Braves 2020 Hitting Recap - Part Three
The Braves hit 55 home runs in September, one short of the franchise record for a calendar month…Last year’s team hit 56 home runs over 28 game in June…This year’s team played 26 games in September… This was easily the most home runs in September this season…Only four other teams hit 40. • It marked the fourth 50-homer month by the team since moving to Atlanta...The 2003 Braves also hit 55 in May, while the 2006 club hit 50 in July...The Braves hit 55 homers in May 2003 and 50 in July 2006. • The Braves hit .277/.372/.516 in the month, leading the majors in the latter of those categories…Their .277 batting average was third… Atlanta’s 135 wRC+ in the month was also easily the best in the majors.
Four of the 10 highest individual home run totals in September belonged to Braves…Adam Duvall hit a major league-most 11, tying the franchise record for home runs in the month, while Marcell Ozuna hit 10, Ronald Acuña Jr. hit nine and Freddie Freeman hit eight. • Ozuna and Freeman finished first and second in the month in RBI… Ozuna drove in 33, and Freeman drove in 32…Ozuna tied the Atlanta era (since 1966) record for RBI in a calendar month, set by Freeman last June…Only three other Braves have reached the 30 RBI mark in a month since the franchise relocated to Atlanta (Bob Horner, 32 in July ’80; Mark Teixeira, 32 in August ’07 and Dale Murphy, 30 in August ’86).
RBI LEADERS: OF Marcell Ozuna led the National League with 56 RBI, and teammate Freddie Freeman finished second with 53…Chicago-AL’s José Abreu (60) was the only player to finish with more. • The last Braves player to lead the league in RBI was OF Andruw Jones, who finished with 128 in 2005. • Only two other Braves have led the league in RBI during the Atlanta era (since 1966)...Dale Murphy led in 1983 and tied for the lead in 1982, while Hank Aaron’s 127 RBI were the most in 1966.
The last National League team to have teammates lead the league in RBI in a single season was the 1996 Colorado Rockies...Dante Bichette (150) finished first with Andres Galarraga (141) in second. EXTRA-BASE HITS: In addition to Atlanta’s 103 home runs, the Braves had a major-league most 130 doubles…They also hit three triples…The club’s 236 extra-base hits were not only the most in the majors, but also the most any modern-era Braves team hit in the first 60 games of a season.
The Braves averaged 3.93 extra-base hits per game this season, easily surpassing the previous Atlanta-era record of 3.62 by the 2003 club. • Only eight teams in modern baseball history (since 1900) had more extra-base hits through this period…The record was 254 set by last year’s Twins…Only two National League teams finished with more in the first 60 games…The 1925 Pirates had 253 extra-base hits, and the 2001 Rockies had 244.
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