Ranking the top four offensive seasons in Aces history

After revisiting the Aces all-time list earlier this month to discuss the franchise’s all-time leaders in games played, it’s time to take a look at some of the best offensive seasons in team history.

Recency biased or not, here’s the top four as ranked by Aces communications manager Kevin Bass. He claims it’s perfect. If it’s not, tell us (and him) why.

1) Kevin Cron (2019)

2019 was an offensive onslaught from the whole Aces team. Of the top 10 single-season slugging percentages in team history, \_half\_ were from the 2019 season. Which makes it all the more impressive that Kevin Cron managed to separate from the pack as an individual.

Cron set a single-season record for homers with a league-leading 38, giving him the Aces career record as well. The power-hitting first baseman led the league in RBIs as well, becoming only the fifth Ace to ever drive in over 100 runs, with 105. Both of those massive totals came in just 82 games as well, as Cron spent 39 games with the Diamondbacks as well. Cron’s per game numbers were just as obscene – the slugger slashed .331/.449/.777, all of which are in the top six for a single season in team history. Unsurprisingly, his 1.226 OPS still stands as the team’s all-time best mark. Next on the list is Oswaldo Arcia from 2017 with a 1.049 on-base plus slugging.

After spending the 2021 season in Japan with the Hiroshima Carp, Cron signed with the SSG Landers in the Korean Baseball Organization last month.

2) Peter O’Brien (2015)

Peter O’Brien’s 2015 season is one of the more obvious choices for the best offensive season in team history. The slugger’s career year has been widely documented, but we’ll document it more.

26 homers in the 2015 season was good for the third-best in 2015, but has since slid to seventh. The slew of power hitters to come through Reno since 2015 (some of whom are on this list) has skewed O’Brien’s rankings. But his 270 total bases set a new team record at the time, and now sits in third. His 107 RBIs were also a then-record, and sit third now as well. His 35 doubles are good for the eighth-most in a single season as well.

O’Brien’s last game action in the United States came in 2019, when he appeared in 14 games for the Miami Marlins.

3) Jamie Romak (2015)

Right alongside O’Brien in the crazy 2015 season was Jamie Romak. The duo was neck and neck in almost every offensive category.

Romak finished with one more homer than O’Brien, good for the league lead and then team record. Now, that total is tied for fifth. His 100 RBIs are fifth in team history, one of only five to ever reach 100. After the 2015 season, only O’Brien and Romak had reached triple digits in the stat. In the five seasons since, it has happened three times. Romak scored 87 runs himself on the season, eighth-most in a season in Aces history.

Romak last played in 2017 with El Paso, slashing .347/.392/.800 in 25 games.

4) Kyle Jensen (2016)

Kyle Jensen only spent one season in Reno in 2016, but the first baseman and outfielder raked. In 133 games with the Aces, Jensen put up some of the gaudiest totals Greater Nevada Field has ever seen.

Jensen’s league-leading 120 RBIs are still a single-season record, unsurprisingly. As mentioned previously, only four other players have even eclipsed the century mark. And only one other has reached over 110. Bonus points if you can guess who. Jensen was the first Ace to crush 30 long balls as well, leading the league with exactly 30. In the seasons since, that record has fallen to third on the all-time list. His 272 total bases were a then-record as well, but now sit second. The massive base total comes after hitting just .289, but slugging .546.

Jensen last played in 2018, appearing in 52 games for the Sacramento River Cats.

The Aces’ full record book is available online here, with 38 pages of facts, figures, stats and oddities to discuss. Use it to cite your sources when you tweet at us (@Aces) about why someone should or should not be on this list.