While my educational background precludes me from being excited about the dreaded 'small sample size,' I still garner a great deal of amusement from early season paces. With that in mind, I felt that a light-hearted post on some of the more interesting 'on-pace' numbers thus far would be fairly entertaining... for me, at least.
- Nick Johnson is on-pace for 194 BB, which would be the third most in a single-season (behind Barry Bonds with 232 and... Barry Bonds with 198)
- Brett Gardner is on-pace for 86 SB. The last time any player stole 80-plus bases was 1988, when both Vince Coleman (81) and Rickey Henderson (93) surpassed the number
- Jorge Posada is on-pace for 212 H, which would be a record for a full-time catcher. Mike Piazza is the only catcher to collect over 200 H, with 201 in 1997
- CC Sabathia is on-pace to throw 292 IP and 22 CG, while collecting 248 K. That would be the most IP since 1985 (Bert Blyleven with 293.2 IP), the most CG since 1985 (Blyleven again with 23), and the most K by a LHP since 2004 (when both Randy Johnson and Johan Santana broke 260 K)
- Mariano Rivers is on-pace fore 65 SV - a major league record
And now for some non-Yankees:
- Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp are on-pace for 216 RBI apiece - a major league record
- Kemp is also on-pace for 216 R - a major league record
- Vernon Wells is on-pace for 71 HR
- Martin Prado is on-pace for 270 H
- Austin Jackson is on-pace for 258 K - a major league record
- Roy Halladay is on-pace for 302 K
- John Lannan is on-pace to allow 314 H
- Jake Peavy is on-pace to allow 152 BB
- Matt Capps is on-pace for 71 SV, a major league record
