Pete Outdoing His Best Devin Hester Impression

[We Got The Whole 9]

We all know Pete is an otherworldly defensive outfielder, making absurdly hard catches look easy. We also know that Kevin Kiermaier is the gold standard for value-provided in the Statcast era. He is the all-time leader in 5-star catches, accumulated over a 9-year span since 2015.

 

Devin Hester put up an astonishing 11 return TDs in his first 2 seasons, not including the Super Bowl (or another in which a BS penalty got called on the Bears and cost him another TD) and setting the career record was basically an inevitability after that.

 

Well PCA is already tied with Kiermaier for career 5-star catches, in 2.5 seasons! Hester's legendary feat is really the only achievement among the 4 major sports I can think of that comes close to this feat, without going back to Babe Ruth out-homering the entire league by himself. He's setting an insurmountable bar. We are so blessed to have him. Cherish this dude and all the foibles that might come with his game. 

 

 

[CubinNY]

He's got swagger, too!

[Old Style]

Pete had a decent June. 

[Derwood]

16 minutes ago, Old Style said:

Pete had a decent June. 

The problem is that graphic is 10 games out of date.

 

[sneakypower]

1 hour ago, Old Style said:

Pete had a decent June. 

i touched on this in one of the game threads but his June basically broke through the barriers of what is possible for hitter value

he finished with 3.1 fWAR, a total that's only been reached this century by

• Sept. '00 Richard Hidalgo: 3.2 fWAR
• May '08 Lance Berkman: 3.1

that's it, that's the end of the list.. the only others to even top 2.8 are

• Aug. '02 Barry Bonds: 3.0
• Aug. '23 Mookie Betts: 2.9
• Sept. '05 Randy Winn: 2.9

so just to recap he surpassed the highs of what Barry Bonds could even reach in his most head-swollen days

Edited July 1 by sneakypower

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Old Style said:

Pete had a decent June. 

He beat 1998 Sosa?

[sneakypower]

i actually looked that one up too and June '98 Sosa had 1.173 OPS, he sold out for power so much that month and had a below-average OBP (.331) that month and a surprisingly unremarkable 1.6 WAR

[We Got The Whole 9]

6 hours ago, sneakypower said:

i touched on this in one of the game threads but his June basically broke through the barriers of what is possible for hitter value

he finished with 3.1 fWAR, a total that's only been reached this century by

• Sept. '00 Richard Hidalgo: 3.2 fWAR
• May '08 Lance Berkman: 3.1

that's it, that's the end of the list.. the only others to even top 2.8 are

• Aug. '02 Barry Bonds: 3.0
• Aug. '23 Mookie Betts: 2.9
• Sept. '05 Randy Winn: 2.9

so just to recap he surpassed the highs of what Barry Bonds could even reach in his most head-swollen days

Jesus, Richard Hidalgo, how the horsefeathers did he manage that? 

[mul21]

16 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Jesus, Richard Hidalgo, how the horsefeathers did he manage that? 

[BigSlick]

8 hours ago, sneakypower said:

i touched on this in one of the game threads but his June basically broke through the barriers of what is possible for hitter value

he finished with 3.1 fWAR, a total that's only been reached this century by

• Sept. '00 Richard Hidalgo: 3.2 fWAR
• May '08 Lance Berkman: 3.1

that's it, that's the end of the list.. the only others to even top 2.8 are

• Aug. '02 Barry Bonds: 3.0
• Aug. '23 Mookie Betts: 2.9
• Sept. '05 Randy Winn: 2.9

so just to recap he surpassed the highs of what Barry Bonds could even reach in his most head-swollen days

I gotta tell you, I have zero memory of this Randy Winn fella, and I apparently watched baseball throughout his entire career 

Career 99 OPS+. He is like the platonic ideal of an Average Outfielder. 

Edited Wednesday at 10:11 PM by BigSlick

[Bobson Dugnutt]

3 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

I gotta tell you, I have zero memory of this Randy Winn fella, and I apparently watched baseball throughout his entire career 

Career 99 OPS+. He is like the platonic ideal of an Average Outfielder. 

He was the player that the Rays traded for Lou Piniella!

[Stratos]

15 hours ago, sneakypower said:

i actually looked that one up too and June '98 Sosa had 1.173 OPS, he sold out for power so much that month and had a below-average OBP (.331) that month and a surprisingly unremarkable 1.6 WAR

Oh yes, back when replacement players hit 30 bombs lol

[We Got The Whole 9]

Pete is gonna hit 6 war before BWJ hits 5. 

 

5.3 to 4.6 right now. BWJ has been stagnating slightly.

[Jason Ross]

6 hours ago, Stratos said:

Oh yes, back when replacement players hit 30 bombs lol

Salvador Perez was worth .5 fWAR last year and hit 30 bombs. Still happens today.

