Khris Davis is first Oakland A’s player with consecutive 40-homer seasons

Reggie Jackson never did it. Jose Canseco never did it. Nor did Mark McGwire or Jason Giambi, at least not with the A’s. Not even Matt Stairs or Jack Cust.

On Saturday, Khris Davis hit his 40th home run of the year, making him the first Oakland A’s player ever to blast 40 in consecutive seasons. The only other Athletic to do so in franchise history was Jimmie Foxx, with the Philadelphia A’s back in 1932-34. McGwire and Canseco are the only others who had multiple nonconsecutive A’s seasons above that threshold, and McGwire had a likely back-to-back bid cut short when he was traded to the Cardinals in 1997.

In 2016, Khrush swatted 42 dingers. He still has eight more games to add to his 2017 total. Here’s the all-time A’s single-season list, which includes only seven different names over 117 years of play:

At the moment, Khrush is also the only MLB player to hit 40 in each of the last two seasons. He still may get company in that regard, as Edwin Encarnacion (37), Nelson Cruz (37), and Nolan Arenado (35) are all within reach. Cruz is aiming for his fourth straight year of 40, while Arenado eyes his third in a row. Encarnacion finished with 39 in 2015, or else he’d be going for three as well. Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and J.D. Martinez did it for their first times this year, while Chris Carter, Mark Trumbo, Brian Dozier, and Todd Frazier were unable to repeat in 2017.

All told, only Stanton has gone deep more over the last two seasons, thanks mostly to his current league-leading total of 57.

Note: Chris Davis is only at 63

Looking at just the 2017 season, Khrush ranks 4th in all of baseball, behind only Stanton (57), Judge (46), and Martinez (43). Right behind that group are Cody Bellinger (39), Joey Gallo (38), and Justin Smoak (38). Next most on the A’s are Ryon Healy (25), Matt Joyce (24), and Matt Olson (24, in 58 games).

Oakland ranks fifth among MLB teams with 224 long balls, trailing close behind the Orioles, Rangers, Astros, and Yankees. That’s the fourth-most of any A’s team in history (team record: 243 in 1996, followed by 2000 and 1999).

In conclusion, please enjoy Khris’ 2017 home run spray chart, which demonstrates his mastery of launching the ball to all fields. His 40th isn’t included on here, but it landed on an existing clump of dots in right-center so you can’t see it anyway. Courtesy of FanGraphs:

FanGraphs

Trivia question: Which pitcher has allowed the most dingers to Khrush this year, with three? For the answer, here is ESPN Hit Tracker Online with a full list (click the Pitcher category to sort by name).