Waiting for Ted Williams: Baseball’s .400 hitters, some of the time – CBSSports.com

The .400 hitter is of course one of baseball’s most elusive and lionized figures. While we’ve had a couple of near-misses over the years (Tony Gwynn in 1994 and George Brett in 1980, for instance), no qualifier has managed to hit .400 since Ted Williams batted .406 way back yonder in 1941.

As for this season, we’ve got one .400 hitter left standing: Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy, who enters play on Saturday with a .406 mark. (Aledmys Diaz remains in range with a .398 average for the season.) Given the overwhelming odds against Murphy’s remaining above .400 for a full season, let’s adjust our margins a bit and take a look at the recent history of those who have managed to bat .400 under other conditions.

We’re talking about splits — against left-handers, on the road, at night, against starting pitchers, things like that. To pry into this matter, we’ll be leaning upon the most excellent Baseball-Reference Play Index. While some of the splits we’ll use won’t entail a large number of plate appearances, we will stipulate that the hitter in question logged a qualifying number of PAs in the season of note. Now let’s have a look …

The last to bat .400 against right-handers: Josh Hamilton, 2010

This of course was Hamilton’s AL MVP season for the Rangers. That year, he logged 389 PAs against right-handed pitchers and batted .401 against them. He batted 130 points lower against lefties. Prior to Hamilton, you have to go back the aforementioned George Brett in 1980. That year, he batted .437 against righties.

2016 leader: Nick Castellanos, .434

The last to bat .400 against left-handers: Jose Altuve, 2014

As you might expect given the profluence of lefty-mashers and the smaller number of plate appearances involved, this one’s much more common. In fact the last to do it was Altuve in 2014. That year, he batted .414 in 161 PAs against lefties.

2016 leader: Jimmy Rollins, .556

The last to bat .400 at home: Chone Figgins, 2007

Chone Figgins sighting? Chone Figgins sighting! Playing for the Angels in ’07, Figgins batted .330 overall, and that broke down as .404 in home games and .278 in road contests.

2016 leader: Manny Machado, .426

The last to bat .400 on the road: Ichiro Suzuki, 2004

Since 1913 (the back end of available data), just 17 players are on record as having batted .400 on the road over the course of a qualifying season. In 2004, Ichiro became the first since Stan Musial and Lou Boudreau in 1948 to pull it off, as he hit .405 in road contests over a span of 386 plate appearances.

2016 leader: Aledmys Diaz, .528

The last to bat .400 with runners in scoring position: Allen Craig and Freddie Freeman, 2013

Yep, two players pulled this one off in 2013. That year Craig of the Cardinals batted .454 with RISP (152 PA), while the Braves‘ Freeman hit .443 in such spots (170 PA). It so happens that Craig the year before also batted an even .400 with RISP. Need more George Brett? In 1980, he batted a whopping .469 with RISP.

2016 leader: Ryan Braun, .542

The last to bat .400 with runners on base: Victor Martinez, 2011

V-Mart in ’04 batted .404 with runners on base in his first season in Detroit. That mark was largely driven by his .417 average with runners on first.

2016 leader: Nick Markakis, .514

The last to bat .400 with two outs: Hanley Ramirez, 2009

As a member of the Marlins in 2009, Ramirez won the batting title with a .342 average. Part of that was his .403 mark with two outs (253 PA). Just seven times on record has a hitter batted .400 or better with two outs, and Rod Carew is responsible for three of those. Good hitter, that one.

2016 leader: Angel Pagan, .500

The last to bat .400 in day games: Ichiro Suzuki, 2009

Ichiro again! That year, Ichiro batted an even .400 in day games, albeit across a span of just 194 PAs. The year before, Mark Teixeira batted .402 in matinees (215 plate appearances). Needless to say, this feat has become more common in the contemporary era, when day games have become less common.

2016 leader: Welington Castillo, .600

The last to bat .400 in night games: Jackie Robinson, 1951

The flipside of the day-game dynamic is this. Night games are far more common these days, which means batting .400 in night games is more challenging, given the larger sample (and the prevailing belief that night games are tougher on the hitter — though that’s less of an issue with modern lighting). So we go back to ’51, when the luminous Jackie Robinson, en route of one of the best seasons of his career, batted .401 in night contests. In all, he logged 228 PAs in night games that season.

2016 leader: Odubel Herrera, .403