When I researched my Baseball Book 'Eyes Within the Diamond' in the years 2011-2015 I formalized new statistical formulae. For batters, for starting pitchers and for relief closer's. In the past there have been many monster offensive seasons. Batters like Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Josh Gibson, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Henry Greenberg, Buck Leonard, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays stake claim to some gaudy numbers. When it comes to analyzing a player in the context of my book 'Eyes Within the Diamond' we see how extra-base hits and stolen bases are equally revered. I also take into account a players ability to draw walks and minimize striking out; Willie Randolph, Nellie Fox, and Jackie Robinson comes to mind when thinking of who was proficient at such.
In the analysis for offence the formula is as follows;
1000 (Batting Average + OBP + SLG %) + 3 (SB-CS) + (BB - SO) 3 2 + Extra Base Hits + RBI's + Runs Scored
To see how impressive the last two seasons have been in offensive statistics is amplified in the names of Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr., Bobby Witt Jr., and Aaron Judge to name but a few.
When we see how impressive Ohtani's numbers were last year in becoming the first Major Leaguer to have a 50+ HR / 50 + SB campaign we see his score was 935.7 in my statistical analysis.
In 2023 Ronald Acuna Jr. became the first Major Leaguer to ever bash 40 + Dingers with 70 + Stolen Bases. His score in my formula was 959.7. The record post-WW2 in my book was Barry Bonds monster years from 2001 - 2004 when he was drawing 200 walks a year and striking out less than 50 times. Bonds topped out at 1013.6 in 2001 (his record 73 Homerun season) and almost equaled that with 1012 in 2004 (the year he drew 232 walks and struck out bit 41 times).
In 2022 Aaron Judge led the Majors and set the A.L Record for most Home-Runs in a single season with 62 and won the A.L M.V.P. The worst decision made by sports writers in a Major League MVP vote if you ask me. We should take into account that Shohei Ohtani was a Pitcher AND a Batter clubbing 34 Home-Runs with a ridiculously low 2.33 in over 162 IP for the year. Aaron Judge scored an impressive 835 in my formula for 2022 and an equally impressive 865.7 for last year. The problem in the voting in 2022 was that Ohtani scored 598.7 in offence but was also a dominant starting pitcher and scored a very high 511.4 in my pitching formula (500 + in pitching signifies Hall of Fame potential). Therefore he actually scored 598.7 in offensive totals + 511.4 = 1110.1 in Total or 275.1 points higher than Judge for the 2022 calendar year !!! The reality was that Ohtani topped out at 1189.7 in scoring in my analysis in the 2023 campaign. He scored 747.7 in offensive totals and 442 in pitching totals for the calendar year of 2023. Higher than Acuna Jr.'s 2023 campaign by 230 and topping his own monster season of 2024 by 254 Points !!!.
In this writer's mind the Bobby Witt Jr.'s, Ronald Acuna Jr.'s and Shohei Ohtani's are the way teams are paving the way for their organizations. Guys that can do 30 + Hr's / 30+ SB's are revered and bring an intangible to the table as multi-dimensional ballplayers. Hell Aaron Judge stole 10 bases last year and didn't get caught once. It was Willie Mays that made this kind of ball come to the forefront (as in the twenties until 1947 the sport didn't have the kind of base-stealers that we see today) with the likes of the Rickey Henderson's, Maury Wills, Lou Brock's, Tim Raines, and Jackie Robinson's. Base-stealing existed in the dead ball era in plenty but became a lost art in twenties, thirties, and forties, and was re-pronounced in the fifties in the name of multi-dimensional African-American ballplayers that could hit 30+ dingers and steal 30+ bases in a single season; like Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson, and Eric Davis (when African-Americans were introduced into Major League Baseball in 1947).
This being 2025 we now see ballplayers from around the World in the hunt as the ultra elite. Shohei Ohtani's ability to hit homers, steal bases and win games as a starting pitcher. The Ichiro Suzuki's, Omar Vizcael's, Roberto Alomar's ability to steal a base. The World was brought to the Majors ever since droves of Dominican Ballplayers came into the league in the 1970's. With the efforts of the Juan Marichal's, Rico Carty's, Alou brothers, Cesar Cedeno's, Julio Franco's, George Bell's, Tony Fernandez', we now see a truly mish-mashed World Series these days of teams comprised of many Nations.
It is an exciting time to be a baseball fan as the greats of the game in the past thirty years have brought us to a number of players that topped 60+ Homeruns in a season; Barry Bonds (73), Mark McGuire (70 and 65), Sammy Sosa (66, 64, and 63), and Aaron Judge (62). In all likelihood there will be more players reaching these stratospheric numbers again in the near future.
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