Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

[JBH3]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Tony Gwynn hit nearly .340 over 20 seasons. Never hit less than .309 in that span. Never struck out more than 40 times. Won 8 batting titles, hit .368 or above 4 times, and flirted with .400. If not for the 94 strike had a very good chance of hitting .400. He also did it for the majority of his career before the league, and pitching in particular had become as watered down as it has in recent years. Although I think pitching is making a come back as there are some terrific young arms out there right now.

Pujols is a great hitter, and imo the best hitter in this era, but give credit where credit is due. Gwynn also did some things with the bat Pujols hasn't and he did it over a span of 2 decades.

I'd rather have a .330 hitter w/ 40HR potential...all day everyday.

Sure Gwynn could hit for contact, and place a ball almost anywhere but he only topped out over 100 rbi in one season....AND never once hit more than 17 HRs/yr.

Career to date to 2009 Pujols has 1,574 hits. After nine full seasons in the majors for Tony he was at 1,715.

Pujols has already 1014 career rbi. Gwynn career rbi over his CAREER is 1138...after this yr Albert would've surpassed him in that. Besides being a better run producing hitter, Pujols also has a higher career OBP through his 9 and counting than Gwynn had over his carerr; .425 to .388 - not to mention Pujols has almost already been walked more times than Tony in his 9 years (719 to 790).

I think that CLEARLY states that Pujols is a more feared hitter than Gwynn.

Nice stab though for your homer pick. :wink:

[bkrich83]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

I'd rather have a .330 hitter w/ 40HR potential...all day everyday.

Sure Gwynn could hit for contact, and place a ball almost anywhere but he only topped out over 100 rbi in one season....AND never once hit more than 17 HRs/yr.

Career to date to 2009 Pujols has 1,574 hits. After nine full seasons in the majors for Tony he was at 1,715.

Pujols has already 1014 career rbi. Gwynn career rbi over his CAREER is 1138...after this yr Albert would've surpassed him in that. Besides being a better run producing hitter, Pujols also has a higher career OBP through his 9 and counting than Gwynn had over his carerr; .425 to .388 - not to mention Pujols has almost already been walked more times than Tony in his 9 years (719 to 790).

I think that CLEARLY states that Pujols is a more feared hitter than Gwynn.

Nice stab though for your homer pick. :wink:

Again there's a reason Gwynn didn't walk a lot. He put the ball in to play before he could be walked. Wasn't his game.

As far as RBI's, remember Gwynn played before the huge power numbers people put up, he mostly hit in the 2 hole, although he did hit #3 for a while and he played on teams that didn't score a lot of runs. His job was to be a table setter, particularly in the first half of his career when he could still run and steal bases. (Gwynn was a .351 lifetime hitter with RISP).

Gwynn was the best pure hitter I have ever seen. If you disagree, cool with me. If people want to say Pujols is a better hitter, I have no problems wtih that at all.

[bdseed316]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Let me tell you all what Pujols has done. For the first 8 years of his career he has hit over .310 every year, over 30 home runs every year, had over 100 RBI's every year, and played in over 140 games EVERY YEAR. You find the other players that have done that and then you'll realize the level of player we are witnessing today.

[njd.aitken]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

It's Pujols. His BB:K is 2:1 or so. His OPS is over 1.000 every year, minus 2007 where it was .997. He hits well over .300. 40 HRs and 40 doubles are never out of reach.

His plate discipline is terrific, he can work counts, he can jump on the first pitch, he just keeps pitchers off balance.

[dragon4ever]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

There is no doubt that the home run is the highlight of a baseball game. It is the same as a slam dunk. Both are explosive and quickly garner attention. But just because someone hits for power and has a lot of home runs doesn't make him the best pure hitter. Adam Dunn can blast 40+ home runs, but do so with a .260 batting average.

Ichiro tends to be overlooked for a couple of reasons. First off, the Seattle Mariners have been god-awful over the past few seasons, so the Mariners do not receive a lot of face time on ESPN. Also, the fact that he does not jack a lot of home runs likely leads people to not think of him immediately when they think of “hitters.”

