The Scariest Hitters In Baseball History

there's no such thing as paranoia wrote The Fame journalist Hunter S Thompson your worst fears can come true at any moment many MLB pictures can relate especially when a terrifying hitter pounds his Bat against the on Deck Circle sending the donut plunging one last stallop of pinear some rosin and then their stride towards the plate Fear and Loathing were Specialties of Thompson but they also do describe what baseball scariest hitters have generated Inside the Minds of hapless hurlers for Generations there are Sluggers who could be considered scary just based on their physical size alone Aaron is one of the largest humans to ever take an MLB At Bat at 67 282 but not far behind was 67255 lb Frank Howard aka the Washington Monument who with the Senators put together some monster years posing pitchers tried to avoid the spectacle of Howard taking BP because the site was too intimidating to behold how could they go into the game and throw this guy hitable pitches when they saw his rifle shots before the contest let's not gloss over the threat of physical danger that certain hitters have invoked as well especially if the player had an appetite for charging the mound Prime Albert Bell of the Indians was known to be Surly to his teammates and he had no quals about throwing Haymakers at opposing pitchers sure hitters who are enormous and ill-tempered are very very scary but they can also instill fear with their minds as well some have baseball iq's so high that pitchers seem at a loss at how to handle them Tony whim was one of the most good-natured people ever to become a superstar yet he terrified pitchers with his approach he was one of the first players to make extensive use of videotape and his cerebral approach to the plate kept him out of bad counts he was intentionally walked more than you'd think but the absolute scariest hitters in MLB history combine elements of most of or all of these traits power Bron smarts nerves of Steel causing pitchers the major League's over to pray for an atom ball a deep fly or to just give up the battle altogether and refuse to throw strikes so who exactly were these juggernauts player number one Barry Bonds if you want a statistical definition of fear here it is in 2004 Barry Bond set the MLB record record for on base percentage in a single season at 609 let's ruminate on that a second playing against the best players in the world Barry bounds performed like that ridiculous stud in Little League who never got out and was always on base he made out less than 40% of his abs during a season where he also hit 262 with 45 bombs he somehow walked an MLB record 232 times that year the OBP record he broke was his own set in 2002 when he got on base at a 582 clip he h 370 that season with 46 dingers bond is quite obviously the all-time leader in intentional walks with 688 including ones with the bases loaded that happened in 1998 when the Giants were playing the Dbacks Arizona manager Buck showalter's team was up 8 to6 when bonds came up to the plate with the bases jacked and just like that it was 87 after bonds was given first base it was probably the right move the Dbacks went on to win the game people might be surprised to learn that bonds was the MLB leader in homers just twice during his 20 2-e career but these two years defined Bonds in remarkable ways the first year was in 1993 when bonds was 28 and weighed 190 lbs no one disputed that he was the game's best overall player the second coming of Willie Mays during the 1990s he averaged 3030 totals to go along with eight gold gloves he twice registered an Ops plus over 200 something no one besides him has done since he was lean strong fast the embodiment of a five tool Superstar if Bond had retired in 1999 he probably would had a great case for Cooperstown he led the league in homers again in 2001 when he hit 73 dingers and walked 177 times it seemed like you'd maybe get two or three pitches to hit every game and one of them would end up in the seats bonds was 20 lbs heavier than before all of it muscle and Cranium many many players took steroids but only Bond set an MLB record with an Ops of 1422 in 2004 when he was 39 years old six total times bonds had Ops Plus numbers that were over twice the league average which ties him with Ted Williams for the most all time three times he was over 250 in 2002 bonds put up a 268 Ops plus that was and more than likely will be for a long time the best in the history of MLB in fact bonds alone holds the top three all set between 2001 and 2004 that is truly mind-boggling player number two babe Ru imagine being a pitcher in 1921 at the plates a man as big as any in the MLB who who up until two seasons ago was one of the best pitchers in the game now here he is doing things at the plate