[sneakypower]

On 7/1/2026 at 10:07 AM, sneakypower said:

i touched on this in one of the game threads but his June basically broke through the barriers of what is possible for hitter value

he finished with 3.1 fWAR, a total that's only been reached this century by

• Sept. '00 Richard Hidalgo: 3.2 fWAR
• May '08 Lance Berkman: 3.1

that's it, that's the end of the list.. the only others to even top 2.8 are

• Aug. '02 Barry Bonds: 3.0
• Aug. '23 Mookie Betts: 2.9
• Sept. '05 Randy Winn: 2.9

so just to recap he surpassed the highs of what Barry Bonds could even reach in his most head-swollen days

found somebody on reddit who had scanned back all the way to 1974 and this was the full list of 3+ WAR months they could find

Quote

All 3.0+ fWAR months I can find 1974-Present (not including pitchers):

Sep/Oct 1992 - Barry Bonds - 3.4 fWAR

Sep/Oct 2000 - Richard Hidalgo - 3.2

Sep/Oct 2001 - Barry Bonds - 3.1

May 2008 - Lance Berkman - 3.1

August 2002 - Barry Bonds - 3.0

Sept/Oct 2005 - Randy Winn - 3.0

August 1976 - Joe Morgan - 3.0

including the last couple days of May, Pete's at 3.7 fWAR his last 29 GP.. i've only been able to find one 30 GP stretch that beats this:

• in fall 1992, from 8/25-9/26, Barry Bonds reached 3.8 fWAR in a 30 GP stretch (sporting a .600 wOBA)
• HM: in summer 2024, from 5/15-6/16, Aaron Judge reached 3.4 fWAR in a 30 GP stretch (.393/.504/.972)

put another way, i'd argue that this is the closest to the "build the perfect player" exercise that we've ever seen aside from Shohei, perhaps; leading MLB in AVG, OBP, SLG, Def, .. 3rd in SB, t-5th in BsR

the heat map demonstrates this fairly well, too

Edited Thursday at 05:23 PM by sneakypower

[Bobson Dugnutt]

10 minutes ago, sneakypower said:

put another way, i'd argue that this is the closest to the "build the perfect player" exercise that we've ever seen aside from Shohei

[We Got The Whole 9]

I know I made this thread with the intent of highlighting his absurd defensive achievements but the offense has been simply incredible since 4/28:

 

315/415/630 over 270 PA. He's currently top 15 in OBP for the season. If he keeps up some semblance of what he's done over the last 2 months he will probably finish in the top 10. The odds on that before the season (or at the start of May) were probably 5 million to 1. 

[Rob]

12 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

The odds on that before the season (or at the start of May) were probably 5 million to 1. 

Nah. With his speed and power, PCA always had a chance to BABIP his way to crazy numbers. And I think that's part of this. But that's not to take away from the plate discipline improvements -- which appear to be real. He's making much better swing decisions.

[sneakypower]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

I know I made this thread with the intent of highlighting his absurd defensive achievements but the offense has been simply incredible since 4/28:

 

315/415/630 over 270 PA. He's currently top 15 in OBP for the season. If he keeps up some semblance of what he's done over the last 2 months he will probably finish in the top 10. The odds on that before the season (or at the start of May) were probably 5 million to 1. 

since 5/23

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

never in a million years would I have believed pete could sustain a 13 percent walk rate for 6 weeks

[Derwood]

2 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

never in a million years would I have believed pete could sustain a 13 percent walk rate for 6 weeks

He can than Alex "pop up to 3rd" Bregman for all those free passes

[PeanutPunch33]

He's prime Bryce Harper.. except he can steal 40 bags for you, play historically great defense, and has a more vertical/beautiful bat flip 

[Rcal10]

10 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

He's prime Bryce Harper.. except he can steal 40 bags for you, play historically great defense, and has a more vertical/beautiful bat flip 

Which means he is nothing like Harper. Honestly I don’t know who he can be compared to. If he actually keeps his average in the .275 level or higher, walks 10% of the time and is a 30/30 guy along with GG defense I can’t think of a guy like him. 
Maybe Bobby Bonds? He hit 30+ homers, stole 30+ bases, hit around that .275 mark, walked a fair amount and won several GG. Seems to have had a similar game as PCA is showing. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Rcal10

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

I still think the best comp is Byron Buxton if he wasn't always hurt

[Rcal10]

16 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

I still think the best comp is Byron Buxton if he wasn't always hurt

Buxton is a good comp, except really hard to determine exactly who he would be since he is always hurt. He has never come close to 30/30.
Bonds has similar numbers to what I hope PCA will be. He stuck out a fair amount, but also walked. And was a 30/30 guy with a career BA right around .270. Also won a few GG. Solid slugging numbers as well. Prime Bonds was a 6 WAR player. Those numbers now would result in an even higher WAR. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Rcal10