But if players like Pujols are going to be examined due to their power, then Ichiro's attributes—his speed and his vision—should also count. And when you break it down, at the very least, Ichiro should be in the conversation for the game's best hitter.

Career batting average:

Pujols - .334
Ichiro - .331

So Pujols has a better batting average. But Pujols draws quite a lot of walks compared to Ichiro. Ichiro is going for the hit, which can be his Achilles' heel at times.

Nevertheless, let’s look at hits per game...

Ichiro - 1.41
Pujols - 1.24

In this case, Ichiro is able to get a hit in a game more often than Pujols.

[bukktown]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

The thing that makes pujols imposible to deny is that damn .330 career batting avg. If only it was .280, then there could be legitimate debate.

[JBH3]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

There is no doubt that the home run is the highlight of a baseball game. It is the same as a slam dunk. Both are explosive and quickly garner attention. But just because someone hits for power and has a lot of home runs doesn't make him the best pure hitter. Adam Dunn can blast 40+ home runs, but do so with a .260 batting average.

Ichiro tends to be overlooked for a couple of reasons. First off, the Seattle Mariners have been god-awful over the past few seasons, so the Mariners do not receive a lot of face time on ESPN. Also, the fact that he does not jack a lot of home runs likely leads people to not think of him immediately when they think of “hitters.”

But if players like Pujols are going to be examined due to their power, then Ichiro's attributes—his speed and his vision—should also count. And when you break it down, at the very least, Ichiro should be in the conversation for the game's best hitter.

Career batting average:

Pujols - .334
Ichiro - .331

So Pujols has a better batting average. But Pujols draws quite a lot of walks compared to Ichiro. Ichiro is going for the hit, which can be his Achilles' heel at times.

Nevertheless, let’s look at hits per game...

Ichiro - 1.41
Pujols - 1.24

In this case, Ichiro is able to get a hit in a game more often than Pujols.

I here all the talk about the contact hitters like Gwynn and Ichiro.

The reason I don't consider them the BEST is because Pujols hits for average right around or higher than both and brings SO much more to the plate than just being able to make solid contact.

Not to mention he's been the most intentionally walked batter since 2005 - which speaks to how much of a pure hitter he is, and how much of a threat he is to do so much more than just reach first base.

IMO, the title of this thread should read "Who is the 2nd best pure hitter in the league" - because we already know who the best is and it's Pujols. Anything to the contrary is a flailing attempt to not accept this and move on.

[Blzer]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Not to mention he's been the most intentionally walked batter since 2005 - which speaks to how much of a pure hitter he is, and how much of a threat he is to do so much more than just reach first base.

Are we forgetting some guy named Bonds? Bonds still out-walked Pujols intentionally.

... which speaks to how much of a pure hitter he is, probably still.

[Misfit]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Except Bonds isn't in the league, so he has no place in this discussion.

[wwharton]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Except Bonds isn't in the league, so he has no place in this discussion.

Actually Bonds is in the league. He's just not playing right now. He's not retired so he's still an MLB player. Just like we don't count Brady out of the best QB discussion just because he was hurt all year.

[Misfit]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

He's not under contract, so he's not in the league, only eligible for employment. Brady was still under contract with the Patriots during his injury, so it's a bad comparison.

[wwharton]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

He's not under contract, so he's not in the league, only eligible for employment. Brady was still under contract with the Patriots during his injury, so it's a bad comparison.

Fair enough. I still think it's fair to have him the discussion, but Brady is a bit different.

[bkrich83]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Yes Bonds is the best pure chemically enhanced hitter of all time.

[Blzer]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

Except Bonds isn't in the league, so he has no place in this discussion.

But you still don't exclude his numbers from the discussion. That's like saying Jim Thome and Todd Helton led the league in home runs in 2001 because, aside from the non-playing Bonds and Gonzalez, they shared the lead with 49.

[P2K]

Re: Who is the best pure hitter in the league?

That entire era made the whole game about power (and the absurd amount of it that went with the era), and that's why people like Ryan Howard win the MVP today despite not deserving it. Baseball isn't about HR's.

How did I know a Howard bashing would occur in this thread? Sad.