The Nationals are right in the middle of the pack in the MLB (16th) and NL (9th) when it comes to home runs. Nobody mistakes them for a group of a insanely powerful sluggers, but they can hold their own.
Following Josh Willingham's 100th career home run in the fourth inning of tonight's game against the Royals, Bob Carpenter declared, "That's the 63rd home run on the season for the Nats, and 43 of them have been with no men on." In other words, a whopping 68.3% of their home runs this year have been solo shots. Adam Dunn alone has 12 solo home runs out of 16 total, an astounding 75% solo home run rate. In the wake of the team's recent struggles at plate, I thought these facts merited some further investigation.
How do they rank in comparison to other MLB teams? Answers below the jump (hint: it's the worst mark in the league).
Teams are listed in order of total home runs on the season:
1. Toronto (60 solo/106 total) = 56.6%
2. Boston (48/93) = 51.6%
3. Cincinnati (50/86) = 58.1%
4. Arizona (45/86) = 52.3%
5. Milwaukee (50/83) = 60.2%
6. New York Yankees (41/78) = 52.6%
7. LA Angels (37/75) = 49.3%
8. Chicago White Sox (43/74) = 58.1%
9. Texas (38/68) = 55.8%
10. Philadelphia (37/68) = 54.4%
11. Colorado (46/68) = 67.6%
12. St. Louis (34/67) = 50.7%
13. Chicago Cubs (32/66) = 48.5%
14. Florida (36/65) = 55.4%
15. Tampa Bay (42/64) = 65.6%
16. Washington (43/63) = 68.3%
17. Detroit (41/62) = 66.1%
18. Minnesota (34/61) = 55.7%
19. San Francisco (38/60) = 63.3%
20. New York Mets (33/58) = 56.9%
21. Atlanta (36/56) = 64.3%
22. Los Angeles Dodgers (25/53) = 47.2%
23. Baltimore (34/52) = 65.4%
24. Kansas City (29/52) = 55.8%
25. San Diego (27/50) = 54.0%
26. Cleveland (26/49) = 53.1%
27. Oakland (26/47) = 55.3%
28. Pittsburgh (30/47) = 63.8%
29. Seattle (22/40) = 55.0%
30. Houston (25/40) = 62.5%
What can you attribute this to? Luck? Nerves while hitting with runners on? A little bit of both is my answer. Worry not, though. In the end, things tend to regress to the mean.
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