Mitch Moreland Could Join an Elite List of Red Sox This Season

With 15 doubles as of Friday, Mitch Moreland is on track for at least 50 doubles this season, something that has only been accomplished by seven players in Red Sox history.

Incredibly, the club record for doubles in a single season is also the Major League record. Red Sox outfielder Earl Webb hit an astounding 67 two-baggers in 1931. Webb posted freakish output that season, as his next highest total was a mere 30 doubles.

Here’s the list of Red Sox players who’ve hit 50 or more doubles in a season. It's quite short and reads like a who’s who list of Sox greats:

Earl Webb - 67 (1931) (MLB Record)
Nomar Garciaparra - 56 (2002)
Tris Speaker - 53 (1912)
David Ortiz - 52 (2007)
Nomar Garciaparra - 51 (2000)
Wade Boggs - 51 (1989)
Joe Cronin - 51 (1938)
Dustin Pedroia - 54 (2008)

Fourteen different Red Sox have led the American League in doubles, with several multiple-time winners. Carl Yastrzemski captured the doubles title three times and holds the team career record of 645 – well ahead of the 525 registered by Ted Williams. Williams twice led the AL in doubles with back-to-back titles in 1948 and 1949.

The gap between Sox players who've hit 40 doubles in a season and those who've hit at least 50 is canyon-like.

A Red Sox player has hit at least 40 doubles in a season just 24 times in the club’s lengthy history. The list includes Hall of Famers like Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Tris Speaker and Wade Boggs, as well fan favorites like Johnny Pesky, Fred Lynn, Nomar Garciaparra, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts.

But there are some modern Sox players on that list that might surprise some: John Valentin hit 47 doubles in 1997, Bill Buckner hit 46 in 1985, Bill Mueller hit 45 in 2003, Jody Reed hit 45 in 1990 and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit 40 doubles in 2013 ( a club record for catchers).

Some Red Sox players made the achievement a habit. Wade Boggs leads the list, notching at least 40 doubles an amazing 8 times. Ortiz reached the mark five times. Nomar Garciaparra did it 4 times. Williams, Yastrzemski, Valentin and Pedroia each hit the mark 3 times. Meanwhile, Tris Speaker, Joe Cronin, Eddie Bressoud, Fred Lynn, Jody Reed, David Ortiz and Mookie Betts all hit at least 40 doubles twice.

Should Moreland maintain his current pace, he would join a rather illustrious group. Though it may be too early in the season to make such a projection, he certainly has a good shot at hitting 45 — a number that has been reached by a Sox player just 24 times in the club’s 117-year history.

That, in itself, would be quite an impressive achievement.