Jews are hitting HRs at twice the league rate

April 24, 2011 (Sunday)

JEWISH BASEBALL NEWS — There was another display of Maccabee Power in Major League Baseball yesterday (4/23/2011).

Four Jewish ballplayers — Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun, New York Mets 1B Ike Davis, Minnesota Twins 3B Danny Valencia, and Boston Red Sox 3B Kevin Youkilis — hit HRs, along with a combined 8 RBIs.

It’s no fluke. Through Saturday (4/23/2011), baseball’s six Jewish position players had hit a total of 23 HRs in 431 at-bats, or one in every 18.7 at-bats. By contrast, according to Jewish Baseball News calculations, non-Jewish players had a combined 526 HRs in 20,230 at-bats, or one in every 38.5 at-bats.

The comparison is ever-so-slightly skewed, because the non-Jewish totals include at-bats by pitchers, who typically are not HR hitters. Even so, it’s likely that Jewish position players are out-homering their non-Jewish counterparts roughly 2-to-1.

Leading the way for the Maccabees are Braun, who is tied for the National League lead with 7 HRs, and Kinsler, who has 5.

Several Jewish players are on a hot streak. Davis has homered in each of his last 3 games, Braun in 3 of his last 4, and Youkilis in 4 of his last 8.

The player with the least round-trippers is Sam Fuld, with one. But Fuld has nothing to be ashamed of. He leads the American League in stolen bases (10), ranks 4th in batting average (.365), and is tied for 2nd in triples (2),

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