Home runs are the best possible outcome an at-bat can have for an MLB team that is having one of their batters in the middle of a plate appearance.
Nothing he does will be better than a home run: not a single, a walk, a triple, or a hit by pitch.
However, the New York Yankees and their third baseman Josh Donaldson have authored one of the most bizarre stats of the 2023 season.
Per stats expert Katie Sharp, every time Donaldson has homered this year, the Yankees have lost the game.
Yankees are now 0-6 when Josh Donaldson hits a home run this season
— Katie Sharp (@ktsharp) June 28, 2023
It’s usually the other way around, but baseball is full of fun little meaningless bits of data that can cloud the analysis sometimes.
Of course the Yanks aren’t going to encourage Donaldson to stop swinging for the fences.
It’s a completely random stat, but it’s there.
Now, Donaldson as a whole has been pretty bad for New York this season.
Sure, there was a serious hamstring injury in between, but the former MVP award winner is slumping to a .132/.200/.441 line in 22 games.
The .441 slugging percentage is actually quite decent, but no hitter will have any degree of success with a batting average of .132 and an OBP of .200.
It’s just not going to happen.
What Donaldson needs to do is find more consistency with his swing and make contact more frequently.
The homers will come, even if he won’t hit 30 or 40.
However, it won’t matter if he sends 20 balls over the fence with a .200 on-base percentage.
He will likely be out of a job before he can reach that mark if that’s the case.
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