that have never been done swatting homers at a rate unknown to the sport in 1919 he hit 29 homers more than 10 teams hit that season and more than any player has ever hit the previous record of 27 had been set in 1884 then Ruth broke that record in 1920 with 54 now we're in a world no one in MLB had ever visited a slugger so head and shoulders above everyone else that it seemed like he was playing a different sport though pitchers 1921 suspect as much statisticians will estimate that Ruth is two or three standard deviations above an ml player at this time basically in the top 0.3% or put it other way out of a th000 ml players three are close to as good as Ruth the problem they're only 400 players in 1921 so if you were to double the size the league and corresponding talent pool still no one would be better your job as a pitcher is to get this hulking Bruiser out with his 54 o bat that he grips at the handle on the bottom that my friends is true fear as great as bonds was in 2002 to 2004 it's debatable that he ever had a better year than Babe Ruth in 1921 at least relative to historical president at the time for the third straight year Ruth set the all-time home run record this time with 59 he clubbed 35 more homers than the hitter in second place more than doubling their total imagine a year in which Matt Olsson hits 40 dingers to finish second overall in The Bigs the overall winner hits 82 for context the year Bonds hit 73 Sammy Sosa another obvious Royster hit 64 the bab was Reinventing the sport in real time and pitchers reacted with trapid on top of those 59 homers The Babe walked 145 times he also hit 44 doubles and 16 triples giving him a 119 extra base hits good for 457 total bases both of which are still single season records his 177 runs scored is second best at the time his 168 RBI were the single season record until L gar broke it in 1927 with 173 the year that Ruth broke his own home run record with 60 scientists in 1921 tried to explain Ruth's dominance by subjecting him to a battery of tests because as former teammate pinch Thomas explained I'm not so certain that babe is human at least he does things that you couldn't expect a you're batter with two arms and two legs to do I can't explain him nobody can he just exists the most remarkable finding of the study at the time was that Ruth didn't breathe during his swing as as if he'd sucked in all the power in the world to unload on the baseball there were even rumors he'd hit a ball 700 ft during spring training the same study found that Ruth's eyes were 12% faster than the average man and his hardest swings came out balls low and Away by 1931 Ruth had 611 career homers in second place was NL Superstar Rogers Hornsby he had 295 it took until 1935 before player reached even half of Ruth's career total and almost 40 years for someone else to surpass it player number three Albert PS as the 1999 draft approached teams were scouting hey shortstop at Metropolitan Community College Maplewood in Kansas the Tampa Bay Rays who would draft eight future Major Leaguers that year designated the player to go between rounds 30 and 50 the Cardinals however had him rated much higher than that and took him in the 13th round signing him for $60,000 he was still at most an afterthought in a farm system notorious for turning out many a superstar over the years most of those guys were taken within the first 10 Rounds that player of course was Albert PS who at 6'3 and 235 lb was playing out of position at Short the cards moved him around the diamond a little bit before settling on First and from there the rest is history PS would join in a very exclusive group as he aged the 700 Club where just Barry Bonds Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth reside within that club is another one even smaller with just Aaron and P allowed in those with more than 700 career bombs who never struck out 100 times in a season po PS and Aaron are also the only players with 600 homers 600 doubles and 3,000 hits unlike bonds and Ruth PS never walked a tremendous amount or as we said above struck out in his prime he was almost like if rro had the power of Ken griffy Jr yeah he wasn't as fast as these guys and played a much easier defensive position at first although he did play well but at the play he had a few equals for his first 10 big league Seasons Pools hit over 300 each year for 331 average to along with 41 homers and 23 RBIs per 162 games played it was one of the most impressive runs of hitting since World War II You could argue that lineup protection from some really good Cardinals teams that went to the postseason seven times during those first 10 seasons with two World Series Championships let pool see a lot of good pitches but Ruth and bonds had played on good teams too and still walked and Kade