Sometimes we get so wrapped up that we fail to notice many a relevant thing. We all do it. In what follows I will point out a series of numbers and comparisons that you may have missed in 2014. Some of the notations will surprise, perhaps even titillate. Hopefully you'll at least get a kick out of so many things that the general baseball fan happened to miss last season.  

HITTERS

11: The number of players who finished the year with at least 30 home runs in 2014. In 2000 there were 47 players reached the 30 homer plateau. 

12: The number of players who finished the year with at least 100 RBI in 2014. In 1999 there were 59 players to reach 100. 

16: The number of qualified batters to hit .300 or above in 2014. In 1999 there were 55 qualifying players who hit at least .300. 

Xander Bogaerts hit .240 with 12 homers, 46 RBIs, 60 runs scored and two steals in his first full season. He didn't show power, didn't steal bases and struck out 138 times. Looked great through May (.304/.397/.438) but it was a fecal matter show thereafter as he posted a slash line of .203/.236/.320 from June 1st on. I wanted to say s- - t show, but this is a kids show. 

Robinson Cano hit .300 for a 6th straight season. Only Miguel Cabrera can match that. Moreover, Cano has hit .314 the past six years. Only three men can better that: Miguel Cabrera (.331), Joe Mauer (.320) and Victor Martinez (.314, barely better than Cano). Finally, Cano has hit at least .302 with 14 homers, 82 RBIs and 77 runs scored each of the past six seasons. No other second baseman who ever lived has done that (Rogers Hornsby 1921-25 and Charlie Gehringer 1935-39 are the only to have done it 5-straight years).

Nelson Cruz hit 30 homers in 2009. He failed to reach 30 homers from 2010-13. He rectified that situation in 2014 by hitting 40 homers, the most in baseball. It was the lowest major league leading homer total since Jesse Barfield hit 40 homers in 1986 for the Blue Jays. 

According to Elias Sports, Josh Harrison became the first Pirate to bat .315 or better while playing at least five defensive positions since perhaps the greatest Pirate of all-time, Honus Wagner in 1901-02. No one reading this was alive back then. 

Derek Jeter ended his career with more than 11,000 at-bats. In so doing he posted the 2nd best batting average of all-time for a guy with that many at-bats (.310). He is only .057 points behind the leader - Ty Cobb. 

Joe Mauer was awful in 2014, his worst season to date actually as the move to playing first base full-time did nothing whatsoever to boost his value or health. Mauer hit .254 with a .332 OBP in the first half but did you notice that he was basically his "normal" self over the last 56 games he played with a .307 batting average and .400 OBP?

Andrew McCutchen is a superstar. In each of the last three seasons he's hit at least .300 with a .400 OBP and .500 SLG. He is the only player that can say that. In fact, no other player in baseball who has hit all three marks in more than one season during those three years. 

Justin Morneau hit .319 to lead the National League. In so doing he became the 7th different Rockie player to lead the Senior Circuit in average. Moreover, the Rockies have claimed the top spot in nine of the 22 seasons the club has been in existence. Morneau had hit under .270 in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He hit .327 in Colorado and .309 on the road in 2014. 

The Padres were one of the worst hitting teams in modern day baseball history. Here are their team leaders: Seth Smith .268 batting average, Yasmani Grandal with 15 homers and Jedd Gyorko with 51 RBIs. How dreadful is that?

Carlos Santana was awful to start the season in 2013. He finished the year as one of the most productive hitting catchers in baseball. Not just that, he did something only two other men had ever done. Santana had at least 25 homers, 85 RBIs and 110 walks... while batting .231. The only two others to hit under .235 while going 25-85-110 are Mark McGwire in 1990 and Adam Dunn in 2006.

Mike Trout had a great year. But concerns abound. He hit .287. He batted .324 the previous two years. He scored 115 runs, just below his pace of 119 the previous two years. His steal total was half of 2013 (33) and nearly a third of 2012 (49). He stole 16 bags. Then there is this. After 139 and 136 Ks the past two seasons he struck out 184 times on the year with 183 coming from the #2 spot in the lineup. In 696 plate appearances batting second Trout had 14 more strikeouts than Tony Gwynn had in 3,962 plate appearances batting second.  

