is up there as great, but I would still take Pujols over Braun, mainly because of the walk rate. Also ... I can't quite remember, but Pujols wasn't great on defense his rookie season, was he? Otherwise that would be another big one up for him as well...

[CTaka]

Braun is up there as great, but I would still take Pujols over Braun, mainly because of the walk rate. Also ... I can't quite remember, but Pujols wasn't great on defense his rookie season, was he? Otherwise that would be another big one up for him as well...

Pujols was a better defender than Braun in his first year (not like that's saying much!). Pujols had a fielding RAR2 of 17 and a RAA2 of 9 as a 3B compared to a -8 RAR2 and a -23 RAA2 for Braun.

[Old Sweater]

Pujols wasn't the butcher at 3rd base that Braun was. He was even a plus in RF instead of a minus like Braun.

Pujols 3B 2001 52 games

FP .938 lg FP .950/RFg 2.75 lg RFg 2.17/RF9 3.15 lg RF9 2.57

Braun 3B 2007 112 games

FP .895 lg FP .954/RFg 1.98 lg RFg 2.25/RF9 2.11 lg RF9 2.68

[GiambiJuice]

In historical context, who had the best first 162 games of their career?

Highest totals in first 162 games of a career:

Home Runs
55 Rudy York
53 Pete Alonso
51 Mark McGwire
50 Gary Sanchez
47 Ryan Braun

Hits
248 Ichiro Suzuki
242 Shoeless Joe Jackson
242 Joe DiMaggio
237 Lloyd Waner
236 Chuck Klein

Runs
154 Joe DiMaggio
146 Ted Williams
142 Lefty Davis
142 Lloyd Waner
141 Johnny Frederick

RBI
163 Rudy York
153 Ted Williams
152 Walt Dropo
149 Joe DiMaggio
145 Hal Trosky

Total Bases
423 Joe DiMaggio
421 Chuck Klein
401 Ryan Braun
384 Hal Trosky
375 Johnny Frederick & Ted Williams

XBH
98 Joe DiMaggio
95 Ryan Braun
94 Ted Williams
91 Hal Trosky
90 Albert Pujols & Chuck Klein

I haven't looked at rate stats yet but based on the counting stats I have to go with Joe DiMaggio. 242 hits, 154 runs, 149 RBI, 423 TB, and 98 XBH in his first 162 games. Insane!

Honorable mention to Rudy York for his 55 HR and 163 RBI (#1 all-time in both categories).

[walter sobchak]

I love it when a question gets answered twelve and a half years after it was asked. Was worth the wait!

[GiambiJuice]

I love it when a question gets answered twelve and a half years after it was asked. Was worth the wait!

I detect some sarcasm

[willshad]

I had forgotten just how good Ryan Braun was to start his career. His first six seasons were HOF quality. He may have even been the best player in the game for a short while in between Pujols and Trout.

[GiambiJuice]

I had forgotten just how good Ryan Braun was to start his career. His first six seasons were HOF quality. He may have even been the best player in the game for a short while in between Pujols and Trout.

Very true, in fact "HOF quality" may even be an understatement.

Braun is one of only two players in Major League history with 200+ home runs and a .310+ batting average through his first six seasons. The other is Albert Pujols.

If we lower the BA requirement to .300 that adds just one more player to the list - Frank Robinson.

In fact, Braun's numbers through six seasons are eerily similar to Robinson's. Braun played 883 games, Robinson played 888. Braun scored 614 runs, Robinson 618. Braun and Robinson each hit 202 home runs. Braun's OPS was .943, Robinson's was .946. Both players won 1 MVP in that span and twice led their league in OPS. Despite Braun's butchery at third base early on in his career which hampered his value, their WARs aren't too far off either - 37.4 for Robinson to 33.1 for Braun.

[1905 Giants]

Just for fun I did Tony Oliva, who had a more than decent first 162 (Using BB-Ref)

.323/.361/.552 30 HR 202 Hits 106 RS 85 RBI