at higher rates the truth was pools was more of a free swinger than either of those guys and for that period in his career this worked for him to a te while he did Trail off towards the latter half of his career pretty harshly he held on long enough to tally those impressive milestones we listed above all while keeping his career Ops Plus at a very healthy 145 player number four Ken griffy Jr the anointed one the one who by the age of 26 had already crushed 200 homers the one who hit 56 clean dingers in 1998 while Sosa and Maguire were taking turns sticking needles in their posterior that same year griffy passed the 350 career Homer Mark he was 28 years old and like A-Rod a few years later many believed 800 career homers wasn't impossible Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox saw griffy play in high school and he claimed Ken was the best Prospect he'd ever seen and it wasn't close in his prime griffy was as close to maze as the game has ever seen perhaps even more so than bonds given his Elite defense out of center field Barry predominantly played the corners he broke into the game as a much hyped Prospect at 19 playing on the same team as his father Ken griffy Senior who was himself a high caliber player for the Big Red Machine back in the 70s perhaps no other father son duo will ever again hit back-to-back homers like the Griffies did in 1990 Junior seemed like he'd been created in laboratory with the sole intent of crafting the perfect baseball player he made jaws drop every time he ran into the baseball field his Lefty swing was pure poetry capable of producing tremendous power even at just 195 lbs in 1993 he tied the Major League record by homering in eight straight games the next season he broke the bab's record for most bombs hit before July 1st with 32 it was going to happen the record 61 by Roger Maris was going down and Junior would be the man to do it he had 40 homers by August 11th and then the strike happened and griffy stayed stuck it wouldn't be his last run of bad luck at the peak of his powers griffy put up numbers that rival the greatest the game has ever seen from the 1997 to 1999 Seasons Junior socked 160 homers and drove in 427 runs which averages out to 53 bombs and 142 RBI per year he also won Gold Gloves each season in 1997 he was the unanimous choice for Al MVP he stayed healthy all three years appearing in almost every game as Tony larusa said at the time Griffey's Talent didn't have a ceiling but sadly after a trade to Cincinnati in 2000 injuries marred his epic run to immortality in eight seasons with the Reds he played over 140 games in a year just twice he would go on to play with the white socks briefly as well before coming back to the m in 2009 and 2010 but after hitting just 184 in his last year griffy would call it quits finishing with 630 career homers well short of the record and even that of his historical C Maize at 660 still over his two decade career in The Bigs he had managed to terrify pitchers in both leagues post six separate years with over 40 dingers five with top five MVP finishes and four where he posted an Ops over a th all that to go along with 2700 career hits 500 doubles and a 9007 career Ops player number number five Willie Mays speaking of Mae Willie was widely regarded as one of the best baseball players of all time even when he was still active and a fearsome fo at the plate in his prime between 1954 and 1965 he had over 40 homers six times won two MVPs and never posted a war below 7.6 what set me as a part in his day was his electrifying combination of power and speed meaning that he not only terrified pitches with his power potential but also with what he could do if they just put him on he joined the 3030 Club three times after all while swiping over 300 bases in his career in total despite being by far the most undersized player on this list at 5'10 may still Club 660 career homers but still Willie wasn't merely a slugger he was a complete hitter who routinely batted over 330 in his prime even leading the league at 347 in 1954 in the world of baseball commentary discussing Willie maz's offensive abilities like waxing poetic about a Timeless Masterpiece they can also seem a bit tired at this point his greatness has been discussed in baseball circles so often that it seems that people are almost numb to it they 156 career War those aformentioned 660 career home runs the 24 All-Star Game selections but make no mistake no pitcher who ever faced Willie forgot about it especially those who he somehow managed to hit hard enough to clear the windblown spacious dimensions of Candlestick Park in his prime you see that was one more thing that made him special he put up most of those Gody power numbers and perhaps the hardest field to hit a home run in during that era