Kyle Schwarber and Blake Snell: Low-Hit and High-Walk Totals
In 2023, Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies had
a season for the ages. That year, Schwarber became the first player in MLB history to have over 700 total plate appearances while batting less than .200 (despite being a subpar outfielder). Why did Schwarber get so many opportunities? He was a walking and home run machine.
Despite his historically low batting average, Schwarber had over 100 RBIs (104) and over 100 runs (108) on the season. To give a sense of how remarkable that is (and how inept and injury-plagued the Bay Area teams' offenses were), not a single player on the Giants or
the A's had at least 70 RBIs in 2023 and no one had at least 65 runs. Schwarber's high run and RBI total was largely due to his 126 walks (2nd in MLB) and 47 home runs (also 2nd in MLB). His 47 home runs were over twice (!!) that of the home run total for the Giants' leader (Wilmer Flores with 23). Schwarber had only 115 hits on the season (tied for 130th (!) on the season).
Speaking of a high-walk total and low-hit total, San Diego Padres pitcher Blake Snell easily won the NL Cy Young Award that year despite allowing a MLB-high 99 walks. He made up for that by allowing a MLB-low .181 batting average. While his 99 walks allowed was first in MLB, his 115 hits allowed was tied for 98th in MLB. Unlike Schwarber's home run total, Snell's home run total was low: Snell's 15 home runs allowed was tied for 119th in MLB.