Does a three-homer game mean Drew Stubbs is destined for stardom?
Jul 5, 2010, 5:57 PM EDT
With the wind blowing out at Wrigley Field yesterday afternoon Cubs pitchers served up seven homers in a 14-3 blowout loss to the Reds, including three long balls to center fielder Drew Stubbs.
“I’ve never done it at any level, little league, high school, or college,” Stubbs told Mark Sheldon of MLB.com afterward. “I think I’ve only got a handful of two-homer games. Three is something special.”
He’s right, of course, although there are probably more three-homer games than Stubbs would think, with seven already this season and an average of 10.5 per year during the previous decade.
However, if we limit the field a bit by looking only at three-homer games by players Stubbs’ age (25) or younger, it’s much more exclusive company.
Here’s the list of all the three-homer games from 25-and-under hitters since 2000:
Drew Stubbs 2010 Albert Pujols 2004 Andrew McCutchen 2009 Victor Martinez 2004 Evan Longoria 2008 Carlos Pena 2003 Joey Votto 2008 Andruw Jones 2002 Cody Ross 2006 Jose Ortiz 2001 Nick Markakis 2006 Aramis Ramirez 2001 Jose Reyes 2006 Alex Rodriguez 2000 Jonny Gomes 2005
Basically, one or two 25-and-under hitters per season have a three-homer game and of the 14 guys to previously accomplish the feat since 2000 all but two or three of them have become All-Star caliber players (the actual kind, not just the Omar Infante kind). Perhaps it’s not all that surprising, but the list is definitely full of more big names and fewer non-stars than I’d have guessed.
Stubbs is one of the oldest guys on the 25-and-under list and hasn’t been particularly impressive through 120 career games, hitting just .250/.322/.426 with 19 homers and an ugly 134/43 K/BB ratio. However, he’s a former first-round pick whose power-speed combination is promising if he can ever learn to control the strike zone and recent history shows that not many bad players have a three-homer game by his age.
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- Ditto65 - Jul 5, 2010 at 6:37 PM
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He should be in the All Star game.
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- Simon Oliver Lockwood - Jul 5, 2010 at 9:16 PM
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Tuffy Rhodes says, “Well if you count Japan …”
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- dklein82 - Jul 6, 2010 at 12:59 PM
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i like that three of the names on that list play for cincinnati. do it, reds.