imagine the terror pitchers felt when he stepped up to plate in a hitter's park player number six Frank Thomas when your nickname is the Big Hurt pitchers perk up their ears Frank Thomas stood 6'5 and weighed 240 lbs def fitting the D1 tight end that he was but after he was injured playing football during his sophomore season at auburn Thomas decided to quit to focus on baseball fulltime he wouldn't regret it baseball was a sport Thomas had dominated in high school but he' gone undrafted it bothered him for his entire career despite being taken in the first round three years later so he decided to take his frustration out on pitchers in the history of baseball no other hitter has had seven straight seasons of hitting 300 with over 20 homers 100 walks and 100 rbii no one not Ruth not Bonds not pool the Big Hurt stands alone at his Peak thas thought he could hit a ball 600 feet during a game to intimidate teams he would take BP with an aluminum bat and send balls deep into the stratosphere but he was also known for taking a pitch and inch off the plate underscoring his incredible plate discipline he led the league in walks and OBP four times while claiming one batting title in 1997 with 347 average he also took a very anti- ped stance during the meguire Sosa Bond spectacle of the steroid era Thomas did all of what he did including posting over 500 career homers winning two MVPs and slashing a career 301 419 555 clean further underscoring just how mind-bogglingly scary it must have been to face off against him in his prime no hurler could hide behind the theory that he was just Juiced he'd always look like that and no mman was SA from his vicious but controlled hacks player number seven Ted Williams Thomas used an aluminum bat during BP to intimidate pitchers while the greatest hitter who ever lived Ted Williams used his mouth Teddy ball game would stand at home plate and scream as the ball came in does war Spa thinking can get me out with that crap slider boom he'd named pitcher after pitcher sending baseballs deep into the stands Ted Williams didn't think any MLB pitcher was good enough to get him out ever he of course backed up this bravado with a 344 career average third best in the game since 1930 he also is the last player to hit over 400 and chances are given the talent level of modern pitchers as well as how bullpens are used these days he'll probably be the last only nine players hit over 300 this year for example yeah yeah batting averages a meaningless stat but it does provide a nice cross generational Benchmark Ted Williams hit 328 and won a batting Crown at age 40 in 1958 he won his first batting title in 1941 a span of 17 years the longest in MLB history this matters because Williams lost five seasons in his prime to military service between the ages of 24 and 34 so basically Williams probably missed five versions of his 1949 season when he was 30 and hit 343 with 43 homers and 39 doubles while walking 162 times and driving in 159 he of course led the league in OBP which he did 12 different times he's actually the game's alltime OBP Champion with a career Mark of 482 that's right Teddy ball game got on almost half the time if in those five seasons he had at least 40 homers he would have been at 721 ahead of Ruth around 900 more hits he'd have been in the company of Stan muel and tris speaker at the 3500 level around fourth all time but regardless even with these years missing he still did enough to be considered one of the greatest hitters of all time putting fear into the hearts of hurlers for two decades by not only barreling up the ball consistency but also by making pitchers have to throw him something he could actually hit if they didn't we just take us free base did you know the shift was actually invented to stop Ted yeah and even that did little of slow him down now let's get into our honorable mentions Mark Maguire as one of the original bash Brothers along with Jose cono and Dave Henderson McGuire's rookie season in 1987 when he blasted 49 homers while slugging 618 still stands as one of the greatest rookie hitting seasons of all time he went on to smash 583 homers 11th best in history while posting the best home run at bat ratio ever at 10.61 he was however as everyone knows now an avid steroid user pumping up his already generous 6'5 215 lb frame with pounds of solid muscle his 70 homers in 1998 stood at the Pinnacle of the sport until those allegations tarnished the achievement he now says he regrets ever having taken Peds and wishes he' played another era regardless no one can dispute when this guy was at the peak of his chemically enhanced greatness perhaps No One In The Bigs was as feared even in an era dominated by huge Sluggers tamy Sosa ahead of Maguire on the alltime Homer list is sosa which is fitting because