Josh Hamilton hit his 9th home run of the week, and 18th of the year, on Saturday. In addition to doubling his current season total, Hamilton has accumulated 1.6 WAR in this week alone.
Over the last seven days, Josh Hamilton has racked up +1.6 WAR, the same mark that Ryan Howard posted in all of 2011.
— David Cameron (@DCameronFG) May 12, 2012
In 2011 8 players hit 18 home runs over the course of the entire season. The list isn’t made up of superstars, but it’s a solid group of guys:
+ Mekly Cabrera
+ Chris Heisey
+ Chipper Jones
+ Howie Kendrick
+ Carlos Lee
+ Russell Martin
+ Miguel Montero
+ Brandon Phillips
In all, 76 players hit more than 18 home runs. Hamilton himself hit “just” 25 long balls last year. Much has been made about Hamilton’s inability to play the field, but he did appear in 156 games in 2008. The problem is the other years of his career have game totals of just 90, 89, 133, and 121.
If Hamilton appears in more than 133 games, the total from his MVP year in 2010, he should stand to crush those numbers. Hamilton is already more than half way to his home run total (32) and forty percent of the way to his RBI total (100) and a third of the way towards his runs scored (95), This fast a start could carry him to a career year even with a slump or injury mixed in during the remainder of the season.