MLB final stats: Anderson wins batting title, Alonso claims HR crown
Here's a look at the American League and National League leaders for the major stat categories at the conclusion of the 2019 regular season:
HOME RUNS
American League
Rank | Player | Team | HR |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jorge Soler | KC | 48 |
2 | Mike Trout | LAA | 45 |
3 | Alex Bregman | HOU | 41 |
3 | Nelson Cruz | MIN | 41 |
Soler is the first Royals player to ever lead the AL in home runs, and he also now owns the single-season homer record for a Cuban-born player.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | HR |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Pete Alonso | NYM | 53 |
2 | Eugenio Suarez | CIN | 49 |
3 | Cody Bellinger | LAD | 47 |
Alonso smashed his way to the single-season home run record for a rookie, surpassing Aaron Judge's mark set in 2017.
RBIs
American League
Rank | Player | Team | RBI |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jose Abreu | CWS | 123 |
2 | Jorge Soler | KC | 117 |
2 | Xander Bogaerts | BOS | 117 |
Abreu set a new career high with 123 RBIs, marking the fifth time in six career seasons that he's reached the century mark. He also joined Dick Allen as the only White Sox players to win the RBI crown.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | RBI |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Anthony Rendon | WSH | 126 |
2 | Freddie Freeman | ATL | 121 |
3 | Pete Alonso | NYM | 120 |
Rendon's 126 RBIs are the second most in Nationals/Expos history behind Vladimir Guerrero (131) in 1999.
BATTING AVERAGE
American League
Rank | Player | Team | AVG |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Tim Anderson | CWS | .335 |
2 | DJ LeMahieu | NYY | .327 |
3 | Yoan Moncada | CWS | .315 |
Anderson is the first White Sox player to lead the majors in batting average since Luke Appling in 1936. Frank Thomas won the AL batting crown in 1997.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | AVG |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Christian Yelich | MIL | .329 |
1 | Ketel Marte | ARI | .329 |
3 | Anthony Rendon | WSH | .319 |
Yelich is the first repeat batting champion since Colorado Rockies outfielder Larry Walker in 1998-1999.
HITS
American League
Rank | Player | Team | Hits |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Whit Merrifield | KC | 206 |
2 | Rafael Devers | BOS | 201 |
3 | DJ LeMahieu | NYY | 197 |
Merrifield is one of three players in the last 84 years to record 200-plus hits, 40-plus doubles, 10-plus triples, and 20-plus stolen bases in a season, according to Dave Holtzman of FOX Sports Kansas City.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | Hits |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ozzie Albies | ATL | 189 |
2 | Ketel Marte | ARI | 187 |
3 | Nolan Arenado | COL | 185 |
Albies dwarfed his previous career high in hits, which he set last season (167) and raised his batting average nearly 40 points in the process.
OPS
American League
Rank | Player | Team | OPS |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mike Trout | LAA | 1.083 |
2 | Nelson Cruz | MIN | 1.031 |
3 | Alex Bregman | HOU | 1.015 |
Trout secured the second-highest OPS of his career, 0.005 points lower than his 2018 season.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | OPS |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Christian Yelich | MIL | 1.100 |
2 | Cody Bellinger | LAD | 1.035 |
3 | Anthony Rendon | WSH | 1.010 |
Yelich posted a higher OPS this season than his MVP year. It's the highest OPS in the NL since Bryce Harper managed 1.109 in 2015.
STOLEN BASES
American League
Rank | Player | Team | SB |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mallex Smith | SEA | 46 |
2 | Adalberto Mondesi | KC | 43 |
3 | Jonathan Villar | BAL | 40 |
Smith led the majors in bags swiped, but if Mondesi hadn't gotten hurt, there's no doubt that he'd have been the champion as he only appeared in 102 games.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | SB |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ronald Acuna Jr. | ATL | 37 |
2 | Trea Turner | WSH | 35 |
3 | Jarrod Dyson | ARI | 30 |
3 | Christian Yelich | MIL | 30 |
Acuna fell short of becoming the fifth player in MLB history to post a 40-40 campaign but still became the second player ever with 125+ runs, 40+ home runs, and 35+ stolen bases in a single season.
RUNS
American League
Rank | Player | Team | R |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mookie Betts | BOS | 135 |
2 | Rafael Devers | BOS | 129 |
3 | Marcus Semien | OAK | 123 |
Betts and Devers were the league's two most consistent run-scorers, but the Red Sox still couldn't reach the postseason.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | R |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ronald Acuna Jr. | ATL | 127 |
2 | Cody Bellinger | LAD | 121 |
3 | Anthony Rendon | WSH | 117 |
You can't win if you don't score, so it makes sense to see three legitimate MVP candidates top the NL in runs.
