Individual and Team-level Franchise Records Set in 2023

Issue #129

Every season there are at least some individual and franchise records that are tied or broken. 2023 was no different, with new hallmarks driven in part from current trends in the game, and others from some truly standout individual achievements.

I recently wrote an article titled The Impact of the 2023 Rule Changes on MLB Statistics in Historical Context. This looked at both the 2023 rule changes and, to some extent, contemporary statistical trends in the game more broadly. For instance, HR and strikeouts remain at or near all-time highs. Complete games by starting pitchers are of course at or near an all-time low. And as noted 2023 saw new records set for the fewest errors per game (0.52 per team per game) and accordingly the highest overall fielding percentage (.986) across the major leagues (though some might argue this has much to do with scorekeeper decisions as improved defensive play.)

Because of these trends, I wasn't surprised that a fair number of the franchise-level individual and team records set or tied in 2023 came in categories such as HR, strikeouts, and errors/fielding percentage. But there were many others as well, including some that would have been hard to predict at the outset of the season.

Before we get to all of those, here are the teams that—for the statistics I considered—didn't have any significant new records set or tied in 2023:

• Houston Astros

• Chicago Cubs

• Cleveland Guardians

• New York Mets

• Washington Nationals

• Pittsburgh Pirates

• Boston Red Sox

• Detroit Tigers

• Chicago White Sox

• New York Yankees

The Yankees came close to setting a new franchise record for futility, as their team batting average in 2023 was .227, a mark only better than the two strong pitching years of 1968 (.214) and 1967 (.225) being lower. On a more positive note, Gerrit Cole set a new Yankees franchise record with 257 strikeouts in 2022, while this year his 222 Ks tied him with David Cone's 222 in 1997 for 7th all-time.

Atlanta Braves

Although they once again were bumped in the playoffs, the regular season for the Atlanta Braves—particularly on the hitting side—was truly impressive. Here are the new franchise records set or tied:

• Individual Home Runs. Matt Olson slugged 54 HR, which was three more than Andruw Jones' 51 in 2005. Both Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews topped out at 47 each.

• Individual Plate Appearances. Hitting atop the powerful Braves lineup gave Ronald Acuna Jr 735 plate appearances, one more than Rafael Furcal's 2003 total of 734. With so much overall offense this year, the Braves also saw Matt Olson get 720 PA (6th) and Austin Riley get 715 (9th).

• Individual Runs. Ronald Acuna's 149 runs scored were the most for this franchise in the modern era, far ahead of Dale Murphy's 131 runs in 1983. There were four seasons from the 1890s with higher runs totals, led by Hugh Duffy's 160 runs in the insanely high-offense 1894 season.

• Individual RBI. Similarly, Matt Olson's 139 RBI surpassed Eddie Mathews' 135 total from 1953, and only trails Hugh Duffy's 145 RBI in 1894.

• Individual stolen bases. And ditto for Ronald Acuna Jr's 73 SB, which surpassed Otis Nixon's 72 SB in 1991. Acuna's thievery only trails old-timers King Kelly's 84 in 1887 and Billy Hamilton's 83 in 1896.

• Individual pitching strikeouts. Spencer Strider set the Braves modern era franchise record with 281 strikeouts, topping John Smoltz' 276 from 1996. Three pitchers from the 1880s had more strikeouts, but that was a time when starting pitchers had far more innings pitched.

• Team Home Runs and SLG. The 2023 Braves shattered their franchise HR record by clubbing 307 HR, vs. 249 by the 2019 Braves. Ditto for team SLG percentage, which came in at .501, compared with .484 in crazy 1894 season, and .483 in the shortened 2020.

Phillies

• Individual batter strikeouts. Kyle Schwarber had a very interesting season by hitting 47 HR and managing 104 RBI even with a sub-.200 batting average (.197). He also set a new Phillies franchise record with 215 strikeouts, topping his 200 total from 2022.

• Individual stolen base success rate. Trea Turner set a new Phillies standard by tying two others with a 100% SB success rate, but stealing more bases than they did. He swiped 30 bases in 2023 without being caught, while Chase Utley had 23 SB and 0 CS in 2009, and Roman Quinn had 12 SB with 0 CS in 2020.

Marlins

• Individual batting average. Luis Arraez became the first player to win the batting title in one league and then win it again the next year in another league. He was flirting with .400 for the first half of the season before settling down to a .354 mark to lead the NL, while also surpassing Hanley Ramirez's .342 average in 2009 as the all-time Marlins franchise leader.

