Are Career .300 Hitters a Dying Breed?
Fewer and fewer hitters are able to maintain a .300 batting average over their careers. There are only three active ones, and soon that number could decrease further.
Issue #172
While researching another article recently I found myself at this page at baseball-reference.com—the active leaders in batting average. I was amazed to learn there are only three active players—that have 3,000+ plate appearances—with a career average over .300. Those three are:
Jose Altuve - .307 in 7,360 PA
Freddie Freeman - .301 in 8,109 PA
Mike Trout - .301 in 6,521 PA
Granted, batting average isn’t seen as important of a statistic as it once was. But as a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s, batting average was something that—like most fans—I tracked quite closely. In fact, I taught myself how to convert factions to decimals in kindergarten—for all denominators up to twelve—just so I could quickly determine batting averages.
What I remember from that era was far more than three players had a career average over .300 at any particular time. My recollection put it at around 10-15. Further, the leader wouldn’t be at a modest .307 either—more like .320 or even .330 or higher.
To check my memory, I decided to look up who the leaders were—and how many hitters were above .300—at five year intervals, starting with 1960. Here are the totals for each year I checked:
1960 - 12
1965 - 9
1970 - 8
1975 - 8
1980 - 15
1985 - 12
1990 - 8
1995 - 15
2000 - 23
2005 - 26
2010 - 18
2015 - 10
2020 - 9
2024 - 3
So the totals above for the 1970s were a bit lower than I was remembering—only 8 career .300 hitters (with 3,000+ PA) in both 1970 and 1975. That is likely because of the late 60s and early 70s being a relatively strong era for pitching.
But then the totals grew in the 1980s, dipped a bit in 1990, but then really took off during the big offensive era of the late 90s and early 2000s. 2015 and 2020 saw more modest totals of 10 and 9, respectively. And now we have just three—with Freeman and Trout barely over .300, and I’d say Trout in particular at risk of dipping below.
What about active players who could join these three once they get over the 3,000 PA threshold? One name that comes to mind is Luis Arraez, and sure enough he has a robust .326 average over 2,186 PA. So he could join this list sometime in 2025.
But I couldn’t find any others who seemed close. Bo Bichette has a .299 average in 2,328 PA, and Jeff McNeil has a .298 average in 2,687 PA. So if either of them bat say .310 or higher in 2024, that might nudge them over the .300 line. But it seems this list isn’t going to grow much anytime soon.
I assume the reasons for this are the obvious ones about how the game has changed in recent years. Relief pitching specialization which started to accelerate in the 1970s has solidified into established roles for many bullpen arms. That, along with lower expectations for starting pitchers to throw more than six innings, and you have more pitchers giving max effort on more pitches.
On the hitting side, most batters are focused on launch angle, exit velocity, and generally hitting lots of homeruns—not getting lots of singles and doubles. And of course batting average itself, as a statistic, doesn’t have the status that it once did—with OBP, SLG, OPS, and other percentages having been shown to better correlate to value production and winning. Hitters used to really care about finishing a season, not to mention a career, with a .300 average—now many other stats are seen as more interesting and important.
And that is all fine with me. I don’t mean to sound overly nostalgic for the glory days of batting average. But I did find it an interesting trip down memory lane to see the career batting average leaders dating back to 1960, at each five-year interval as I indicated above. Here are those lists, with some commentary from me for each.
1960
Ted Williams .344
Stan Musial .335
Hank Aaron .318
Willie Mays .316
Harvey Kuenn .313
Richie Ashburn .310
Mickey Mantle .307
Minnie Miñoso .307
Al Kaline .306
Billy Goodman .301
Duke Snider .301
Ted Kluszewski .300
Here we see some all-time greats in Ted Williams and Stan Musial, and then the generation that followed with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Mickey Mantle. Aaron and Mays started out their careers with pretty high batting averages, but then played so long that they eventually settled closer to the .300 line.
