Hitting streaks come mostly due to randomness and good fortune. Think about it: Plenty of hitters wind up with more than 162 hits in a season, averaging more than a hit a game. It stands to reason that every so often a player will put together a run of 30 or so straight games with a hit by chance alone.
We know how well-struck balls sometimes find fielders’ gloves and dribblers sometimes squeak through holes in the infield. Sure, occasionally a guy enjoys a hitting streak when he happens to be going well, but plenty of hitters take an ofer in the midst of a hot stretch due to a bad luck or good discipline, and many times we’ve seen guys lauded for very empty hitting streaks reaching into the double digits.
That’s all a long-winded qualifier to say I don’t put too much stock in Dan Uggla’s current hitting streak except as the entertaining baseball novelty that it is. And Uggla’s run in particular is interesting because Uggla does not profile at all as the type of hitter to produce such a streak. He walks a lot, he strikes out a ton, and he never posts a high batting average.
Using baseball-reference.com and the Daily News‘ complete list of players with 30-game hitting streaks, I compared Uggla’s season and career batting averages to the other men who have hit in at least 30 straight games.
Turns out Uggla is the lowest in both categories — by a wide margin in the former. Of the 32 guys on the list, 26 hit at least .300 for the season.
Player | Year | Hitting streak | Season average | Career average |
---|---|---|---|---|
Joe DiMaggio | 1941 | 56 | .357 | .325 |
Pete Rose | 1978 | 44 | .302 | .303 |
George Sisler | 1922 | 41 | .420 | .340 |
Ty Cobb | 1911 | 40 | .420 | .366 |
Paul Molitor | 1987 | 39 | .353 | .306 |
Jimmy Rollins | 2006 | 38 | .277 | .272 |
Tommy Holmes | 1945 | 37 | .352 | .302 |
Chase Utley | 2006 | 35 | .309 | .292 |
Luis Castillo | 2002 | 35 | .305 | .290 |
Ty Cobb | 1917 | 35 | .383 | .366 |
Benito Santiago | 1987 | 34 | .300 | .263 |
Dom DiMaggio | 1949 | 34 | .307 | .298 |
George McQuinn | 1938 | 34 | .324 | .276 |
Hal Chase | 1907 | 33 | .287 | .291 |
Heinie Manush | 1933 | 33 | .336 | .330 |
Rogers Hornsby | 1922 | 33 | .401 | .358 |
Vladimir Guerrero | 1999 | 31 | .316 | .318 |
Ken Landreaux | 1980 | 31 | .281 | .268 |
Rico Carty | 1970 | 31 | .366 | .299 |
Willie Davis | 1969 | 31 | .311 | .279 |
Sam Rice | 1924 | 31 | .334 | .322 |
Nap Lajoie | 1906 | 31 | .355 | .338 |
Moises Alou | 2007 | 30 | .341 | .303 |
Dan Uggla | 2011 | 30 | .220 | .258 |
Andre Ethier | 2011 | 30 | .307 | .293 |
Ryan Zimmerman | 2009 | 30 | .292 | .289 |
Willy Taveras | 2006 | 30 | .278 | .274 |
Albert Pujols | 2003 | 30 | .359 | .328 |
Luis Gonzales | 1999 | 30 | .336 | .283 |
Sandy Alomar Jr | 1997 | 30 | .324 | .273 |
Eric Davis | 1997 | 30 | .304 | .269 |
Jerome Walton | 1989 | 30 | .293 | .269 |
George Brett | 1980 | 30 | .390 | .305 |
Ron LeFlore | 1976 | 30 | .316 | .288 |
Stan Musial | 1950 | 30 | .346 | .331 |
Goose Goslin | 1934 | 30 | .305 | .315 |
Bing Miller | 1929 | 30 | .331 | .311 |
Tris Speaker | 1912 | 30 | .383 | .345 |