Total bases record single season

Aaron Judge could finish the 2022 season with a big number on his stat sheet that we haven't seen in more than 20 years, and something that has never been done in the post-steroid era.

No, not 60 homers, but 400 total bases.

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Total bases isn't usually seen as a sexy stat, but it probably should be because it tells us a lot about a player's offensive value. And Aaron Judge certainly has provided a ton of offensive value in an MVP-worthy 2022 season.

A reminder of how total bases is calculated: It's Singles + 2x Doubles + 3x Triples + 4x Home Runs. It doesn't account for walks, hit by pitch or any other way of reaching base. It's an often overlooked and undervalued statistic in casual baseball conversations, but it's a key component when assessing a player's contributions. 

A high number of total bases tells us that a player is not just good at reaching base via hits, but at collecting extra-base hits — and usually a lot of them. That's been the story of Judge's 2022 season.

Entering play Wednesday, Judge sits at 330 total bases with 27 games remaining. The breakdown of his hits so far: 146 total hits — 54 homers, 22 doubles and 70 singles. Assuming he avoids injury and maintains something close to his current pace, Judge could reach 400 total bases during the last week of the season. But will he? Well, he's had plenty of practice.

Judge has spent most of the season in overlapping 27-game spans in which he got 70 or more total bases. And sometimes, he's gotten a lot more. From July 6 to Aug. 8, Judge accumulated 90 total bases. From May 17 to June 8, he got 78. So getting 70 more by Oct. 5 seems plenty doable.

It's not the kind of chase that gets fans excited, but it would be a noteworthy and historic accomplishment.

No player has reached 400 total bases since Sammy Sosa (425), Luis Gonzalez (419), Barry Bonds (411) and Todd Helton (402) each did it in 2001. The closest anyone has come since is Albert Pujols' 394 in 2003. The last time it happened clear of the steroid era was all the way back in 1978, when Jim Rice had 406.

The single-season record for total bases is Babe Ruth's 457 in 1921, while the all-time leader in total bases is Hank Aaron with 6,856, though, oddly, Aaron had just one season of 400 total bases (1959).

Judge's career-high in total bases is 340, set in his 2017 AL Rookie of the Year campaign, when he clubbed 52 homers. His next-highest total was last season's 299. His final total in 2022 will almost certainly leave those numbers in the dust.

As one might imagine, Judge's total bases this season have been fueled by the long ball. But his surge in dingers has had some fuel of its own.

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Judge's average exit velocity this season is nearly 96 mph, the highest mark in baseball. His hard-hit rate is nearly 62 percent, his highest ever. His average launch angle is nearly 15 degrees, his highest in a full season since 2017, and his barrel rate is nearly 27 percent, also a career high. Add it all together and that's a formula for a lot of missiles, dingers and gappers — the main ingredients for several hundred total bases.

While Judge's chase for 60 or more homers will get all the buzz, don't sleep on the significance of 400 total bases. Both are hugely impressive numbers, especially in the context of the era in which Judge plays.

The Chase for 400 won't drive TV ratings or fuel talk-radio debates, but it gives more evidence of the historic nature of what Judge has done in 2022, a season in which he elevated his game to a place not visited in a long time.

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The most total bases in a season is 457 by George Herman Babe Ruth (New York AL) in 1921.

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Comments below may relate to previous holders of this record.

1921 Babe Ruth accumulated 457 total bases.  The first man to cross the 400 threshold. 

The following year Rogers Hornsby became the second man with 450. 

In 1927 Babe Ruth broke through again with 417 but his teammate Lou Gehrig landed 447.

That statistic alone could cement the legacy of the 1927 Yankees. 

Two years later, Rogers Hornsby once again gathered 409 and Chuck Klein managed 405. 

The very next year 1930, Chuck Klein smokes 445 becoming the first man to have back-to-back seasons of 400 or more total bases. 

But the field is now getting crowded as Hack Wilson 423, Lou Gehrig 419, and Babe Herman 416 joined Chuck in accomplishing an almost impossible feat. 

Of the four men that toppled 400 TB or more, only Lou Gehrig repeated the feat in 1931 with 410. 

1932 Jimmie Foxx put up an astounding 438 TB, while Chuck Klein collected 420 to become the second man to do this three times. 

1933 Jimmie Foxx hangs 403 to become the third payer to do it back to back. 

1934 Lou Gehrig breaks through with 409. 

No one does it in 1935.

Hal Trosky joins in 1936 with 405 as so does Lou Gehrig for the fifth time with 403. 

1937 sees the phenom Joe DiMaggio tally 418 while Joe Medwick collected 406. 

Then the club remains air-tight for the next ELEVEN YEARS until 1948 when Stan the Man Musial racks up 429. 

If you thought the eleven-year wait was long…guess what? Another ELEVEN YEARS pass when Hammerin’ Hank Aaron got 400 on the nose.  He finished third in MVP that year. Apparently, the baseball writers did not fully comprehend why type of historical production they just witnessed. 

Getting 400 or more total bases now seems like a thing of the past.  As of 1959, it has only happened twice in the prior 22 years. 

And now it will be another NINETEEN YEARS before any player crashes the barrier. 

In 1978, Jim Rice's season for the ages gained 406 total bases. 

Once again the doors to this club remained closed for another NINETEEN YEARS until you take Larry Walker and put him in Colorado for 81 games. 

To put this group in perspective, in 1995 Albert Belle hit 52 Doubles and 50 Homers and fell one shy of 400.

In 1997, Larry’s 409 gets the call to the 400TB Hall.  Still, Larry was just the fourth man in the prior SIXTY YEARS to get into this club. 

McGwire in 1998 with 70 bombs didn’t even crack 390.  400 TB or more means you are putting up ming boggling numbers. 

As of 1998, Ruth is still on top of the heap for a full SEVENTY-SEVEN YEARS after the fact. The average life span in the USA is 78.54. 

McGwire may have hit 70 but Sosa tallied 416 TB and finds himself entrenched in what could be the most illustrious club of all time. 

No one does it in 1999

In 2000, another Rockie joins the fray. Todd Helton with 405!  

Then in 2001, a practical explosion, Sammy Sosa with a jaw-dropping 425 surpassing Hack Wilson’s total of 423 in 1930. Luis Gonzalez with 419, again another number not seen since Lou Gehrig in 1930, Barry Bonds with 411 on the strength of 73 homers, and Todd Helton manages 402. 

And here we are once again, all quiet on the western front.  

A full TWENTY YEARS has passed since anyone cracked 400 TB and the exploits of Mike Trout shine the light on this club. His career-high of 339 came back in 2015.