88% season-shape match
Why he matters right now
Nick Gonzales is top-10 in the majors in batting average
He is 5th in batting average at .305 — placements on MLB's own season boards, which rank every QUALIFIED hitter in the sport rather than the few dozen this site tracks. Qualified is MLB's own bar, and it is the reason a part-season player with a big number is not on these boards at all.
This has been his headline for 5 straight days.
The case in 30 seconds
- .305 5th in batting average at .305 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
- 157 157 hits, past his previous best of 99 in 2025 year-by-year record, 2 prior seasons since 2024 (MLB Stats API, cached)
The honest caveat
It is still a partial season — 568 plate appearances so far. A rate moves fastest against the strongest arms a schedule has left, and the schedule ahead is not the schedule behind.
What to watch next
Next up: at Chicago Cubs.
Every claim above, with its source (2)
- 5th in batting average at .305 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
- 157 hits, past his previous best of 99 in 2025 year-by-year record, 2 prior seasons since 2024 (MLB Stats API, cached)
Other cases this page considered and did not lead with: Nick Gonzales has already passed his career best in hits.
The evidence
What changed last night
1-for-3
L 2-12 vs Chicago Cubs · 2026-09-11
carries a .305 average into today
What to watch next
at Chicago Cubs
Wrigley Field · 2:20 p.m. ET
Facing Clay Holmes
Nick Gonzales faces a right-hander in Clay Holmes. He is hitting .325 with 5 home runs in 354 at-bats against right-handers this season.
Situational splits
| Split | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHP | 354 | .325 | 5 | 46 | .813 |
| vs LHP | 161 | .261 | 1 | 13 | .647 |
| Home | 236 | .292 | 1 | 25 | .713 |
| Away | 279 | .315 | 5 | 34 | .800 |
| Day | 199 | .307 | 5 | 25 | .824 |
| Night | 316 | .304 | 1 | 34 | .719 |
2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.
137G
515AB
157H
.305AVG
6HR
59RBI
7SB
252B
13B
.760OPS
Chasing .400
.305Current AVG
82Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
89-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
1.408Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (69-for-49)
Status: IMPOSSIBLE
Milestone tracker
| Chase | Target | Current | Pace | Needed from here | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .350 AVG | .350 | .305 | .305 | .837 ROS | EXTREME |
| .380 AVG | .380 | .305 | .305 | 1.184 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .400 AVG | .400 | .305 | .305 | 1.408 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .406 AVG | .406 | .305 | .305 | 1.469 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .466 AVG | .466 | .305 | .305 | 2.163 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| 50 HR | 50 | 6 | 7 | 44 in 14 g · 1 per 1.1 AB | EXTREME |
| 60 HR | 60 | 6 | 7 | 54 in 14 g · 1 per 0.9 AB | EXTREME |
| 62 HR | 62 | 6 | 7 | 56 in 14 g · 1 per 0.9 AB | EXTREME |
| 70 HR | 70 | 6 | 7 | 64 in 14 g · 1 per 0.8 AB | EXTREME |
| 73 HR | 73 | 6 | 7 | 67 in 14 g · 1 per 0.7 AB | EXTREME |
| 200 Hits | 200 | 157 | 172 | 43 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 225 Hits | 225 | 157 | 172 | 68 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 250 Hits | 250 | 157 | 172 | 93 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 262 Hits | 262 | 157 | 172 | 105 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 50 SB | 50 | 7 | 8 | 43 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 80 SB | 80 | 7 | 8 | 73 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 100 SB | 100 | 7 | 8 | 93 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 130 SB | 130 | 7 | 8 | 123 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 50 2B | 50 | 25 | 27 | 25 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 60 2B | 60 | 25 | 27 | 35 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 67 2B | 67 | 25 | 27 | 42 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 20 3B | 20 | 1 | 1 | 19 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 25 3B | 25 | 1 | 1 | 24 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 36 3B | 36 | 1 | 1 | 35 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 125 RBI | 125 | 59 | 65 | 66 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 150 RBI | 150 | 59 | 65 | 91 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 175 RBI | 175 | 59 | 65 | 116 in 14 g | EXTREME |
| 191 RBI | 191 | 59 | 65 | 132 in 14 g | EXTREME |
Recent game log
Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.
| Date | Opp | Result | AB | H | HR | RBI | R | SB | BB | K | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-11 | Chicago Cubs | L 2-12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .305 |
| 2026-09-10 | Chicago White Sox | W 2-0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .305 |
| 2026-09-09 | Chicago White Sox | W 4-2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .305 |
| 2026-09-06 | Los Angeles Angels | W 1-0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .306 |
| 2026-09-05 | Los Angeles Angels | L 1-6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .307 |
| 2026-09-04 | Los Angeles Angels | W 1-0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .308 |
| 2026-09-02 | San Francisco Giants | L 4-5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .310 |
| 2026-09-01 | San Francisco Giants | W 13-12 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .310 |
| 2026-08-31 | — | — | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .310 |
| 2026-08-29 | St. Louis Cardinals | W 6-2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .307 |
Recent highlights
Lahman + Retrosheet context