Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the Marlins calling up Mike Stanton and Joe Frisaro of MLB.com notes that his power numbers after 365 days as a big leaguer are every bit as impressive as the hype suggested.
Stanton has struggled to make consistent contact, striking out 184 times compared to 51 non-intentional walks, and not surprisingly he has a modest .258 batting average and .333 on-base percentage.
But oh man the power: He has 35 homers and 34 doubles in 554 at-bats through his first year, which includes 157 games. According to Baseball-Reference.com, here’s a list of the all-time leaders in home runs through a player’s first 157 games:
Rudy York 45 Mark McGwire 41 Ryan Braun 41 Ryan Howard 39 Chuck Klein 38 Frank Robinson 36 Bob Horner 36 Tony Clark 36 Albert Pujols 35 MIKE STANTON 35 Josh Hamilton 35 Ron Kittle 35
Oh, and Stanton won’t be 22 years old until November.