Philadelphia Phillies 1st Baseman Ryan Howard is Quietly Having a Great Season
He is a National League first baseman.
He is a former Rookie of the Year.
He hits for a solid average with power to all fields.
His teammates and opponents regularly give testimony to their awe of watching him play.
He is an All-Star.
Who is he?
Okay, here’s another clue.
He’s left-handed.
Until the last clue, many fans would pick St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols, the reigning NL MVP.
Then there was one: the Philadelphia Phillies’ Ryan Howard. A reminder: the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder, although 26 years old, still is in his first full season in the majors.
What’s happening is Howard, right before our eyes, is blossoming into baseball’s next great power hitter.
“Believe it,” teammate Bobby Abreu said.
Howard, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, was about 2.5 million votes behind starting first baseman Albert Pujols, who led all voters with almost 3.5 million votes. Four players separated Howard from the Cardinals’ Pujols in the fan voting but Howard was right behind Pujols in the players’ balloting, and that’s how he made the team. On his personal highlights list, Howard put the all-star selection on a par with his rookie of the year award.
“It’s definitely in the top three,” he said, laughing. “I’m not sure what the other two are, but it’s exciting. I’m going to holler at everybody and try to pick some guys’ brains. It’s nice to be recognized by the guys around the league.”
He certainly has their notice.
“He can hit, man,” Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. “He’s strong. He pulls the ball. He hits the ball the other way. He has a great idea at the plate. He’s fun to watch when he’s not playing us.”
“What a treat for baseball to see that guy just swinging the bat,” Yankees center fielder Johnny Damon said. “That kid’s special.”
Howard has quickly made fans forget the popular Jim Thome, who hit 89 homers in his first two seasons with the Phillies before injuries forced him out of the lineup most of last year. During the first half of last season, Howard was playing at Class AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre. He had just 28 major league at-bats before he was recalled July 1 to replace the injured Thome. Despite playing just 88 games, Howard finished the season with a .288 batting average, 22 homers and 63 RBIs to win the NL Rookie of the Year Award. He hit nine of those homers in September, setting a major-league record for rookies in that month and proving he can thrive under the pressure of a pennant race.
But Howard was not guaranteed the job as the everyday first baseman until Philadelphia traded Thome to the Chicago White Sox in the offseason. The Phillies thought so highly of Howard they agreed to give the White Sox $22 million as part of the deal for Thome, whose fast start helped him to lead the American League at the halfway point in homers with 27, and made the All-Star team. There was some concern about how he would respond to the pressure. Sophomore Slump?
“It’s about playing your game and not worrying about people talking about a sophomore jinx,” Howard said.
Howard’s actions speak louder than words. Through the halfway point, Howard has hit a major league-leading 28 home runs and a 3rd best 69 RBIs. If he keeps it up, Howard could have one of the best offensive seasons in Phillies history, potentially erasing Hall-of-Famer Mike Schmidt’s single-season Phillies record for homers. Schmidt whacked 48 in the Phils’ 1980 championship season, but Howard is on pace to blow that mark away with 56. He also has a realistic shot to become just the fourth Phillie since 1900 to drive in 140 runs in a season. Chuck Klein, who owns the club record with 170 in a season, has two of the three seasons of 140 or more RBIs and no Phillie has reached that milestone since 1932. Earlier this season he became the fastest Phillie to reach 60 RBIs – he did it in 71 games – since Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt did it in 70 games in 1981.
In addition, Howard set a major league record for fewest games needed to reach 25 home runs by a player in his sophomore season. Three other players got to 25 before the 80th game of their sophomore season. Two, Joe DiMaggio and Eddie Mathews, are in the Hall of Fame. Howard belted 49 homers in the first 176 games of his career, a pace not bettered since Mark McGwire hit 55 in his first 176 games for Oakland.
From July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, Howard-ranked third among major leaguers with 48 homers and fourth in RBIs with 130. And he’s only getting started.
“He’ll get better,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “He’s improved every year I’ve been around him. He’s a good hitter now, but he has a chance to be very special.”
Yankees Manager Joe Torre agrees.
“This kid is pretty special,” Torre said after Howard had a monster game, featuring two homers, a triple, and all seven RBIs in a 9-7 loss to New York. “He moves pretty good for a big guy. I think he’s got tremendous upside. He reminded us of David Ortiz.”
One of those homers was a mammoth blast. The tape-measure rocket soared off Ryan Howard’s bat and kept going until it finally landed in the third deck in right field, leaving teammates, opponents and fans in awe.
No player had hit a ball that far in the three-year history of Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park – not even in batting practice, when pitchers routinely serve up long shots. One day later, a white “H” was painted where Howard’s towering 461-foot homer reached: Section 304, Row 1, Seat 8. Howard needed more than just a look from the field, so before the Phils and Yanks series finale, he hiked up to the third level and squinted down to see home plate off in the distance.
“It’s high, pretty high,” Howard, struggling for words, summed up his visit to the cheap seats. “It was a good shot.” Had the baseball not had a crash-landing, this probably would have been a 500-foot homer.
As long as it was, that homer wasn’t even Howard’s longest this season; he smashed on over the center field batter’s eye and onto Ashburn Alley’s Memory Lane on April 23 against Florida’s Sergio Mitre, a Citzens Bank Park record 496-foot tee shot.
The Phillies say Howard hasn’t let his quick success affect his ego.
“You can tell him something here in the dugout and he’ll go out there and try it,” Manuel said. “That’s a very good part about him.”
“You want to be a complete hitter,” Howard said. “You want to be one of those guys who can make adjustments. It’s not just about power. You want to be able to be one of those guys who puts balls in play.”
Former major league outfielder Milt Thompson, now the Phillies’ hitting coach, said, “When he takes batting practice, he just tries to hit the ball over to places. It’s not pretty. If you watch him take batting practice, you’re not awed.”
Howard hits many of his home runs last year to left field, the opposite field. Manuel said. “When he first came up, I thought you might be able to get him hard and high. But he’s proving that wrong. He’s starting to get to those balls, man. He’s putting some weight on those balls.”
Manuel marvels at how much power his first baseman can get with a short, late swing; a swing that meets the ball almost behind his body and not out in front. He also marvels at how, in only his second season, he relishes batting with the game on the line.
“His opposite-field power is like Thome’s,” Manuel said. “But this guy might have [Thome] beat. He can produce enough bat speed in a short length of taking the bat to the ball. He can hit it out of left field not only in [homer-friendly Citizens Bank Park], but in Washington D.C.,” which has spacious RFK Stadium.
“He’s not doing what he’s doing for no reason,” said Yankees Pitcher Mike Mussina, who served up Howard’s two homers. “He uses the whole field. He drives the ball out from pole to pole.”
His awe-inspiring power has also won him a slot in the Home Run Derby.
“I look at it the same way a basketball player would look at taking part in the slam dunk contest,” Howard said. “It would be cool to take part in it.”
“The key in my mind is to keep the same stroke as much as possible,” Howard said. “You don’t want to try and pull it too much or to start just swinging without a purpose. You want to make sure every stroke is the same so you don’t get into any bad habits.”
Who is Ryan Howard?
If you don’t know, you will soon.
