Amid the deluge of statistics the Braves have produced en route to the National League’s best record (25-15) before Tuesday, it’s easy to overlook just how remarkable the performance of second baseman Ozzie Albies has been.
We’re talking historically good, folks.
Here are five things to know about the staggering offensive totals, and particularly the extra-base hits, that Albies has produced in the first quarter of the season.
1. Albies went 3-for-5 on Monday at Wrigley Field with a first-inning leadoff homer and a double to give him an NL-leading 28 extra-base hits, including 13 homers, which was tied for the major league lead before Tuesday. This from a 21-year-old who's the second-youngest position player in the majors, is playing his first full season after a two-month call-up in 2017, and is generously listed at 5 feet 8 and 165 pounds.
2. Over the past 110 seasons in Braves franchise history, the only other player to have as many as 28 extra-base hits in the first 40 games was the great Hank Aaron, who had 30 in 1959.
3. Albies' 13 homers were tied for the most in history by a second baseman through 40 games. Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby had 13 homers through 40 games in 1922 again in 1925, and no one else did it until Arizona's Jay Bell had 13 through 40 games in 1999. The Phillies' Chase Utley, who had 13 through 40 games in 2008, was the only other second baseman to do it until Albies.
4. The only two players aged 21 or younger to hit their 13th homer sooner in a season than Albies were Braves great Eddie Mathews in 1953 and future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols in 2001.
5. Albies had eight games with multiple extra-base hits in the Braves' first 40 games, nearly halfway to the Atlanta-era Braves record of 17 such games in a season, set by Hall of Famer Chipper Jones in 1999 and matched by Javy Lopez in 2003.
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