Friday, June 20, 2008

Russell muscles up with greatness

Brewers third baseman Russell Branyan is defying his own career statistics, which say he's not very good. Branyan hit his 10th home run of the season on Thursday -- his 10th in just 62 at bats. That's a home run every 6.2 at bats, which means he is now hitting homers more frequently than Barry Bonds did in his record-breaking season of 2001. Bonds homered once every 6.5 at bats on his way to 73 home runs.

Branyan, who started the year in the minors, missed almost the entire the first couple months of the Major League season. The Brewers have 90 games remaining. Branyan is averaging 3.1 AB per game since his call-up. If he somehow continues at this incredible home run rate, Branyan will hit 45 more long balls, leaving him with 55 by season's end and well short of Bonds' record.

For his career, Branyan has hit 131 home runs in 1,930 at bats -- just one homer every 14.7 at bats. If Branyan reverts to his average pace for hitting home runs, he'll end up with 29 home runs, which would still beat his career single-season best by nine.

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