Best hitter in baseball?

[Babe_Ruth]

Who do you guys believe is currently the best hitter in baseball? I don't mean home run hitter, I just mean putting the bat on the ball and getting on base. Please give me an explanation why you believe that person is the best.

 

[Millz]

I still say Albert. The man is a hitting machine.

He'll tell you straight up that he's not a home run hitter but just a hitter in general. He just hits alot more HR's then a guy like Ichiro because he's a stronger guy. His patience, his batting eye and his brains are all reasons I think he's the top hitter in baseball.

I mean and he's a career .334 hitter...

 

[Major]

I have to go with Ichiro. Other players have more power, but Ichiro is the best pure hitter. He's been well above .300 every year since coming to the MLB, plus seven years in a row before that in Japan. 200+ hits every year. He should go over 2,000 career hits this year in only nine years in the MLB. By comparison, most of the players in the 3,000 hit club played for 20+ seasons and rarely got 200+ hits in a year.

I can see the argument for Pujols as well though. He hits for power as well as average, and he has a lot fewer at bats than a guy like Ichiro.

 

[Millz]

I have to go with Ichiro. Other players have more power, but Ichiro is the best pure hitter. He's been well above .300 every year since coming to the MLB, plus seven years in a row before that in Japan. 200+ hits every year. He should go over 2,000 career hits this year in only nine years in the MLB. By comparison, most of the players in the 3,000 hit club played for 20+ seasons and rarely got 200+ hits in a year.

I can see the argument for Pujols as well though. He hits for power as well as average, and he has a lot fewer at bats than a guy like Ichiro.

I think the debate begins and ends with either Ichiro or Pujols. Albert averages 199 hits per season while Ichiro averages 230. Both of those are staggering numbers.

Where I think Albert is set apart is the power numbers and the base on balls. Albert has less at bats because his batting eye is better...he averages 93 walks per season and Ichiro only averages 47. They are both playing in their 9th season so its kinda easy to compare those type statistics. A power hitter who almost hits 200 hits per season is a better hitter then a guy who hits around 10 per like Ichiro.

My 2 cents.

 

[CaptainObvious]

I was going to say Ichiro too, based on how many times he's has over 200 hits and reached 200 hits in a season faster than anyone else in 2004 I think. Great pure hitter. But I have to give a very slight edge to Pujols based on his average AND he's a power hitter.

It should be noted he's my favorite player so I may be biased

 

[Major]

Albert averages 199 hits per season while Ichiro averages 230. Both of those are staggering numbers.

According to the stats I found, Pujols averages 181 hits per season (not including postseason stats). That's including the first half of this year though, so that drops his average a little. He's only gone over 200 in a season once, there's no way he could average 199.

Albert Pujols Stats, News, Photos - St. Louis Cardinals - ESPN

Where I think Albert is set apart is the power numbers and the base on balls. Albert has less at bats because his batting eye is better...he averages 93 walks per season and Ichiro only averages 47. They are both playing in their 9th season so its kinda easy to compare those type statistics. A power hitter who almost hits 200 hits per season is a better hitter then a guy who hits around 10 per like Ichiro.

My 2 cents.

That's a good point about the walks. Naturally a power hitter is going to get walked a lot more, which means he gets a lot less good pitches to hit, so the numbers he puts up are even more amazing when you consider that.

 

[Millz]

According to the stats I found, Pujols averages 181 hits per season (not including postseason stats). That's including the first half of this year though, so that drops his average a little. He's only gone over 200 in a season once, there's no way he could average 199.

Albert Pujols Stats, News, Photos - St. Louis Cardinals - ESPN


That's a good point about the walks. Naturally a power hitter is going to get walked a lot more, which means he gets a lot less good pitches to hit, so the numbers he puts up are even more amazing when you consider that.

Hmm..you're right about the hits average. I went to baseball-reference.com for my statistics and it says 162 game average is 199 but its not accurate. I dont know how they figured that out like that. If you take out this season then he averages 191...so yeah, my bad.

Yep yep on the walks situation. For some reason people think that getting walks is easy for some odd reason...its not. Intentional walks obviously are but if you're getting IBB'ed then that means youre an awesome hitter.

I dont think you can go wrong with saying either one to be honest. I'm a homer though and we'll stick with Albert. That and the power numbers. And hell, Albert has 10 steals this season...not directly related but kind of ridiculous considering he's not a fast guy...just a smart guy.

 

[Babe_Ruth]

I think it's between three hitters, those three hitters are Albert Pujols, Ichiro and Joe Mauer. I believe when it comes to making contact with the ball no is better then Ichiro. If he's healthy he's going to get close to 220 hits once again this season, that's simply incredible. Pujols is a better hitter when you consider players overall game, Joe Mauer is hitting .373 for the year. I know he started in May but this guy can flat out hit. I don't see him slowing down.

But with that being said I just believe when it comes to hitting the best hitter is Ichiro. He could hit 20 home runs if he wanted too, but he knows that's not his game, his game is to get on base as a lead off hitter and that's what he does perfectly.