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Kansas City Royals: Top Twenty Hitters In Team History

By John Viril

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Nov 1, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; Kansas City Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer (35) scores the tying run past New York Mets catcher Travis d

15. Eric Hosmer

Soon to be 26, and five years into his KC Royals career, Eric Hosmer has already earned a place among the franchise’s best hitters.

Eric Hosmer’s career .280/.336/.427 triple slash in nice. He’s compiled a career OPS+ of 108 (8% above a league average hitter), with 77 home runs and 151 doubles in five seasons. Yet, he’s accomplished more as a defensive player than with his bat. Hosmer has won three consecutive gold gloves at first base.

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    • So, one might ask, how does he rate number 15 in our list?

    The short answer is that Eric Hosmer has been freaking ridiculous in the post season. The overall slash line is actually significantly more modest than his regular season line at .276/.333/.398 with 3 home runs in 31 post-season games. But what that line doesn’t tell you is the flurry of clutch hits that he’s delivered for the KC Royals in back-to-back World Series runs in 2014-15.

    Eric Hosmer’s extra-inning triple in KC’s four-run comeback against the A’s in the 2014 A.L. Wild Card game set him up to score the tying run at 8-8, after Oakland had seized a one-run lead the top of the 12th inning. It was Hosmer’s two-run home run that sealed Kansas City’s Game 4 win over Houston in the ALDS, which was their SECOND post eighth-inning comeback in an elimination game. Eric Hosmer also doubled in KC’s first run in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series to cut the Met’s lead to 2-1.

    Then came his mad dash for home that sent the game to extra innings, and set up the KC Royals to clinch the franchise’s second title.

    In Kansas CIty’s mad 2015 playoff run, Hosmer hit .036 with the bases empty and hit .344 with runners on base. In 31 playoff games spread over two seasons, Hosmer has set the franchise record for post-season RBI’s with 29. He broke the team record set by an obscure guy named George Brett (23), except Brett needed 43 games to accumulate that total along with a career post-season OPS of 1.023.

    Oh, and Eric Hosmer drove in more runs than any player in baesball history through his first 28 playoff games, except for Lou Gehrig.

    Yeah, Eric deserves a place on the list. And the KC Royals control him for at least two more seasons.

    Next: Do You Know Bo?

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