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Torii Hunter, 2009
Stats: .299/.366/.508/.873, 22 HR, 90 RBI, 135 H, 74 R, 26 2B, 128 OPS+, 119 G
Awards: All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger
Baseball Reference WAR: 5.3
FanGraphs WAR: 3.8
Combined WAR: 4.55
Torii Hunter spent five seasons with the Angels. Today, we’ll be looking back at arguably his best campaign with the Angels, his 2009 season.
Though Hunter appeared in only 119 games, he still took home a bunch of hardware. Not only was he named to the All-Star team, he also won a Gold Glove Award and a Silver Slugger. This would be Hunter’s final Gold Glove, ending a streak of nine consecutive years in which he won the award. Surprisingly, it was also the first time he ever won a Silver Slugger.
Entering the All-Star break, Hunter was playing some of the best baseball of his career. Through 77 games, he was hitting .305/.380/.558/.938. He had 17 homers and 65 RBI. Of course he likely couldn’t have kept up that pace, but Hunter was on pace for a season with at least 35 homers and 140 homers. It’s a shame he missed more than 40 games.
Hunter wasn’t awful when he came back from injury, as he still hit .289 with an OPS of .762. It definitely impacted his power though, as he hit only five homers and drove in 25 runs during those final 42 games.
Had Hunter had played 150 games, he likely would have had statistically his best season of his career. He finished with the best on-base percentage and OPS of his career, and likely would have finished top five in most offensive categories too.