Photo Credit: Scott Paulus/Brewers
It’s already been an interesting 2018 season for Ryan Braun. He’s debuted at a new position, settled into a part-time role, then been needed back at his old position full-time. He’s gone 0-for-4 on three occasions (including Sunday) but he’s also hit two game-winning home runs. Despite sitting out two games he’s driven in about 20% of the Brewers’ runs in 2018. And, to top all that off, he’s closing in on a milestone.
Braun needs five more runs batted in to become the 285th player in MLB history, the ninth active player and just the second Brewer with 1,000 in their careers (Robin Yount had 1,406). The RBI is a flawed statistic for an array of reasons, but accumulating that many is still an impressive feat. Since Braun debuted in 2007 only five players have driven in more runs than he has (before Sunday’s games):
- Miguel Cabrera: 1,217
- Albert Pujols: 1,163
- Adrian Gonzalez: 1,071
- Robinson Cano: 1,046
- David Ortiz: 1,005
So what does 1,000 RBI mean for Braun? There are a few notable takeaways:
He’s been around a long time.
Braun will likely play in his 1,500th MLB game this season, but his MLB tenure will still be one of the shortest among players who reached 1,000 RBI. Among players who debuted since 1960 only Cecil Fielder (1,008 RBI in 1,470 games) reached 1,000 in a career shorter than Braun’s.
Going all the way back to the franchise’s inaugural season as the Seattle Pilots, if you pick a random game in 50 years of Brewers history there’s about a 19% chance Braun played in it. There’s about a 7.5% chance he drove in a run in it.
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He’s had a lot of opportunities, but not more than usual.
Runs batted in are, at least partially, a statistic of opportunity. Braun would not have driven in so many runs if batters ahead of him hadn’t gotten on base, and he’s come to the plate with 3,820 men on in his 11+ MLB seasons. It would make sense that he would’ve accumulated a lot of opportunities during more than a decade in the middle of the Brewers’ batting order, but Baseball Reference says players with Braun’s assortment of plate appearances across those years would have seen an average of 3,815 baserunners. Braun is roughly in line with the average.
The player Braun has driven in most often is himself, of course: He’s crossed the plate on 304 of his own home runs. He also brought Rickie Weeks home on 111 different occasions, easily more than any other teammate. He drove in Corey Hart 62 times and Craig Counsell, now his manager, on 35 plays.
He’s taken advantage of those opportunities.
Again, using Baseball Reference’s estimates, the average MLB player with Braun’s plate appearances spread across his seasons would have accumulated around 692 RBI. Braun has topped that total by about 40%. During his MVP season in 2011 Braun drove in 111 runs despite having just 378 players on base for his plate appearances. B-Ref estimates an average MLB player would have driven in just 67 runs given those opportunities.
Perhaps not surprisingly, a large majority of Braun’s offensive output has come in victories. Braun has 681 RBI in Brewers wins in his career and 314 in losses. Even with Sunday’s loss, the Brewers are 723-710 with Braun in the starting lineup since 2007 and 174-185 without him.
Barring an injury, massive slump or a very sudden rekindling of previously-denied trade rumors involving the Dodgers, Ryan Braun will carve out yet another niche in baseball history as a Brewer within the next week or two. Hopefully when it happens it will provide a notable opportunity to look back at how significant his career has been.
