Assaulting a Record

Tom Becker is, and has been, one of the best hitters in the ABL. He holds a triple crown in single season records (.412 58 HR 191 RBI). He didn't do that in the same season since he hit .412 in 2013 and the 58 HR and 191 RBI in 2012. He is the only ABL single season .400 hitter. But the more impressive number was the 191 RBIs in 2012 when he was leading Montreal to the World Title. Two examples of it's magnitude are that Becker also holds the 4th best single season total, at 145 (accomplished the following year, also with Montreal). So he hit .412 but drove in 46 fewer runs. The other indication is that 2nd on the single season list is Francisco Alfonso with Seattle at the time with a total of 151 (or 40 short of Becker's total) hit the same year as Becker, 2012.

Byron Bryant

That record is under attack by a 21 year old from Nottinghamshire in Byron Bryant. Bryant is already 86th on the list with 92 RBIs and we haven't reached the All Star Game yet. He is at pace for 184. While this would come up short of the record, is there any hope that his second half could be better than his first half by 8 RBIs? This would mean can he hit 100 RBI in the second half of the season.


There are a couple of indicators.

HOME COOKING

Nottinghamshire have played 45 of their 82 games on the road, which means the 44 of their last 80 are at home. Bryant is much better at Trent Bridge. He is batting .286/.374/.555 on the road while he is .396/.472/.748 at home.

SCHEDULE

The RCL is the hitters league while the TML is a pitchers league. Nottinghamshire has already played two of the TML divisions in inter-league play, including the TML best Sparky Anderson Division.  Therefore only 12 games remain with the pitcher friendly TML. It also means 12 more games with the hitter friendly RCL divisions.

OPPORTUNITY

Bryant is hitting .400/.496/.664 with runners in scoring position.  He had 30 RBI's in June. Yet June was Nottinghamshire's toughest month. They had division games and the inter-league games were with the Sparky Anderson Division. Because of the better than average competition, Crawford, Burris and Whitney (the three hitters ahead of Bryant who need to create scoring opportunities), each had their worst month of the season so far. Their numbers are expected to improve, thus providing more opportunities.

Certainly hitting 100 RBIs in a half of season is challenging. Being the second half versus the first is probably harder as players wear down. Bryant also is on pace for 52 HR. If he were to reach 100 RBI hitting more HR would be helpful and thus the record of 58 could be in jeopardy.

In reality the HR mark is being threatened by Chance Everett of SoCal.  He has 31 at the half way point.

While Becker has moved to Washington, he is still being productive. He has 83 RBIs at the half way point which is a pace for 166.

Can the 21 year old Bryant hold up for a season? Only time will tell. But if he does break the record, you would have to like the chances of Nottinghamshire to remain on top and make their first playoff appearance.