While Dan Haren’s year on the mound has been a bit up and down, with a 4.65 ERA, there is no doubt he is having a tremendous season with the bat. He got two more hits this evening, and we’re not talking against some rookie, but off Andy Pettitte, who is having a Cy Young year for the New York Yankees, with a 9-2 record and 2.48 ERA. That raises Haren’s batting average this year to - bold font, please - .452.
And The Best Hitter In Baseball Is... Dan Haren?
I'll repeat that: italics and underlines this time. .452. Ok, we are only talking 43 plate-appearances, but do you know how many position players are hitting like that, in as many PAs this season? None: the closest is his Arizona battery-mate Miguel Montero, .413. How many players have had seasons with a .450 BA in 40+ PAs over the past fifty years? A total of three: Gary Ward (.463, 1980); Rudy Pemberton (.512, 1996) and Craig Wilson, (.468, 1998).
And Haren is, I should remind you, a PITCHER. Only three pitchers have managed five-game hitting streaks this year - and Dan Haren is two of them [the other is Tim Hudson]. In his current run, now up to six straight, Haren is 9-for-17 with three doubles. He’s already had five multi-hit games this season, in 16 appearances, and we’re not even at the All-Star break. The most in a season by a pitcher since 1975 is seven, something that seems easily within his reach.
Haren’s OPS for the season is now 1.048, a number which only a single qualifying position player, Justin Morneau, has reached. The next best pitcher with a comparable number of PAs is the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright, almost six hundred points behind Haren, at .452. Of course, it may not last, but in a season where Arizona may not win very much, if production so far is anything to go by, they might as well start engraving that Silver Slugger with Dan’s name.
See More:
