Which record or accomplishment am I most eager to see broken?
Personally, I'd love to see someone break Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. But on that note, I also consider it to be one of the most unbreakable records in all of sports.
So, being the corner cutter I am, I’m picking something that is already in progress. I’d like to see Chipper Jones hit .400 for the season.
Jones' seasonal average stands at .419 with about two-and-half months of play completed. The last person to hit .400 or above in a single season was Ted Williams back in 1941. The .400 hitter drought has grown 67 years long now.
So, just how possible is it for Jones to reach this improbable accomplishment?
For starters, if his career numbers are any indication, Chipper Jones is just starting to heat up.
Some of Jones' best career months in terms of average are all months that haven't occurred yet. His best month for career average is July in which he carries a .328 average. He follows that up with a .313 average in August and a .312 in September.
The only other month in which he has a higher average is April with .324. Plus, his second half average is 12 points higher than his first half average for his career.
As far as his remaining schedule, he faces teams he hits well against. He has 40 games left against teams he has at least a .320 career average against. He has 43 left against the rest of the national league.
One of those teams is Florida, a team he carries a .315 average against. The Braves still have nine games left against them.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The team he has the best average against is Philadelphia with .340. Luckily, that is the team the Braves have the most remaining games against with 12. However, he is only hitting .308 at Citizen's Bank Park compared to .350 in the old Veteran's Stadium.
Those numbers don't include the restart of interleague play. He has 12 games in interleague play left, and his career average tops out at .298.
The numbers to Ted Williams' .400 average year are unavailable for even the geniuses at Baseball-Reference. So, comparing how Ted started to Chipper's start is rather hard.
If there really is anyone who can pull this feat off, it's Chipper Jones. Yet there are some factors working against him.
Pitchers could start to get fed up with his hitting and start pitching around him more, especially in clutch situations.
Thankfully, the Braves made a deal last year to bring in a prominent slugger to hit behind Chipper. Mark Teixeira's bat in the clean-up spot should make pitchers think twice before they decide to let someone else beat them other than Chipper.
Why would you let Mark Teixeira beat you with a guy on base—especially when Chipper is out there hitting for average rather than the long ball?
That's why he's maintained his success over the years. The guy simply doesn't hit below .300, he's only done it four times in his career. Two of those were just mere four and five points away from .300.
How about other factors, like the summer heat and his old age? Chipper hasn't exactly been the healthiest player in baseball these past few years. In fact he's even battling some injuries with his quadriceps as we speak.
The heat is probably more of a benefit than it is a hindrance in my opinion. The ball tends to jump off the bat better, and as noted earlier, Jones' best months are the ones in the heat.
Injuries are certainly the biggest thing working against Jones though. 2005 and 2006 were his down years in which he played in less than 137 games for the first time. Last year he played in 134 and had his best season in terms of average with .347.
Chipper Jones has a lot of statistics supporting this feat. I personally think the chances of him doing it are very high.
It's something I want to see happen because as we've seen, hitting .400 in a season is truly a once in a lifetime thing. Given the skill of pitchers these days, it may never happen again.
I want a .400 hitter, and if it's ever going to happen, it will happen this year. This is something we need to get behind for the sake of baseball. We need a hope that no record or accomplishment is out of reach in this era of the game.
How else will we be able to hope for someone next time they inch closer and closer to that 56 game hitting streak, even if it's only in the mid 30's?
Good luck Chipper, I'm rooting for you.
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5 months ago
I am hoping that the current state of the Atlanta Braves as a collective unit do not discourage Chipper from accomplishinig what I think he is capable of: hitting .400. While he won't get the leg hits that Rod Carew did, he will get his share of hits. He is hitting different than any of the other 12 seasons I have watched him here in Atlanta. He is showing more plate discipline than normal. He is taking outside pitches to the opposite field with good results, laying off the low curves and raking whatever allows him to extend his arms. He is doing it and can continue to do so because he has the following: enough experience with big league pitching to roughly know what to expect, a swing that keeps his hands back to make adjustments to incorrect guesses and late movement pitches, a good batting eye for making contact (rarely fooled), and all of this from both sides of the dish.
The only things I see which may stop Chipper are him pressing at the plate from self-applied pressure to carry a weak offense, a slump, or an injury. Jones is locked in right now; the days off Cox has allowed him have allowed Jones to re-focus and not get lulled into complacency. I wish Chipper all the luck in the world.
5 months ago
I hope Chipper gets it. although he will be breaking Ted William's "record", he seems like a good guy and he looks so focused when he swings a bat.
5 months ago
I think his chances of hitting .400 stand at about 15-20%. Besides injuries, the biggest thing working against Chipper is the length of the baseball season. Although we probably didn't expect to have this conversation in June, it's still early.
5 months ago
I'm rooting for him too, don't get me wrong, but it will be a really tough task, obviously. I'd like to see it happen too, and if anyone can do it right now, it's him!
5 months ago
I'd rather see the Braves win a game once in a while instead of Chipper hitting 400. But im happy for him. Actually I think the injuries will help chipper hit 400. He can't play in all 162 games and expect to do so, he need to play in about 140 games. He's not to bad with the power either, he's on pace for about 30 HR.
5 months ago
Ha I agree with Michael. Lets see Manny Acosta NOT gift wrap a win and put it under the tree for another team first. However, I don't think many people are rooting against him, I'm all for seein it happen even though it's early. I think the injuries could actually help him because when you think about the length of the season, the injuries are just making the season shorter for him and giving him fewer at bats to screw it up.
5 months ago
Definately didn't read all of Michaels thing before I wrote mine and I basically wrote the same thing, wow I feel dumb now.
5 months ago
oh and for Bob, Chipper really isn't a good guy in my eyes. Anybody who cheats on their wife more than once and spends more time at strip clubs and hooters than at home with his kids isn't the best role model
5 months ago
I think Chipper has a relatively good shot at it, he's always been a good hitter and now that he's starting to make more of an effort to put it into play not hit it out, his average is bound to go up. The pressure may get to him though, it's easy to sing in the comfort of your own shower, but once you are discovered the pressure increases and you don't seem to be able to hit those high notes like you thought you could. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a .400 season but I'd look for him in the fourth quartile of the .300s.
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