1965
Hank Aaron .320
Willie Mays .313
Roberto Clemente .309
Orlando Cepeda .308
Mickey Mantle .306
Al Kaline .306
Harvey Kuenn .303
Frank Robinson .302
Vada Pinson .302
Aaron and Mays are leading the way at this point, with Roberto Clemente by this time having enough plate appearances to join them.
1970
Roberto Clemente .316
Hank Aaron .313
Tony Oliva .311
Pete Rose .309
Matty Alou . 309
Willie Mays .306
Frank Robinson .303
Al Kaline .301
By 1970, Clemente is leading the pack with Aaron dipping a bit and Mays dropping to .306. The top average has dropped to .316 and the overall active list has shrunk to eight, as cumulative batting averages are feeling the impact of the strong pitching era of the late 1960s.
1975
Rod Carew .328
Ralph Garr .317
Pete Rose .310
Rico Carty .308
Hank Aaron .307
Tony Oliva .306
Manny Sanguillen .304
Manny Mota .303
The list still only includes eight guys, but Rod Carew now has enough plate appearances to qualify and so we have a more robust top average of .328. Ralph Garr's career also got off to a good start, as he comes in a strong second at .317.
1980
Rod Carew .333
George Brett .319
Bill Madlock .314
Dave Parker .314
Pete Rose .310
Fred Lynn .308
Jim Rice .307
Ken Griffey Sr. .307
Ralph Garr .306
Cecil Cooper .306
Steve Garvey .304
Manny Mota .304
Al Oliver .303
Bake McBride .300
Bob Watson .300
In just five years, the list nearly doubles and Carew's average climbs a bit to .333. Third-basemen George Brett and Bill Madlock now qualify, as does Madlock's Pirates' teammate Dave Parker. Pete Rose's consistency is evident at this point as well, as he was hitting .309 as of 1970, .310 as of 1975, and still .310 as of 1980.
1985
Rod Carew .328
George Brett .316
Bill Madlock .309
Pedro Guerrero .306
Pete Rose .304
Dave Parker .304
Cecil Cooper. 303
Al Oliver .303
Jim Rice .302
Keith Hernandez .301
Willie Wilson .301
Ken Griffey Sr. .300
After five more seasons the list is a little shorter, but Carew, Brett, and Madlock are still the top three. Rose has dipped a bit in his final years, sitting now at .304.
1990
Wade Boggs .346
Tony Gwynn .329
Kirby Puckett .320
Don Mattingly .317
George Brett .311
Pedro Guerrero .305
Will Clark .302
Tim Raines .301
By 1990 the high-average mantle had been passed from Carew to Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn, with Kirby Puckett and Don Mattingly also making a strong showing. The list is oddly, if only temporarily shorter, back down eight—the total seen back in 1970 and 1975. But that won't last long...
1995
Tony Gwynn .336
Wade Boggs .334
Frank Thomas .323
Kirby Puckett .318
Edgar Martinez .313
Don Mattingly .307
Mark Grace .306
Paul Molitor .305
Carlos Baerga .305
Mike Greenwell .303
Ken Griffey Jr. .302
Will Clark .302
Julio Franco .301 (played in Japan in 1995, but returned to MLB the next year)
John Kruk .300
Rafael Palmeiro .300
By 1995 Gwynn has surged slightly ahead of Boggs, but both still had impressive .330+ career averages. Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez have also joined Puckett and Mattingly in the top half of this list.
2000
Tony Gwynn .338
Mike Piazza .328
Derek Jeter .322
Frank Thomas .321
Edgar Martinez .320
Manny Ramírez .313
Larry Walker .311
Jeff Cirillo .311
Álex Rodríguez .309
Mark Grace .308
Rusty Greer .307
Kenny Lofton .306
Jeff Bagwell .305
Bernie Williams .304
Hal Morris .304
Roberto Alomar .304
Iván Rodríguez .304
Will Clark .303
Chipper Jones .303
Moisés Alou .303
Jason Giambi .302
Julio Franco .301
Barry Larkin .300
Boggs retired in 1999 with a .328 career average, while Gwynn was still hitting away in 2000 with an impressive .338 career average. Mike Piazza and Derek Jeter were next in line, joining Thomas and Martinez as hitters with a .320 batting average at that point. The list has swelled to 23 guys, and includes some names that surprised me like Jeff Cirillo, Rusty Greer, Hal Morris, and Moisés Alou.