• Team pitching strikeouts. The Marlins staff totalled 1,490 strikeouts in 2023, eclipsing their 1,437 Ks in 2022 and 1,381 Ks in 2021.

Brewers

• Team fielding percentage. The 2023 Brewers posted a .987 fielding percentage overall, one point better than the .986 they had in 1992.

Reds

• Team batter strikeouts. The Reds are a mostly young team right now, so not surprisingly their hitters struck out a lot in 2023: 1,500 times in all, surpassing their 2019 total of 1,436 and 2022 total of 1,430.

Cardinals

• Team fielding percentage. The disappointing 2023 Cardinals had a few silver linings, with one being a .989 overall fielding percentage, which tied what they did in 2019 and 2022.

Dodgers

• Individual doubles. Freddie Freeman's 59 doubles shattered the club record of 52 by Johnny Frederick in 1929.

• Individual batter strikeouts. Rookie James Outman struck out 181 times, just a bit more than the 178 that Chris Taylor had in 2018.

• Team HR allowed. The Dodgers pitching staff allowed 200 HR in 2023, breaking the franchise record of 192 in 1999.

Diamondbacks

• Team stolen bases. Led by rookie Corbin Carroll, the D-Backs stole a franchise record 166 bases, well past the 137 they had in both 1999 and 2016. Carroll's 54 SB now ranks second all-time for the Diamondbacks, though significantly behind Tony Womack's 72 in 1999.

• Team fielding percentage and errors. One reason the Diamondbacks did surprisingly well this year was their defense. They posted a franchise record .990 fielding percentage, two points better than the .988 they had in 2013 and 2018. In terms of errors committed, that actually was a big difference: only 56 in 2023, vs. 75 in both 2013 and 2018.

Padres

• Individual walks. Juan Soto's 132 walks tied the 132 Jack Clark had in 1989.

• Team fielding percentage. The Padres posted a .988 mark, tying the .988 they had in 2010.

Giants

• Team fewest triples. Somehow the Giants only had 13 triples in 2023, the least the franchise has ever had -- even one fewer than the 14 they had in just 60 games played in 2020. Joc Pederson led the club with three this year, the only player with more than two triples.

• Team strikeouts by hitters. The Giants struckout 1,492 times in 2023, surpassing the 1,467 they had in 2018.

Rockies

It wasn't a good year for the Rockies, as all of the below are negative records tied or set.

• Individual strikeouts by hitters. Ryan McMahon's 198 strikeouts in 2023 surpassed the previous franchise record of 191 by Trevor Story in 2017.

• Team strikeouts by hitters. The Rockies struckout 1,543 times in 2023, surpassing the 1,503 they had in 2019.

• Team lowest batting average. In 2023 the Rockies tied (with 2021) their franchise low in batting average, at .249.

• Team lowest OBP. The Rockies did one better (worse!) by setting a new franchise record low with a .310 OBP. They almost set or tied lows in all three slash line categories, but their 2023 SLG of .405 tied their 2020 output and was at least better than the .398 SLG they had in 2022.

Not to be outdone on the downside, their pitching also wasn't very good in 2023, as their 5.67 team ERA was their second worst ever, with only the 6.01 ERA during the PED era in 1999 coming in worse.

Orioles

• Team strikeouts by pitchers. The Orioles in 2023 shattered their old franchise record for pitching strikeouts. They rung up 1,431 hitters in 2023, far more than the 1,248 they struck out in both 2016 and 2019. The Browns/Orioles franchise isn't one with much history of high-strikeout pitchers, as they've only had seven seasons of 200+ Ks: three by Mike Mussina, and one each by Dave McNally, Erik Bedard, and then Bobo Newsom and Rube Waddell from the Browns. So their team record this year came even with no single pitcher recording more than 168, which was Kyle Bradish's total to lead the staff.

Rays

• Individual batting average. Yandy Diaz not only took home the AL Batting Crown in 2023, but his .330 average also set a new Rays franchise record, surpassing Jason Bartlett's .320 mark from 2009. Diaz's .410 OBP in 2023 ranks second all-time for the Rays franchise, behind only the .411 OBP that Carlos Pena had in 2007.

• SB success rate. Taylor Walls had 22 SB and only 1 CS, a 95.65% success rate that tops the 93.94% rate that Desmond Jennings managed in 2012. Josh Lowe was also efficient on the bases in 2023, with 32 SB vs. only 3 CS which is a 91.43% success rate, third best in Rays history.

