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Augie Galan, 1944
Stats: .318/.426/.495/.922, 12 HR, 93 RBI, 174 H, 96 R, 43 2B, 161 OPS+, 101 BB
Awards: All-Star, MVP (29th in voting)
Baseball Reference WAR: 6.3
FanGraphs WAR: 6.0
Combined WAR: 6.15
We’ve talked about Augie Galan before for these series’, and it seems as if we always end up talking about the same thing. His ability to get on base.
Galan was a great hitter, as he hit .318 in 1944. He hit 12 homers and had 43 doubles, which was the second most in the league. However, Galan had arguably one of the best eyes in all of baseball. His on-base percentage was .426, which was the third best in the National League. Galan walked 101 times, which led all of baseball.
His season got off to a hot start and he closed his season on tear. Through May 6, Galan was hitting .360/.529/.420/.949. In 68 plate appearances, Galan reached base in 36 of them.
Over his final 35 games, he was even better. From August 20 through October 1, Galan hit .367/.469/.567/1.035. During that stretch, he had 44 hits, drove in 33 runs, walked 22 times and scored 25 runs.