We’re almost 10% into the 2015 MLB baseball season, so just for funsies lets look at the stat leaders and extrapolate their season if they were to miraculously maintain their hot start through the entire season. “Hot start” might not be quite right for some of these stats like HBP, and HRs Allowed.
| Stat | 2015 Total | 2015 Leader | Games Played | Projected Season Total | All-time Record | Record Holder |
| BATTING | ||||||
| HR | 8 | Nelson Cruz | 15 | 86 | 73 | Barry Bonds (2001) |
| R | 15 | Wil Myers | 16 | 152 | 198 | Billy Hamilton (1894) |
| RBI | 17 | Nelson Cruz | 15 | 184 | 191 | Hack Wilson (1930) |
| SB | 9 | Billy Hamilton | 13 | 112 | 138 | Hugh Nicol (1887) |
| WAR | 1.4 | Adrian Gonzalez | 14 | 16.2 | 12.5 | Barry Bonds (2001) |
| 1B | 19 | Dee Gordon | 15 | 205 | 225 | Ichiro Suzuki (2004) |
| 2B | 9 | Troy Tulowitzki | 15 | 97 | 67 | Earl Webb (1931) |
| 3B | 3 | Sam Fuld | 15 | 32 | 36 | Chief Wilson (1912) |
| HBP | 6 | Anthony Rizzo | 14 | 69 | 51 | Hughie Jennings (1896) |
| SO | 22 | Chris Carter | 14 | 255 | 223 | Mark Reynolds (2009) |
| PITCHING | ||||||
| WAR | 1.1 | Max Sherzer | 3 | 12 | 20.5 | Pud Galvin (1884) |
| SO | 35 | Clayton Kershaw | 4 | 284 | 513 | Matt Kilroy (1886) |
| HBP | 3 | Felix Hernandez, Tyler Matzek, Mike Pelfrey, Wei-Yin Chen, Kendall Graveman | 3 | 32 | 54 | Phil Knell (1891) |
| H Allowed | 29 | Jered Weaver, Kyle Kendrick | 4 | 235 | 772 | John Coleman (1883) |
| ER Allowed | 20 | Bud Norris | 3 | 216 | 291 | John Coleman (1883) |
| HR Allowed | 7 | Cole Hamels | 4 | 57 | 50 | Bert Blyleven (1986) |
There were more ties than I listed, but I used the lower games played or plate appearances as a tie breaker. The baseball season is so long I expected the projected 2015 numbers to be higher than the all-time records in every category, but that was actually only the case for six of the sixteen stats.
What else did we learn? Nelson Cruz is off to a fantastic start. Barry Bonds was really good at baseball. John Coleman was really bad at pitching, but still must have played a lot. You did not want to face Phil Knell because he would probably hit you with a pitch. How many seasons did that monster end? Matt Kilroy’s strikeout stat will never be broken, unless they raise the mounds back up.
There weren’t any huge surprises among the 2015 stat leaders, so perhaps many of these guys will maintain something close to their current pace. Time will tell what was just a small sample size, and what is the start of a record breaking season.
