Sano swings for the fences

Hillsborough rookie Miguel Sano is having a sensational season and has an outside chance at matching a DMBL record, if not put himself in historic if dubious company.


 Sano leads the league in strikeouts (226) with a healthy lead over Allentown's Giancarlo Stanton (199). There may not be any records that fall this year but it seems like Sano will give the single-season strikeout mark a good run. At a minimum, he's on pace to eclipse some MicroLeague levels of strikeouts. 

The most strikeouts in a season currently are (more or less):

1. 357, Rob Deer, WAI (1993)
2. 269, Jack Cust, NWK, (2009)
3. 257, Pedro Munoz, NOR (1996)
4. 253, Jack Cust, NWK (2008)
5. 251, Mo Vaughn, SAC (1996)
6. 244, Adam Dunn, PHI (2005)
7. 239, Mike Stanley, AUS (1996)
8. 235, Mark Reynolds, LIV (2012)
9. 228, Ryan Howard, HIL (2008)
10. 225, Wily Mo Pena, MAR (2005)

(MicroLeague in italics)

Heading into tonight's game, Sano already has cracked that top 10 with 226 strikeouts through 141 games -- an average of 1.6 per game. At his current pace, Sano is all but certain to knock Vaughn from the top five and finish the year with just about 260 strikeouts. That would be third all-time and the second-highest total in the modern DMBL era (1997-current) and more than anyone but Cust.

Lest you think the free-swinging Sano is having a poor season; he is not. The massive 6'5" beast has been a mainstay at DH for Hillsborough and could be running away with the Listach Award. He also could make an argument for the Mitchell Award as the Hitmen as they chase San Francisco for the Drabek Division, now just 2 1/2 games back with 21 to play.

Sano leads all rookies in most batting categories and among the top 10 in the league. With 21 games remaining, he has:

• 34 home runs (4th in the league)
• 88 RBI (9th)
• 91 runs (5th)
• .369 OBP (3rd)
• 516 SLG (6th)
• 89 walks (4th)
• 7.0 runs created per 27 outs (5th)