Mike Stanton hit 43 homers between the minors and majors last season, including 22 long balls in 100 games with the Marlins following his call-up in mid-June, which has Joe Frisaro of MLB.com wondering if he can break the franchise record for homers in his first full season.
Gary Sheffield owns that mark with 42 homers in 1996 and no other Marlins hitter has homered even 35 times in a season, so Stanton doing age 21 what only one other player in only one other season could do during the team’s 18-year history seems pretty unlikely regardless of his immense power potential.
Looking beyond the Marlins, here’s a list of the most homers by a 21-year-old in baseball history:
Eddie Mathews 47 1953 Albert Pujols 37 2001 Hal Trosky 35 1934 Miguel Cabrera 35 2004 Jose Canseco 33 1986 Bob Horner 33 1979 Jimmie Foxx 33 1929 Andruw Jones 31 1998 Ruben Sierra 30 1987
Of all the great young sluggers in baseball history Eddie Mathews is the only one to smack 40-plus homers as a 21-year-old, and Mathews and Albert Pujols are the only ones to top 35 long balls at age 21. Stanton definitely has the ability to join them in 2011, but Marlins fans shouldn’t be disappointed if he manages “only” 30 homers in his first full season.
