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Ian Kinsler is on a record-setting offensive pace in 2008. - Rubenstein/Flickr.com

Useless Rangers Stats Of The Week

By Joey Matschulat | July 17th, 2008

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Because everybody’s sick of talking about Hank Blalock:

● Should Milton Bradley maintain his current .316/.440/.610 batting line, his 2008 OPS of 1.0494 would rank as the 185th-best of all-time. Rafael Palmeiro compiled a frighteningly similar .324/.420/.630 batting line in 1999, which ranks as the 183rd-best single-season OPS of all-time.

● Ian Kinsler is currently on pace to notch 89 extra-base hits, collect 39 steals, and post an OPS well north of .900 this season; his batting line going into the second half is .337/.397/.548.

Though two second basemen in modern Major League history have recorded 89 extra-base hits (Rogers Hornsby and Alfonso Soriano), neither stole more than 20 bases in a season and posted an OPS better than .900. Kinsler is, without a doubt, in the midst of one of the greatest offensive seasons ever amassed by a second baseman.

● David Murphy is currently on pace to drive in 104 runs, mash 22 homers, and club 41 doubles with a .276/.317/.466 batting line. Should he maintain that rate of production, he would become just the fifth player in modern Major League history (alongside Jorge Cantu, Garret Anderson, Lance Parrish and Alfonso Soriano) to post an OBP south of .320, hit 20 home runs and 40 doubles, and collect 100 RBI in a single season.

● Vicente Padilla is currently on pace for a 17-win, 4.70 ERA campaign. Should he sustain that clip, he’d become just the fourth pitcher in club history to accrue 17 or more wins with an season ERA of 4.70 ERA or higher, and the first since Kenny Rogers in 2004, who won 18 games with a 4.76 ERA.

● You knew that Josh Hamilton was on pace to drive in 162 runs in 2008, which would tie Hal Trosky’s 1936 campaign (.343/.382/.644, 42 HR) for the 18th-best single-season mark of all-time. Manny Ramirez was the last player to accumulate that many RBI in a single season, collecting 165 in 1999.

Before that, who was the last player to record 162 or more RBI in a single season? Jimmie Foxx.

In 1938.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 10:04 pm and is filed under The Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.