LAD First half leaderboards – Home Runs
Was kind of hoping that Cody Bellinger would knock Gary Sheffield off the top of this leaderboard but his prodigious home run power fell off in July. Bellinger ends up tied with Eric Karros for 3rd place with twenty-five home runs.
I wish I could remember the great first half that Karros had in 2000 but I can’t. You’d think that 2000 was one heck of a year with Sheffield hitting 27 and Karros 25 in the same first half. But I guess when everyone was hitting home runs it just doesn’t stand out.
Have to keep in mind that Bellinger did this in only 292 plate appearances.
Davey Lopes is the only middle infielder on this leaderboard. Impressive work.
Joc Pederson remembers when he was the golden boy of Los Angeles.
As I continue to peruse the list I can only come to one conclusion. Eric Karros hit a lot of first half home runs. For a guy who never hit more than 34 home runs in a season, three times he had at least 20 home runs by the all-star break.
Player Split Year HR PA OPS Gary Sheffield 1st Half 2000 27 368 1.093 Shawn Green 1st Half 2002 26 365 .970 Cody Bellinger 1st Half 2017 25 292 .961 Eric Karros 1st Half 2000 25 368 .909 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1996 24 336 1.055 Adrian Beltre 1st Half 2004 22 338 .935 Steve Garvey 1st Half 1977 22 411 .855 Matt Kemp 1st Half 2011 22 384 .982 Pedro Guerrero 1st Half 1985 21 346 .990 Mike Piazza 1st Half 1994 21 343 .927 Jim Wynn 1st Half 1974 21 394 .942 Eric Karros 1st Half 1997 20 372 .841 Davey Lopes 1st Half 1979 20 411 .855 Joc Pederson 1st Half 2015 20 366 .851 Shawn Green 1st Half 2001 20 377 .885 Eric Karros 1st Half 1996 20 346 .799
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/10/2017.
- Posted in: 2017 Dodgers ♦ LAD Leaderboards ♦ Uncategorized
- Tagged: Adrian Beltre, Cody Bellinger, Davey Lopes, Eric Karros, Gary Sheffield, Jim Wynn, Joc Pederson, Matt Kemp, Mike Piazza, Pedro Guerrero, Shawn Green, Steve Garvey, Toy Cannon
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 
I just recall Karros as a 25 per year HR hitting 1B.
Karros footspeed was slow, meanwhile is Bellinger fast
My gripe with Piaza and Karros appearing in he order back to back was that they were base cloggers when on base. They were station to station baserunners.
With Gutierrez and Gonalez on the DL, this is a problem that does not exist on the 2017 team.
The speed element applies much more pressure on the defense.
And the 2017 Dodgers combine power and speed.
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Karros was that surprising clogger who was successful stealing bases. Or maybe I just remember his 1996 season in which he was 8 and 0. Overall he wasn’t even 50%. I was one of those who wasn’t as enamored with Mike Scioscia’s patience because that just meant we need multiple hits get him home. There was a reason AJ Ellis rarely touched home plate when he didn’t drive himself in. I’m still waiting for the metric that understands a Dee Gordon walk is way more productive than a Mike Scioscia walk.
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