Players with most hits

     The last time I wrote about my strategy of looking at the top lead-off hitter with the most hits from that lead-off position.

     Today I have expanded on that strategy by looking at the top overall hitter with the most hits. When I look at these hitter I noticed that they hit consistently every game, with one maybe two game without a hit. As an example, I will look at Dee Gordon of the Miami Marlins. He has played in 29 games and has had at least one hit in 26 of those games. He is also on a 13 game hit streak as of Sunday May, 10.

     The one issue that does bother me is that unless a hitter goes on a 56 game hit streak, sooner or later he will go hitless. If I could just figure out when that will be getting to 57 games would be easy. However not knowing this information without a crystal ball is impossible.

     The next thing I am looking at is when a top hitting player does go hitless I wait for them to get a hit and then pick them in the game after that. Let me show you. Jacoby Ellsbury went hitless on Saturday. On Sunday he got a hit giving him a one game hit streak. There is a good chance Ellsbury will go a couple of games with a hit, so this is a good pick.

     Here is a list of the top 10 players in hits. The results are after Sundays games. It also includes the hit streak they are on as of Sunday.

Column1	Name	Team	Hits	Streak
1	Gordon	MIA	54	13
2	Altuve	HOU	45	0
3	Ellsbury	NYY	43	1
4	Gonzalez	LAD	43	5
5	Cruz	SEA	42	4
6	Fielder	TEX	41	0
7	Donaldson	TOR	40	4
8	Jones	BAL	40	3
9	Freeman	ATL	39	7
10	Goldschmidt	ARI	39	0
	Myers	SD	39	0
	Pagon	SF	39	0
	Semien	OAK	39	3

     On Sunday, May 10, four of the top ten hitter went hitless. These could be good picks for Tuesday if any of they get hit on Monday. 

For all of you hockey fans don’t forget to check out my blog about the new AHL Pacific division.   

http://ahlpacific.blogspot.com/

The 24 Days of April

     The first month of the season has finished. There have been a few surprises and some not so surprising. The Brave jump out to a great start, but were soon overtaken by the Mets 11 game win streak, Adrian Gonzalez becomes the first player ever to hit 5 HR in a team's first 3 games, and the Cardinals end the month with best record of 15 and 6.

     For the Beat the Streak campaign, the highest streak was set at 36. My streak reached 7. Most of the time I could not get past two. It has been very frustrating trying to get a good streak going. My research is not resolving the issue. 

     As stated in an earlier message, information is hard to find. The information that I have found they tell you to look for games in a hitters ballpark, play the visiting team because they get a full 27 outs, use the top 3 batters because they normally get more at bats, and do not use the most popular players. All of these have been great pieces of advice, however I still cannot get over two wins. Maybe it is just me. I am not very lucky which in my opinion, is fifty percent of this game.

     The strategy I will start looking at is picking the top lead-off hitters. Several teams have established their lead-off hitters such as Dee Gordon of the Marlins starting in all 22 game at the lead-off spot, while others are still looking for that one hitter that can get them started. 

     The philosophy of a lead-off hitter is a player who has speed, and takes a lot of pitches looking for anyway to get on base. This can hurt those playing Beat the Streak because the lead-off hitter can draw a lot of walks, and to win this game you need hits. Still it is something to look at.

     The best lead-off hitter for the month of April was Dee Gordon of the Marlins. He had 98 AB and 38 hits. He hit safely in every game except two and is right now riding a seven game hit streak. Defiantly a number one pick.

     Altuve of the Astros is second with 98 AB and 36 hits. He too has started in all 22 games that the Astros played in the month of April, and had a nine game hit streak, and is presently working on a ten game hit streak. 

     The next two hitters are Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals and Wil Myers of the Padres, each with 22 hits. Myers has started in 22 of the Padres first 23 games. The manager of the Padres, Bud Black has even said that Myers is not your typical lead-off hitter. “He is very aggressive at the plate, often going after the first pitch. As long as he keeps on getting hits we will try and change him.”

     I have included my list of the top ten lead-off hitters for the month of April. They a listed by the amount of hits.

Player	Position	Team	Games	AB	Hits	AVG
Gordon	2B	MIA	22	93	38	0.409
Altuve	2B	HOU	22	98	36	0.367
Myers	CF	SD	22	97	28	0.289
Carpenter	3B	STL	18	75	28	0.373
Aoki	LF	SF	21	88	27	0.307
Ellsbury	CF	NYY	20	84	27	0.321
Fowler	CF	CHIC	19	77	23	0.299
Betts	CF	BOS	19	83	20	0.241
Martin	CF	TEX	19	83	20	0.241
Granderson	RF	NYM	22	78	18	0.231

      For all you hockey fans out there, I have another blog, AHL Pacific Division, which is dedicated to the AHL’s new Pacific Division, which is starting with the 2015/16 season. Stop by and catch up on all the fun as the San Diego Gulls, Bakersfield Condors, Ontario Reign, Stockton Heat, and San Jose Barracuda, start a new chapter in hockey history.