• Team runs scored. The Rays scored more runs this year than any other year in their history, notching 860 runs vs. the 857 they scored two years ago in 2021. Both of those totals are well ahead of their third best output, which was 803 runs in 2009.

• Team home runs. Similarly, the 230 HR they belted in 2023 was a bit more than the 228 they had in 2017 or the 222 in 2021.

• Team SLG. And ditto for SLG percentage with a .445 mark in 2023 compared to a previous high of .439 in 2009.

Blue Jays

• Team fielding percentage and errors. The 2023 Jays posted a .988 mark, tying the .988 they had in 2009. They committed only 71 errors in 2023, five less than in 2009.

• Team strikeouts by pitchers. The Blue Jays whiffed 1,528 batters in 2023, significantly more than the 1,468 they did two years earlier in 2021. Unlike the Orioles described above, the Blue Jays were led by four horsemen in Kevin Gausman (237), Chris Bassitt (186), José Berríos (184), and Yusei Kikuchi (181).

Twins

• Individual double plays grounded into. Ugh... Carlos Correa not only didn't have a great season after the long off-season saga, but he also set a new Twins franchise record with 30 double plays grounded into, surpassing the 28 Harmon Killebrew had in 1970 and the 28 Trevor Plouffe tied him with in 2015.

• Team strikeouts by hitters. The Twins absolutely destroyed their team record for strikeouts by hitters by whiffing a whopping 1,654 times in 2023, far more than the 1,430 they had in 2013 and the 1,426 in 2016. How did they win a division this year? Oh right, the AL Central.

• Team fielding percentage and errors. I guess good defense helped. Setting aside the short 2020 season, 2023 gave us the Twins best team fielding percentage at .988 and fewest errors with only 66 (8 fewer than the 74 they had in 2002).

• Team strikeouts by pitchers. The Twins whiffed far more batters in 2023 than ever before, posting 1,560 Ks vs. a former records of 1,463 in 2019 and 1,377 in 2018.

Royals

• Individual HR allowed by a pitcher. In 2023 Jordan Lyles posted a 6-17 record with a 6.28 ERA across 31 starts, and along the way set a new Royals record by giving up 39 dingers, one more than Darrell May's 38 in 2004.

• Team lowest OBP. The Royals managed only a .303 OBP in 2023, a bit lower than their previous low mark of .305 in 2018.

Rangers

• Individual plate appearances. Like Acuna Jr. for the Braves, sitting atop the very productive Rangers lineup gave Marcus Semien lots of chances. His 753 PAs are a franchise record, surpassing the 748 Michael Young had in 2006.

• Team fielding percentage and errors. Offense was the only plus for the Rangers in 2023, as they only committed 57 errors, significantly lower than the previous franchise record of 83 from 2021 (excluding the 2020 and 1981 shortened seasons). As a result, their fielding percentage was .990, a full four points higher than the .986 they had in 2021, 2013, 2012, and 1996.

Mariners

• Individual HBP. Ty France gets hit by pitch a lot. He set a franchise record with 27 HBP in 2021, then had 21 the following year, before significantly topping himself with an AL-leading 34 HBP in 2023.

• Individual BB/9IP for starters. George Kirby is very stingy as a hurler, with his 0.897 walks per 9 innings pitched setting a new standard for Mariners starting pitchers, supplanting Marco Gonzalez' 0.904 mark in the short 2020 season and Hisashi Iwakuma's 1.056 in 2014.

• Individual strikeouts by hitters. The Mariners had two hitters take over the top spots on their franchise list for strikeouts. Eugenio Suárez had 214 K and Teoscar Hernández had 211, both significantly more than Suárez' 196 in 2022, which itself was 20 more than Mike Cameron's 176 in 2002.

• Team strikeouts by hitters. The Mariners' 1,603 strikeouts topped their recent highs from the past few years, including the previous franchise record of 1,581 in 2019.

• Team strikeouts by pitchers. The Mariners' pitchers tallied 1,459 Ks, setting a new franchise record by topping the 1,391 they had the year before in 2022.

Angels

• Individual SLG. Not much went well for the Angels in 2023, but Shohei Ohtani posted a .654 SLG, higher than any of Mike Trout's great seasons, including his 2019 campaign when he slugged .645.

Athletics

• Team strikeouts by hitters. The sad A's in 2023 set a new franchise standard for strikeouts by their hitters, but just barely as their 1,496 Ks was only a few more than the 1,491 they had 2017.

All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites.

Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.