2005
Todd Helton .337
Albert Pujols .332
Ichiro Suzuki .332
Vladimir Guerrero .324
Nomar Garciaparra .320
Derek Jeter .314
Manny Ramírez .314
Larry Walker .313
Mike Piazza .311
Frank Thomas .307
Álex Rodríguez .307
Magglio Ordóñez .306
Sean Casey .305
Juan Pierre .305
Iván Rodríguez .304
Mike Sweeney .304
Chipper Jones .303
Bobby Abreu .303
José Vidro .302
Jason Kendall .302
Lance Berkman .302
Moisés Alou .301
Mark Loretta .301
Plácido Polanco .300
Barry Bonds .300
Shannon Stewart .300
Ballooning even more to 26 players, the list is now headlined by Colorado slugger Todd Helton and his .337 career average as of 2005. Four other newcomers in Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Vladimir Guerrero, and Nomar Garciaparra round out the top five. Again, some interesting additional names appear in the middle and bottom part of this list, such as Magglio Ordóñez, Sean Casey, Juan Pierre, Mike Sweeney, José Vidro, Jason Kendall, Mark Loretta, Plácido Polanco, and Shannon Stewart.
2010
Albert Pujols .331
Ichiro Suzuki .331
Joe Mauer .327
Todd Helton .324
Vladimir Guerrero .320
Matt Holliday .317
Derek Jeter .314
Miguel Cabrera .313
Hanley Ramirez .313
Manny Ramírez .313
Magglio Ordóñez .312
Robinson Canó .309
Chipper Jones .306
David Wright .305
Plácido Polanco .303
Álex Rodríguez .303
Michael Young .300
Victor Martinez .300
By 2010 the current tightening trend has begun, though the list of active .300 career averages is still strong at 18 players. The order of the top five has been rearranged, and Joe Mauer has replaced Garciaparra who retired in 2009 with a still lofty .313 career mark. I had forgotten that Matt Holliday had such a high average, hitting at a .317 clip through 2010.
2015
Miguel Cabrera .321
Ichiro Suzuki .314
Joe Mauer .313
Albert Pujols .312
Joey Votto .311
Buster Posey .310
Robinson Canó .307
Matt Holliday .307
Ryan Braun .304
Victor Martinez .302
Shrinking further to only 10 by 2015, Miguel Cabrera has climbed from a tie for eighth place to the top spot with a .321 average at that point in his career. The averages for Suzuki, Mauer, and Pujols have dipped a bit by this time, with Joey Votto, Buster Posey, and Ryan Braun now all making the list.
2020
Miguel Cabrera .313
José Altuve .311
DJ LeMahieu .305
Joey Votto .304
Charlie Blackmon .304
Mike Trout .304
Robinson Canó .303
Buster Posey .302 (opted out in 2020 due to COVID pandemic, but played again in 2021)
Mookie Betts .301
The length of the list only shrinks by one from 2015 to 2020, with Cabrera still the top man, though with a somewhat lower .313 mark (lower than Clemente's leading .316 career average in 1970). José Altuve by 2020 had enough plate appearances and comes in second at .311, with everyone else at only .305 or lower.
2023
José Altuve .307
Freddie Freeman .301
Mike Trout .301
Miguel Cabrera retired after the 2023 season with a career .306 average. So here we are, entering the 2024 campaign with only three batters with 3,000+ plate appearances who have a .300+ career batting average. As I noted, Luis Arraez is likely to join this list soon... and perhaps Bo Bichette, Jeff McNeil, or others could too. But just as easily Trout or even Freeman could drop off the list, so I think the chances of this list getting back up to even 8 or 9 guys—the previous low marks in the above analysis—seems unlikely any time soon.
Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.
