Playing baseball every day and going through the grind of a long season means that at least once, something weird is going to happen. It wouldn’t be normal if things in sports stayed constant and the same all the time. That would be boring. For a sport to have lively action and meaning across an entire season, it needs high-end moments that leave fans scratching their heads and saying, “Woah… how did that happen?”

Sometimes those moments are hard to come by and even harder to recognize in real time. It’s only years later that you look back, see the abnormal of it all, and feel confused and almost speechless at how rare something truly was.

That’s why I started examining players who won a Silver Slugger Award in five consecutive seasons. When I was researching across baseball history, I noticed something out of the ordinary and honestly something fascinating. Stars like Mike Trout, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, José Altuve, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Larkin all made their mark on baseball as icons of the sport. MVP winners. Home run leaders. Legendary bats. It makes sense that all of them have taken home a Silver Slugger five years in a row.

But what if I told you there was one more name on that list — one that would make you stop and say, “Wait… what?”

That name is Mike Hampton.

Before Juan Soto won a Silver Slugger with three separate teams — the Padres, Yankees, and Mets — it was Mike Hampton who led the wild goose chase and reigned over one of the most unlikely Silver Slugger runs in baseball history. Hampton, a pitcher, managed to win the award in five consecutive seasons, placing himself in a group filled with MVPs, Hall of Famers, steroid-era sluggers, and some of the most prolific offensive players the game has ever seen.

A list of some of the best in baseball includes home run kings, generational talents, and legendary hitters — and then there’s Mike Hampton. The clear outlier among them all.

• Barry Bonds
• Alex Rodriguez
• Mike Piazza
• Mike Trout
• Juan Soto
• Manny Ramirez
• Ryan Braun
• Mike Schmidt
• Iván Rodríguez
• Mike Hampton
• Sammy Sosa
• Ryne Sandberg
• Barry Larkin

Out of a list so profound as this where each one of these men won a silver slugger in 5 consistent seasons, it surely is a surprise to anyone that Mike Hampton is on that list. Ignore his pitching for right now we know the capabilities Mike Hampton has on the mound, what I do care about is how good he was at hitting and how he ended up winning the most prestige award five times in a row.

• 1999 Season (Houston Astros)

It began in 1999, after 7 years with the Houston Astros he broke out in what was a career year for the young stud. He finished with 6.2 WAR on the season , 22-4 record, 2.90 era in 34 starts, 239 innings pitched, 177 strikeouts for an ERA+ of 155. If it wasn’t for a man named Randy Johnson, Hampton would have been the National League’s CY Award for that season. Although he did not take home the award there he was granted with his first of five silver slugger awards in 1999 reflected by his amazing performance and pedigree as a pitcher to drive runners in and create trouble on the base paths. For the bad rep pitchers got as strikeout merchants, Hampton made it a little harder for opposing pitchers to take him out and didn’t step down without a proper fight. In what became his best hitting season as a pitcher in terms of wins above replacement (1.2) he ended up recording his first above league average season as a hitting pitcher. In 88 plate appearances for the 1999 Houston Astros, Hampton had 23 hits, 0 home runs, 10 RBIs, 7 BB, 10 runs for a slash line of .311./.373/.432/.806 for an OPS+ of 105. Just his hitting alone counted for a sixth of his total value of a pitcher. That is pretty good! In doing so this helped land him his first and only silver slugger for the Houston Astros.

• 2000 Season (New York Mets)

His next season came with the Mets and although it occurred a major downtick in production still resulted in yet another silver slugger. In 84 plate appearances, Mike Hampton recorded 20 hits, 8 RBIs, 5 BB, 7 runs, again zero home runs for a slash line of .274/.313/.274/.586 for an OPS+ of 53. It was by far his worst season in terms of OPS+ during this 5 year run of winning the silver slugger. This would be Mike Hampton’s second career silver slugger and first with the Mets before again departing to a new franchise to take over. Mike Hampton was headed towards free agency as the Mets were reluctant to sign Mike Hampton to a long term deal and were instead granted the 38th overall draft pick in next year’s draft in compensation for loosing Hampton to the Colorado Rockies. The player the Mets received in return? Just so happened to be the Mets all time leader in hits, RBIs, runs scored, doubles and total bases, oh yeah and the all time WAR leader for position players. Yeah that guy, the captain, #5 David Wright. I don’t think the Mets were too upset after loosing Hampton.

