Brandon Crawford the best shortstop in baseball no one ever talks about.
It makes sense. He plays on the west coast for a San Francisco Giants team that never does anything flashy but wins a lot of games. And they seem to do it with a lot of players who aren't superstars but get things done.
On Monday night, Crawford got things done, becoming the first player in more than 40 years to collect seven hits in a game.
From 1913, only four other players had collected seven hits in a single game, with Crawford falling short of the all-time record, held by the immortal Johnny Burnett in 1932
| Player | Year | Team | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnny Burnett | 1932 | Cleveland | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Brandon Crawford | 2016 | San Francisco | 8 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rennie Stennett | 1975 | Pittsburgh | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Cesar Gutierrez | 1970 | Detroit | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rocky Colavito | 1962 | Detroit | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Yeah, sure, you give a guy 11 plate appearances, maybe there's a chance he can rack up nine hits, but 'ol Crawford did his seven-hit magic in only eight trips to the dish. The last National League player to get seven hits in a game before Crawford was Pittsburgh's Rennie Stennett, who went 7-for-7 in the Pirates' 22-0 shellacking of the Chicago Cubs in 1975.
Interestingly, none of the five players listed above who amassed seven hits in a game managed a home run with any of their hits. But even without a home run, a seven-hit game does wonders for the stat line.
Crawford's average went from .265 to .278, and his on-base percentage jumped from .334 to .344. Not bad for one night's work. Not only that, Crawford's seventh hit was an RBI single that wound up accounting for the winning run in San Francisco's 8-7 win in 14 innings over the Miami Marlins.
One other note, while Crawford notched seven hits on his own, there were six teams who played Monday night who didn't have that many.
Crawford is one of the best shortstops in baseball, yet he doesn't get much recognition. However, heading into Monday night, Crawford was tied for fourth in fWAR among MLB shortstops at 4.0. Fangraphs has him listed as the best defensive shortstop in the game, and his wRC+ of 104, while not world-beating, is certainly decent.
Brandon Crawford made a lot of history on Monday night, but all it really did was cement his status as one of baseball's best players -- only now, you're hearing about him.