Nobody hit more home runs in 2015 than ... Japhet Amador?
Across the top professional baseball leagues and levels -- meaning the U.S. Majors, Minors and independent ball, along with the top leagues in Japan, Korea and Mexico -- there was one man whose dinger total stood above all others for the 2015 calendar year. One man whom, unless you've been following dinger gods for years, you may have never heard of.
His name is Japhet Amador, which I think means "Crushed Pitches" in some ancient language. He began his career in the Mexican League in 2007, and made a brief stop in the Astros system in 2014 before returning to Mexico last year. Nicknamed El Gigante de Mulegé, the 330-pound beast hit a world-leading 55 home runs in 161 games played in 2015 -- 41 coming with the Diablos Rojos in the Mexican League's regular season and 14 more with the Charros de Jaliscos in the Mexican Winter League.
His 41 regular-season dingers didn't just lead the league, they lapped the competition. Amador hit 16 more homers than the tied-for-second Eliseo Aldazaba and Jorge Cantu (Cantu did win the home run derby, though), enough to give him MVP honors for the season.
Not just a pull hitter, Amador has world-beating power to the opposite field, too, as you can see in the team's highlight reel:
Amador had seven multi-home run games, including a three-homer day against the Campanche Pirates on June 19. He also broke a Mexican League record when he hit seven home runs over a five-game streak.
Rather than sit back and enjoy his regular-season MVP award, Amador went on and led the Mexican Winter League with 14 more dingers, two more than second-place Yuniesky Betancourt. Because when your body is built like a hydraulic homer-hitting pump, you go and hit home runs.
Following his homer eruption in 2015, the slugger will head to Japan to join the Rakuten Golden Eagles for the 2016 season. The fans should already be prepared to watch a big all-or-nothing slugger as the team featured Wily Mo Pena last season. May Amador also get his own specialized bobblehead.
