Various Stuff....

[DOUGHBOYS]

A friend of mine in a draft brought up the possibility of Tommy Pham hitting 30/30 as he drafted him.
30/30 seems to be mentioned in every draft. It is an easy way to say that a player can hit with power and steal bases.
BUT, and there is always a but, there is something wrong with affixing 30/30 status to to just drafted players.
First, we are a little beyond the ultimate steroid period or era. A time when most 30/30's were achieved.
Second, there has not been a 30/30 player since 2012 (Trout, Braun)

The first 30/30 happened in 1922. A ball player named Ken Williams.
Here is Williams line from that year...
.332/128/39/155/37
Fantasy goodness!
But, Williams would have no acclaim at all.
1922 was the year after the Babe had stunned the baseball world with 59 home runs.

Williams 30/30 was the only 30/30 of the 20's...and 30's...and 40's.
It wasn't until Willie Mays performed the feat in back to back years of 1956 and '57 that 30/30 would happen again.
Mays teammate, Bobby Bonds would have five 30/30's to his credit.
His son, Barry, would do the same.
My favorite fantasy player of all time, Alfonzo Soriano had four 30/30's.
Telling you about all the 30/30's accomplished by the Bonds and Soriano seems to diminish 30/30's.
It shouldn't.
A 30/30 year has only been accomplished 61 times in the history of baseball.
30/30 was never a 'thing' until fantasy baseball came into view.
When Jose Canseco had a 40/40 year, it blew the minds of young fantasy players.
By the way, 40/40 years have been done four times.
Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, ARod, and Soriano all have done it.
Nobody has had a 50/40 or 40/50 year.
Eric Davis and Barry Bonds have had 30/50 years.
Nobody has had a 50/30 year.

Moving on....
I brought up that Mel Ott has the most home runs in any one ball park than any player in baseball.
His swing ballpark conformed perfectly to his hitting style.
Ball parks can do that.
Heck, we draft ball parks as well as fantasy players when drafting.
Evan Longoria hitting in Tampa? meh
Longoria in San Francisco? ugh

There is another case where ball parks come into play in baseball.
And this is sort of a strange phenomenon, so stick with me here.
Only 38 players in baseball have had 20 games or more of 'triple doubles'.
That is 20 games in which a player hit three doubles.
Here is the strange part about the listing of these players...
Paul Waner, Pie Traynor, Arky Vaughn, Bob Elliot, and Gus Suhr are all on the list.
All played in about the same time frame for the Pirates.
There's also Sam Rice, Goose Goslin, Heinie Manush, and Joe Judge (no "Here comes the Judge histrionics for him)
They all played for the Senators during the same time.
And also, Jim Bottomley, Rogers Hornsby, Frankie Frisch, and Joe Medwick playing in St. Louis as part of the 'Gashouse Gang' (Hi Bryan).
So of the 38 players with 20 triple doubles, 14 are grouped together by their ball parks.
Other players with 20 triple doubles are Pete Rose, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, and Vada Pinson.
No current player has achieved a triple double 20 times.

The Colorado Rockies have had one fact throughout their franchise.
Lack of pitching.
So, it is not surprising that the Rockies are the only team in baseball not to have a pitcher with 1,000 strike outs.
Jorge De La Rosa had 995 with the Rox.
The Marlins all time leader?
Ricky Nolasco with 1,001.
Yovani Gallardo goes back to the Brewers this year.
He is their all time strike out leader.
Nolan Ryan is the only pitcher to lead two franchises in K's.
Ryan leads both the Astros and Angels.
2,416 for the Angels. 1866 for the Astros.
Only four pitchers have 3,000 strike outs for one team.
Walter Johnson, 3,509 for the Senators (Twins)
Bob Gibson, 3,117 for the Cardinals.
Steve Carlton, 3,031 for the Phillies
John Smoltz, 3,011 for the Braves.

Eddie Murray had over 500 home runs.
Cal Ripken over 400 home runs
935 all together.
Neither player had a 35 home run season.
Murray is not only the only member of the 500 club with no 35 home run seasons, but the only member without a 40 home runs in a season as well.
'Steady Eddie' and 'Consecutive Cal' were good nicknames....

[Gekko]

zero chance he hits 30hr. much more likely chance he hits under 20hr. using history as our guide...no loft on the ball means no chance at 30HR.

[Yah Mule]

I think there would have been more 30/30 seasons, but it really wasn't something people talked about very much until Bonds started doing it in the 70's. It's fair to say that if it was a thing back when Mays was playing he would have collected at least a half a dozen. He never even attempted enough steals to get to 30 past the age of 29.

Mays Baseball Ref page is pretty amazing stuff. 12 times in 13 years he finished top six in MVP voting. 17th the other season.

[DOUGHBOYS]

I agree, Jim.
Mays was the best player I have ever seen.
If he lived in the era of free agency and fantasy baseball, his numbers may look even more appealing to viewers.

Mark, I also agree about Pham.
He would have to have a power anomaly to hit 30 home runs.

[Thurman15]

The worst thing for Pham, is that if he tries too hard to hit home runs to make his goal come true, he will be a worse hitter. We all know "swinging for the fences" is not a good thing to do. I'm reluctant to draft him now.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Not always bad.
Several hitters were changing swing angles last year. Some, very successful.
Mark Trumbo changed his swing angle to the opposite, wanting to make more contact last year.
That, did not work out so well.
We just never know till the season starts.

On another note, we have yet another report of Jason Heyward re-working his swing...