Ryan Howard
Howard's 58 home runs in 2006 made him just the second player ever to reach that mark in his first full season, capping one of the most explosive rookie campaigns in baseball history. The lefty slugger became the fastest player to 100 career homers, reaching the milestone in just 325 games.
The peak was spectacular but brief. Howard's swing-and-miss approach worked brilliantly when he was turning on fastballs, but his 26.4 percent career strikeout rate foreshadowed the steep decline that followed his MVP season. After 2011, injuries and shifting defensive strategies exposed his limitations.
That 2006 season remains a monument to pure power. Howard's 149 RBIs led the majors by 12, and his 1.084 OPS carried Philadelphia's offense. He proved that in the right circumstances, a one-dimensional slugger could still dominate baseball — even if only for a few years.
Career · Batting
13 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | PHI | 19 | 39 | 2 | 5 | .282 | .897 | 118 |
| 2005 | PHI | 88 | 312 | 22 | 63 | .288 | .924 | 123 |
| 2006 | PHI | 159 | 581 | 58 | 149 | .313 | 1.084 | 141 |
| 2007 | PHI | 144 | 529 | 47 | 136 | .268 | .976 | 129 |
| 2008 | PHI | 162 | 610 | 48 | 146 | .251 | .881 | 118 |
| 2009 | PHI | 160 | 616 | 45 | 141 | .279 | .931 | 124 |
| 2010 | PHI | 143 | 550 | 31 | 108 | .276 | .859 | 118 |
| 2011 | PHI | 152 | 557 | 33 | 116 | .253 | .835 | 116 |
| 2012 | PHI | 71 | 260 | 14 | 56 | .219 | .718 | 99 |
| 2013 | PHI | 80 | 286 | 11 | 43 | .266 | .784 | 110 |
| 2014 | PHI | 153 | 569 | 23 | 95 | .223 | .690 | 99 |
| 2015 | PHI | 129 | 467 | 23 | 77 | .229 | .720 | 100 |
| 2016 | PHI | 112 | 331 | 25 | 59 | .196 | .710 | 96 |
| Career | 1572 | 5707 | 382 | 1194 | .258 | — | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.