Six players hold the record for the most home runs in April in a single MLB season, and the company at the top of this list is as elite as it gets.
Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Christian Yelich, and Cody Bellinger each went deep 14 times before May 1, while Ken Griffey Jr. and Luis Gonzalez did it 13 times. Every single one of those April explosions came in a season where the player in question was in the middle of one of the best years — or the best year — of his career.
The numbers are impressive on their own. But what makes each of these Aprils worth digging into is the context behind them. This includes the trajectories they set, the MVP races they influenced, and how each player built on that torrid start as the season wore on.
Here’s a closer look at the six players with the most home runs in April in MLB history.
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Players With the Most Home Runs in April for a Single Season
Albert Pujols, 2006: 14 Home Runs
Is there anything Pujols didn’t accomplish during his soon-to-be Hall of Fame career? The Machine entered 2006 looking to keep an impressive streak alive. He was fresh off winning the 2005 National League MVP Award and had just posted his fifth straight season of at least 34 home runs and 117 RBI.
Although he didn’t win another MVP Award in ’06 thanks to Ryan Howard, he finished second and did just about everything he could to make it happen. Despite playing in fewer than 150 games for the first time in his career at that point (143 games), Pujols still racked up career-high marks in homers (49) and RBI (137) while slashing .331/.431/.671.
That all started with an outrageous April. He hit .346/.509/.914 through his first 110 plate appearances of the season, which included those 14 homers, four doubles, 32 RBI, and 27 runs scored. Pujols finished the month with more hits (28) than games played (25).
Alex Rodriguez, 2007: 14 Home Runs
A-Rod is one of a select few sluggers with at least three seasons of 50-plus homers. After doing it in consecutive seasons for the Texas Rangers from 2001-02, he did it one last time for the New York Yankees in 2007.
Rodriguez also took home his third and final American League MVP Award that year after slashing .314/.422/.645 through 708 plate appearances. He also led the league in homers (54), RBI (156), runs scored (143), OPS (1.067), total bases (376), and bWAR (9.4).
Even with a year of 50-plus homers, A-Rod only had two months of double-digit taters (March/April and September). But when looking at his monthly splits, nothing was quite as good as his first month. He posted a 1.297 OPS with 14 homers and 34 RBI, all of which were his best output for a single month that year.
Christian Yelich, 2019: 14 Home Runs
The 2018 season was a banner year for Christian Yelich. His power arrived in a big way after he accumulated 36 homers with 110 RBI, and he also took home his first batting title (.326) en route to winning the NL MVP Award.
What kind of encore can you possibly have in store after that? For Yelich, it was another batting title (.329) and a new career-high mark in homers (44), while placing second in MVP Award voting.
Not too shabby, right? And obviously, the left-handed hitter got off to a huge start that set the tone for his whole year. Yelich hit .353/.460/.804 with 14 homers, 34 RBI, and 26 runs scored. That 1.264 OPS in March/April was his best of the year, but he did post a 1.100-plus OPS three other times throughout the year.
But the power production wasn’t close to what he did to start the year. Looking through his May-September production, Yelich’s best month for homers was in June (eight), while his best month for RBI came in June and July (18 each).
Cody Bellinger, 2019: 14 Home Runs
In most years, that kind of performance from Yelich would’ve netted him another NL MVP. But in 2019, he was outdone by Cody Bellinger, who won the award while dominating for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Belli won a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove in addition to the NL MVP after slashing .305/.406/.629 with 47 homers, 34 doubles, 115 RBI, and 121 runs scored.
His start to the year was eye-popping in every sense of the phrase. Bellinger played 31 games in March/April. When he woke up on May 1 that year, he was hitting .431/.508/.890 with 14 homers, six doubles, 37 RBI, and 32 runs scored. His production cooled a bit from there throughout the rest of the year, but he used that momentum to put together a performance that’s still the best of his career.
Ken Griffey Jr., 1997: 13 Home Runs
Like Pujols, it just wouldn’t have felt right to have a list related to homers without Griffey included, right?
The Kid had what had been a typical year for him at that point in his career when it came to individual accolades. He was selected to the All-Star Game while winning a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. But Griffey finally won his first AL MVP Award in 1997 after finishing in the top five in voting three other times.
He left no doubt about it, too. The sweet-swinging left-handed slugger led the league in homers (56), RBI (147), slugging percentage (.646), runs scored (125), and total bases (393). Griffey had 30 homers by the All-Star break thanks to an outrageous start in April.
He hit .340/.420/.786 through his first 199 plate appearances with 13 homers, 30 RBI, and 25 runs scored. That was just one of four separate months in which he slugged 10-plus homers (March/April, May, August, and September).
His worst period of production for homers that season was in June and July – he combined to hit just eight homers across 50 games played.
Luis Gonzalez, 2001: 13 Home Runs
By the time 2001 rolled around, Luis Gonzalez was a veteran. He was entering his 12th big-league season, and he wasn’t necessarily known as a power hitter. Sure, he had just registered a 31-homer campaign in 2000, but it was just his third year of 20-plus homers.
One could see he was entering his power prime since those three 20-homer campaigns came consecutively from 1998-00, but nobody expected him to hit 57 taters with 142 RBI in 2001 for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also slashed .325/.429/.688 and finished third in NL MVP Award voting.
Gonzo never hit fewer than six homers in a month and finished with double digits on three occasions. He finished April with a 1.226 OPS, 13 homers, 27 RBI, and 26 runs scored. And it’s ironic that he enjoyed the best power performance of his career. After all, he clinched a World Series win for the D-Backs with a bloop RBI single that barely made it to the outfield to walk off the Yankees in Game 7.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who has the most home runs in April in MLB history for a single season?
Four players share the record for the most home runs in April in a single MLB season with 14: Albert Pujols (2006), Alex Rodriguez (2007), Christian Yelich (2019), and Cody Bellinger (2019). Ken Griffey Jr. (1997) and Luis Gonzalez (2001) are the only other players to reach 13 April home runs in a single season.
Has anyone ever hit 15 or more home runs in April?
Not in the modern era. The single-season record for most home runs in April stands at 14, a mark reached four times. Given how rare it is to even hit 13 in a single month to start a season, 15 would be one of the most eye-popping individual monthly performances in MLB history.
Do players who hit a lot of home runs in April tend to have big full seasons?
The historical evidence on this list suggests yes. Every player who reached 13 or more home runs in April went on to finish that same season with at least 44 homers. A monster April doesn’t guarantee a monster season, but in these cases, it was a very reliable preview.
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