You may remember the phenomenon of Matt Wieters Facts as the catcher was making his way up the minor-league chain, but the Orioles are now buying into the phenomenon of first baseman Chris Davis through the first four games of the 2013 season.
The club’s public relations staff compiled the following factoids about the slugger’s accomplishments so far and distributed them to media members prior to Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins.
Now, we just need to know whether Superman has traded in his Matt Wieters pajamas in favor of Chris Davis threads.
In case you needed a reminder of how incredible Davis’ start has been, check out the following:
– Has more RBIs (16) than 17 major league teams.
– Has twice as many RBIs as the Marlins (8), Padres (8), Giants (8), Cubs (7), Dodgers (7) and Pirates (6).
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– Has more RBIs than any two players in the major leagues combined.
– Has easily the highest RBI total through four team games of a season (16) since the major leagues started recording RBIs in 1920. The previous record was 12 RBIs through four games, by Dolph Camilli (1935 Phillies), Mark McGwire (1998 Cardinals) and Charles Johnson (2000 Orioles). (Elias)
– Has more RBIs in 15 at-bats than Padres shortstop Enzo Hernandez had (12) in 549 at-bats in 1971. (Yahoo Sports-Passan)
– Has a homer and three or more RBIs in four straight games. The only players to do that in five straight are Lou Gehrig (1931) and Bill Dickey (1937). (ESPN Stats)
– Leads the big leagues in go-ahead RBIs (four) and extra-base hits (seven).
– Has 11 homers in his last 38 at-bats. According to SABR, the most homers in a 50-at-bat stretch since 1947 are:
14: Barry Bonds, SF, 11 times in 2001.
13: Albert Belle, CLE, 10 times in 1995.
13: Mark McGwire, STL, 5/14(2nd AB)-5/30(1st AB), 1998.
13: Troy Tulowitzki, COL, 9/5(1st AB)-9/18(3rd AB), 2010.
– Is the first Oriole and fourth player in major league history to homer in each of the first four games of a season, joining Hall of Famer Willie Mays (1971), Mark McGwire (1998) and Nelson Cruz (2011). Frank Robinson was the only Oriole to homer in the first three games of a season (1966). (Elias)
8– Is the first major league player with a home run and at least three RBIs in each of four consecutive games at any point in a season since Bill Dickey did that in five straight games for the Yankees in June 1937. (Elias)
– Is the only Oriole ever to drive in three or more runs in each of the club’s first four games of a season.
– Has the most homers in Orioles history in a 10-game span (10) and 11-game span (11) dating back to Sept. 26, 2012.
– Leads the AL in Triple Crown categories (tied with Seattle’s Michael Morse with four homers) and leads the majors in OPS (2.211), slugging (1.600), total bases (24) and RBI (16).
– Hit the second grand slam of his career Friday off Tyler Robertson. His first was July 31, 2012 off Yankees pitcher Ivan Nova.
– Hit the first tie-breaking grand slam in the eighth inning or later by an Oriole since Harold Baines on May 4, 1999 against the White Sox (ESPN). Baines’ slam plated current MASN analyst Mike Bordick and current Orioles vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson.
– Drove in 11 runs in the three-game set in St. Petersburg from April 2-4. The last time an Oriole drove in 11 or more runs in a series of three games or fewer was May 28-29, 2006 when Cal Ripken Jr. drove in 11 runs in two games at Seattle. (Elias)
8– Has tied his home run output and surpassed his RBI total from last April (four homers and 12 RBIs in 21 games and 71 at-bats. This April, he has four home runs and 16 RBIs in four games and 15 at-bats.
– Since the RBI became a statistic in 1920, the only other player to hit three or more homers and drive in 11 or more runs in his team’s first three games of a season was the Phillies’ Dolph Camilli in 1935 (four homers, 12 RBIs). (Elias)
– Posted his fourth career four-hit game on April 3 and first since Sept. 26, 2009 for the Rangers against the Rays. April 3 also marked the second time in his career he’s had three extra-base hits in a game (his three-homer game against Toronto came on Aug. 24, 2012).
– In each of the last three games, Adam Jones has recorded a base hit and scored on a homer by the next batter — Chris Davis.