PITCHERS

There were 692 players who threw an official pitch in 2014. Twenty percent of them, 139, have had Tommy John surgery. Eleven of them have had the procedure done twice. 

1: The number of pitchers to post an ERA of 1.90 or lower in back-to-back seasons since 1994-95 when Greg Maddux pulled off the feat. The man who accomplished the performance the past two seasons is Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers' ace also captured the major league ERA title for the 4th straight season. He is the first man to lead all of baseball in ERA in 4-straight seasons in the modern era (since 1901). 

3: The number of pitcher to throw at least 230 innings with a .200 or lower batting average against since 1980 in the American League. The names are Roger Clemens (.197 in 1998), Justin Verlander (.192 in 2011) and Felix Hernandez (.200 in 2014).

I always warn people about Clay Buchholz. They rarely listen. Hopefully they did in 2014 because he pulled off a rather ignominious first. Clay became the first pitcher in baseball history - the first - to have thrown a minimum of 100-innings in back-to-back seasons while seeing his ERA triple. Clay had a 1.74 ERA in 2013 and a 5.34 mark in 2014. Good luck with that guy.

Mark Buehrle became the second left-handed pitcher in baseball history to have thrown at least 200-innings in 14-straight seasons. The record is 17-straight years by Warren Span. Maybe we should give Mark some more credit?

Johnny Cueto was the first 20-game winner for the Reds since 1988 (Danny Jackson). Cueto won 19 games back in 2012. Cueto led the NL with 243.2 innings pitched. He's gone over 215 innings in two of the last three seasons but he's also failed to reach 160-innings in two of his last four campaigns. 

Wade Davis had a stupendous season. Take your pick about what you want to touch on. There was his 13.63 K/9 mark. What about his 4.74 K/BB ratio? Not enough? How about the 1.00 ERA or 0.85 WHIP. Still not impressed? Do you know how many homers he allowed? Try zero in 72 innings. But the most amazing thing might be this. On the year Davis allowed eight runs. He won nine games. 

Felix Hernandez led the AL with a 2.14 ERA. That was the lowest mark since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA in 2000. King Felix also led the way with a 0.915 WHIP, the second lowest mark in the AL since the institution of the DH. The record is 0.737... by Pedro in 2000.

Cole Hamels went 8-14 in 2013. He improved in 2014 but only to 9-9. That doesn't come close to telling the story though. Hamels reached 200-innings for a 5th straight season. Hamels had a career best 2.46 ERA. Hamels had a 1.15 WHIP, just a hundredth above his career mark. Hamels struck out 198 batters, the 5th straight year he has posted at least 190 punchouts. In fact, Hamels became the first pitcher with an ERA under 2.47, at least 200 innings pitched, and nine or fewer wins since Craig Swan in 1978 (9-6, 2.43 ERA, 207.1 IP).

Phil Hughes set an all-time major league record with an 11.63 K/BB ratio for a pitcher who threw a minimum of one inning per team game (Bret Saberhagen 11.00 in 1994, Cliff Lee 10.28 in 2010 and Jim Whitney 10.00 in 1884 are the only others to reach double-digits). He walked 16 batters while striking out 186 over 209.2 innings. Francisco Liriano, James Paxton,  C.J. Wilson and A.J. Burnett walked 18 batters in September. 

David Price led baseball with 274 punchouts in 2014. He also had a 9.82 K/9 mark, the sixth best total in the game. Both numbers were career bests. Price's total of 274 punchouts was the most by a lefty since Randy Johnson had 291 in 1997.

The White Sox have been around forever, well 1901 at least. In 2013-14 Chris Sale became the first lefty in franchise history to toss 200-strikeout efforts in back-to-back seasons. How surprising is that?