DOUBLES
American League
Rank | Player | Team | 2B |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Rafael Devers | BOS | 54 |
2 | Xander Bogaerts | BOS | 52 |
3 | Marcus Semien | OAK | 43 |
Devers picked up his 54th double on his 200th hit in 2019. He joined Joe DiMaggio and Alex Rodriguez as the only players with 90 extra-base hits in a campaign before their age-23 season.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | 2B |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nicholas Castellanos | CHC | 58 |
2 | Anthony Rendon | WSH | 44 |
2 | Corey Seager | LAD | 44 |
Castellanos finished just shy of making history as the first player since 1936 to reach 60 doubles. Despite the Cubs' disappointing finish, he'll go down as one of the better trade-deadline acquisitions in recent memory.
WAR
American League
Rank | Player | Team | WAR |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mike Trout | LAA | 8.6 |
2 | Alex Bregman | HOU | 8.3 |
3 | Marcus Semien | OAK | 7.5 |
Trout played in 21 fewer games than Bregman and still led the majors in wins above replacement.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | WAR |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Christian Yelich | MIL | 7.8 |
2 | Cody Bellinger | LAD | 7.6 |
3 | Ketel Marte | ARI | 7.1 |
Yelich put to bed any doubts about his ability to sustain success by actually improving on his stunning 2018 MVP campaign.
WINS
American League
Rank | Player | Team | Wins |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Justin Verlander | HOU | 21 |
2 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | 20 |
3 | Eduardo Rodriguez | BOS | 19 |
No team has produced multiple 20-game winners in the same season since 2002 when both the Red Sox (Pedro Martinez, Derek Lowe) and Arizona Diamondbacks (Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling) did the deed.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | Wins |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Stephen Strasburg | WSH | 18 |
2 | Max Fried | ATL | 17 |
3 | Dakota Hudson | STL | 16 |
3 | Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 16 |
Strasburg set a career high in victories and led the Senior Circuit thanks in part to improved durability, as he exceeded 200 innings for just the second time.
ERA
American League
Rank | Player | Team | ERA |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | 2.50 |
2 | Justin Verlander | HOU | 2.58 |
3 | Charlie Morton | TB | 3.05 |
Cole owned a 4.17 ERA on May 6 following his eighth start. He followed by posting a 2.00 ERA over his final 24 starts.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | ERA |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | LAD | 2.32 |
2 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | 2.43 |
3 | Mike Soroka | ATL | 2.68 |
Ryu allowed two or fewer runs in 23 of 29 starts. He allowed 0 runs in 12 of those outings.
WHIP
American League
Rank | Player | Team | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Justin Verlander | HOU | 0.80 |
2 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | 0.89 |
3 | Shane Bieber | CLE | 1.05 |
Verlander finished with the third-lowest WHIP by a starting pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) behind Pedro Martinez (0.74) in 2000 and Walter Johnson (0.77) in 1913.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | WHIP |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | 0.97 |
1 | Jack Flaherty | STL | 0.97 |
3 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | LAD | 1.01 |
Flaherty allowed just 36 hits and 17 walks over his final 82 innings for a ridiculous 0.64 WHIP.
STRIKEOUTS
American League
Rank | Player | Team | K |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Gerrit Cole | HOU | 326 |
2 | Justin Verlander | HOU | 300 |
3 | Shane Bieber | CLE | 259 |
Cole recorded the most strikeouts in a season by a right-hander since Nolan Ryan in 1977. He also set the record for most consecutive starts with double-digit strikeouts at nine.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | K |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jacob deGrom | NYM | 255 |
2 | Stephen Strasburg | WSH | 251 |
3 | Max Scherzer | WSH | 243 |
DeGrom actually struck out fewer batters this season than he did in 2018 but posted a higher K/9 (11.3). It's the first time since 2013 that Scherzer didn't reach the 250-strikeout mark.
SAVES
American League
Rank | Player | Team | Saves |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Roberto Osuna | HOU | 38 |
2 | Aroldis Chapman | NYY | 37 |
3 | Brad Hand | CLE | 34 |
It's the first time since 1994 that an AL reliever failed to covert at least 40 saves. Edwin Diaz took home top spot last season with 57.
National League
Rank | Player | Team | Saves |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kirby Yates | SD | 41 |
2 | Josh Hader | MIL | 37 |
3 | Will Smith | SF | 34 |
3 | Raisel Iglesias | CIN | 34 |
Yates entered the year with just 14 career saves before converting an MLB-best 41.
HEADLINES
- Devers sets MLB record with 10 strikeouts in 1st 3 games
- Dodgers beat Tigers to start 5-0 for 1st time since 1981
- Judge hits 3 of Yankees' 9 HRs in rout of ex-teammate Cortes, Brewers
- Rays, Pirates stare down different medium-term uncertainties
- Sasaki struggles with control, pulled in 2nd during home debut