• 2001 Season (Colorado Rockies)

In December 2000, the Colorado Rockies gave out one of their biggest free agent deals to a pitcher with the signing of Mike Hampton. They handed the man an 8 year $121 deal which was the largest pitcher deal at the time. People had high hopes for the pitcher to perform well at Coors after averaging a low three ERA and around 13 wins the past two seasons with the Houston Astros and New York Mets. Truth be told just like all other pitchers at Coors Field he struggled and struggled immensely, averaging 5.75 ERA in two years where the Rockies ended up trading him after those years.

Luckily this article is not about pitching and if it was this would no doubt be his worst season. On the opposite side of the ball Hampton balled out and had one of his best years offensively. The Coors effect is real and in one of the best hitter friendly parks in MLB even the worst hitters can breakout. For the 2001 season, in 86 plate appearances, he had a career best 20 runs, 23 hits, 16 RBIs, 2 BB and the best part 7 home runs and recorded a slash line of .291/ .309/.582/.891 for an OPS+ of 105, matching his 1999 best. He recorded nearly half of his career home runs in the 2001 season. Hampton finished with his second all star appearance and third consecutive silver slugger award.

• 2002 Season (Colorado Rockies)

The 2002 season was Mike Hampton’s best season of his career in terms of OPS+ leading all pitchers with a 113 OPS+ In 66 plate appearances, he had 9 runs, 22 hits, 3 home runs, 5 RBIs, 1 BB while slashing .344/.354/.516/.869. Reminder, Mike Hampton only did this in 33 games and off three 1 run home runs. This again landed him his fourth of five silver sluggers and last time winning for the Colorado Rockies.

• 2003 Season (Atlanta Braves)

This marked the final year of Mike Hampton’s generational five-year Silver Slugger run. After two seasons pitching at Coors Field, where he combined for 21 wins, a 5.76 ERA, and an 89 ERA+ across 381.2 innings, Hampton took his talents to Atlanta following a multi-team trade. In November of 2002, he was traded from the Rockies to the Florida Marlins, only to be flipped again just two days later to the Atlanta Braves for Tim Spooneybarger and Ryan Baker, with significant money involved in the deal.

The Braves acquired Hampton at a reduced cost and immediately got their money’s worth. Hampton bounced back in Atlanta as a reliable, perennial starter, stabilizing the rotation after the wear and tear of pitching in Colorado and closing out one of the most unlikely offensive runs a pitcher has ever had.

As for the hitting, in 74 plate appearances, he had 6 runs, 11 hits, 2 home runs, 8 RBIs, 5 BB, for a slash line of .183/.246/.350/.596 for an OPS+ of 53 which also matched his OPS+ with the New York Mets in 2000. Regardless, Hampton was awarded his fifth silver slugger and first gold glove for his exceptional defensive efforts, recording .985 fielding percentage, only 1 error in 68 chances and 15 put puts. 52 assists and 4 double plays. His first and only golden glove was highlighted by his outstanding glove work that year.

After 2003, Mike Hampton played five more seasons with several teams after missing the 2006–2007 seasons due to injury, spending time with the Braves, Diamondbacks, and eventually returning to the Houston Astros. He would never recreate the performances he had at the plate earlier in his career, but he still provided some decent production offensively. For a pitcher in his mid-30s, it’s impressive that he was still able to contribute with the bat. From 2004–2010, Hampton recorded 19 RBIs, 20 runs, 36 hits, and 4 home runs, which is far from nothing for someone whose primary job was pitching.

At the end of the day, this article is supposed to highlight the absurd careers of pitchers hitting and why it never really made sense to have the most important player on the field hitting ninth every fifth day. Pitchers historically cannot hit, and Mike Hampton is the clear outlier to that rule. Injuries riddled his career toward the end of his playing time, but it’s still important to recognize how rare his offensive success truly was. For all the ups and downs of his career, the fact that he won five Silver Sluggers in a row and joined a group of all-time great hitters is something that still feels unbelievable today.