Will hamilton break the home run record?

[jayviabay]

It's still early, but Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton is on a tear home run king Barry Bonds would be proud of.

Hamilton's former teammate CJ Wilson, the lefthander now pitching for the Los Angeles Angels, got a taste of Hamilton's prowess over the weekend.

Actually, you could say Wilson got the best of his former mate on Saturday as he held the freakish Hamilton to just a 1 of 3 afternoon. The '1,' of course, was a homer, and a big one at that. The blast to right field tied the game at two in the sixth inning.

[REWIND: Hamilton joins Mays in four-homer club]

So, is it time for Barry Bonds to be concerned about his single-season home run record of 73 being broken? After 33 games in Bonds' record-setting season of 2001, the San Francisco slugger had 15 homers. Through the same number of games this year, Josh Hamilton has 18, to go along with a .400 average and 44 RBI. Triple Crown, anyone?

 

[guitarmy21b]

Doubt it. To put things in perspective, he STILL needs 56 more home runs, which is 13 more than ANYONE had last year...and he has to do it in under 130 games. If he can stay healthy(which he never has) I think he can hit 50+ for the year and possibly take home the triple crown. He hit .355 in 2010 so we know he's definitely capable of keeping the average up there.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

It would be a feat, but I don't see him maintianing his current pace as the summer moves on. He has a little wiggle room though. Obviously health is key. What is his career BA?

 

[guitarmy21b]

It would be a feat, but I don't see him maintianing his current pace as the summer moves on. He has a little wiggle room though. Obviously health is key. What is his career BA?

.313, but that average is brought down significantly by his 09 season, which was a really bad year for him because he was hurt and missed almost half the season. His only weaknesses as a hitter is he swings at a lot of first pitches, balls outside the strike zone, and rarely ever takes walks. He has some of the quickest hands and best swing I've ever seen though. He's also hitting much better during day games this year, which was his downfall last year. He's seeing the ball much better. I expect the great numbers to continue, but 73 homers? Highly unlikely. It's a question better asked at the AS break.