$126 million man Jayson Werth went 0-for-5 while his Nationals lost 9-8 to the Braves on Sunday, dropping his average to .213. He’s followed up a .154 month of June by hitting .157 in his first 51 at-bats during July.
It was Werth’s seventh 0-for-5 this season. That’s tied for the most in the majors with Juan Pierre and Drew Stubbs.
Werth has played in 91 games for the Nationals, and he’s had multiple hits in just 15 of them.
For the season, only four players have had more games in which they’ve finished with one or no hits:
Dan Uggla (Atl) - 83
Cliff Pennington (Oak) - 77
Casey McGehee (Mil) - 77
Carlos Pena (ChC) - 77
Werth - 76
Mark Reynolds (Bal) - 76
Werth also has just 31 RBI despite batting third in more than half of his games. He’s on pace to finish the season with 53 RBI and 153 strikeouts, which would put him in some interesting territory. Here’s a list of the lowest RBI totals in 150-strikeout seasons:
1. Austin Jackson (Det, 2010) - 41 RBI, 170 K
2. Delino DeShields (Mon, 1991) - 51 RBI, 151 K
2. Mickey Tettleton (Bal, 1990) - 51 RBI, 160 K
4. Bo Jackson (KC, 1987) - 53 RBI, 158 K
5. Pete Incaviglia (Tex, 1988) - 54 RBI, 153 K
Werth almost surely will go on a little tear at some point and end the year with 60-70 RBI, but if not, he could end up with one of the more unique seasons in big-league history.
