1.03.2009

The Best Offensive Seasons of the Past 15 Years

Hands down, the best offensive season of the past fifteen years came from a man named Kevin "I Don't Need No Stinkin' Glove" Mitchell in the strike-shortened 1994 season. The Reds finished 66-48 in 104 games and were not given a chance to win the World Series (figures). Mitchell was on pace for 47 Dongs, 121 RBIs, a .326 BA, .429 OBP and 681 SLG!!! But this season just wasn't meant to be. Mitchell finished the year with 310 ABs, 30 Dongs and 77 RBIs, with his averages staying the same. Not too shabby for two-thirds of a year.

Sidenote: Legend has it that during the Mets 1986 Championship run, Kevin Mitchell decapitated his girlfriend's cat. This is according to Doc Gooden's autobiography Heat. Gooden says he was held hostage during the situation.

Moving on, here are the next best individual offensive seasons since 1994...

Player

Year

AB

BA

OBP

SLG

PROD

HR

RBI

SB

2

B. Larkin

1996

517

.298

.410

.567

.977

33

89

36

3

R. Sanders

1995

484

.306

.397

.579

.976

28

99

36

4

A. Dunn

2004

568

.266

.388

.569

.957

46

102

6

5

S. Casey

1999

594

.332

.399

.539

.938

25

99

0

6

B. Larkin

1995

496

.319

.394

.492

.886

15

66

51

7

S. Casey

2004

571

.324

.381

.534

.915

24

99

2

8

K. Griffey

2000

520

.271

.387

.556

.943

40

118

6

9

K. Griffey

2005

491

.301

.369

.576

.945

35

92

0

10

A. Dunn

2007

522

.264

.386

.554

.940

40

106

9

11

A. Dunn

2005

543

.247

.387

.540

.927

40

101

5

12

B. Larkin

1998

538

.309

.397

.504

.901

17

72

26

13

S. Casey

2000

480

.315

.385

.517

.902

20

85

1

14

E. Davis

1996

415

.287

.394

.523

.917

26

83

23

RBIs and Stolen Bases are cut off on this chart. Larkin had 36, 51 and 26 steals respectively. Sanders had 36. Davis had 23. The only +100 RBI seasons on the list came from Dunn (102, 106, 101) and Griffey (118). Casey had 99 RBIs twice. So close.

Some things that come to mind...
A.) Barry Larking was amazing (Brandon Phillips who?)
B.) Reggie Sanders and Eric Davis were my favorites growing up.
C.) Adam Dunn gets no respect.
D.) When healthy*, Griff was the best player on the team (*unlucky bastard).
E.) Sean Casey was a good hitter, and a huge dork.

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