their dual Chase of Maris in 1998 still rings as iconic today Sosa Remains the only player to hit over 60 homers three times and unlike Maguire Sosa never admitted the PED use he attributed his power surge to Flintstone gummies and being on the field every day which in his prime was true he appeared in all 162 games in 1998 and was named NL MVP ahead of Maguire Sosa was however on a list of about 100 players who failed the drug test in 2003 the fact that he was on Peds did little to comfort the hurlers he tortured with long ball after long ball in his prime Miguel Cabrera there's only one player to hit over 500 homers gathered 3,000 hits and win a Triple Crown only one and that is Miguel Cabrera Miggy was destined to frighten pitchers from birth seemingly as his mother was one of the greatest softball players in her native country of Venezuela playing for 14 years in the national team she often would lead his workouts and throw in batting practice and the family joke was that she was the better hitter under her toling Cabrera groomed one of only three MLB players ever to have 3,000 hits 500 homers and hit over 300 the others are Hank Aaron and Willie may not bad company Carlos Delgado 19 players in MLB history retired with more than 400 career homers a 280 batting average and an Ops of 925 15 are in the Hall of Fame three have ties to P scandals and one is Carlos Delgado who on his first year of Hall eligibility got less than 5% of the vote and then vanished from the ballot between 1997 delgado's first 30 Homer season and 2008 his last just four players hit more homers than he did and three were ped users from 1996 to 2009 Delgato actually had the third most RBI in the game again behind A-Rod and Manny Ramirez again both ped users he actually averaged more home runs for 162 games in his career than Hank Aaron 38 to 37 combine all that with his 6'3 215 lb frame and you get one of the most terrifying non- roided out hitters of the last 30 years as well as perhaps the most underrated Aaron judge the judge has done things to baseballs like few others have since his full season debut in 2017 like registering the first 200 Ops plus season since Barry Bonds and crushing over 50 homers twice and 60 homers once while posting an insane 164 career Ops plus that's higher than those of Thomas Aaron Mae and PS and on top of all of that the second highest at bat to home run ratio of all time at 11.69 and you have the recipe for one of the scariest starts to a career ever oh yeah did we again mention he's 6'7 282 lbs the largest man to ever play The Outfield for an MLB team Mike Trout when Mike Trout broke into the show in 2012 he led the league in Ops plus and War as a 20-year-old which makes you wonder how 24 teams had passed over him in the 2009 draft he was 6'3 then at 215 lbs built like a linebacker a 5 Tool stud who' broken the New Jersey high school home run record he was the best player in the world on from that rookie year and pretty much stayed there until 2021 when he passed the torch to teammate shoh Otani between 2015 and 2019 he had the game's best OPS plus seven times he finished either first or second for Al MVP a run of greatness like this was unprecedented to start a career and it's something we had MTC hope he can get back to after a tough 2023 scary hitters come in all shapes and sizes but they FR in a variety of ways bonds had Supreme patience to go with other worldly power so did Frank Thomas and Ted Williams Babe Ruth invented his own vocabulary to describe his prowess at the plate and at life ruthan he frightened through the novelty of at all because no one had ever seen anything like him before from a pure talent standpoint King griffy Jr and Willie Mays largely stand alone having scared pictures with the overall Majesty of their game for a combined over 40 years all these guys stand as Legends of the game today with the nightmares they invoked on opposing pitches largely Fading Into the background as they take their place in the realm of nostalgia versus abject fear but let it not be forgotten what they did in the psyche of opposing hurlers and what a treat it was to behold now thank you for watching Remember to like And subscribe if you enjoyed the video and click this playlist for other essay content just like this have a great rest of your day [Music] everyone

Channel: Made The Cut

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Keywords: MLB, baseball, 2022, mlb baseball, baseball videos, braves, sf giants, mlbscores, stlouis cardinals, houstonastros, espn mlb, shohei ohtani, mlb schedule, babe ruth, ohtani, cubs schedule, red sox schedule, phillies schedule, yankees schedule, mlb rumors, dodgers, dodgers schedule

Id: y_U9ahlPubg

Length: 22min 44sec (1364 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 16 2023