EDIT: HE BROKE IT, 363 with an IBB in the 10th.
For reference, every hitter with at least 250 such walks, and their walk rate prior to their age 23 season:
Juan Soto, 363 BB, 18.5% walk rate
Mel Ott, 362, 13.7%
Ted Williams, 350, 18.0%
Mickey Mantle, 299, 13.6%
John McGraw, 296, 13.8%
Bryce Harper, 279, 13.0%
Eddie Matthews, 271, 14.5%
Jimmie Foxx, 271, 13.7%
Mike Trout, 269, 12.3%
Juan Soto.
Pujols has 656, Miguel Cabrera has 477
Ott retired with 511 after ‘47 season while Hank Greenberg had 331. Ott led by 205 the year before.
Ruth retired in 1935 ahead of Gehrig by 336. Aaron ahead of Frank Robinson by 169 in 1976. Bonds ahead of Sosa by 153 in 2007.
Given Mel Ott's appearance on the sidebar (I'm assuming due to his non-appearance on the Franchise Four, and this post lamenting that) I thought I'd repost the short piece I wrote on him as part of the Uniform Numbers Through the Ages series I ran through the offseason.
Mel Ott and teammate Bill Terry were both Hall of Fame career Giants turned player-managers. But while Terry had a brilliant but relatively short career, Ott was one of the greatest hitters in baseball for nearly two decades.
Master Melvin was a precocious talent. Debuting at the age of 17, he had appeared in more games by the age of 20 than Terry had by the age of 27. His age-20 season in 1929 was the making of him: the quiet kid with the high leg kick batted .328 while leading the league in walks and slugging a career high 42 home runs. The 7.4 WAR he put up that year is a National League record for a 20-year-old position player.
It was the start of incredibly long period of consistency and success. In the fourteen seasons between 1929 and 1942 (the first year he started managing) Ott averaged 148 Games a season and only twice had an OPS+ lower than 150 (and never below 137). He led the league in homers six times and walks six times as well (he finished in the top three in walks sixteen years in a row!). He appeared in eleven consecutive All-Star games from 1934 onwards.
He was also a popular player. From his SABR bio:
> In 1938, when he shifted between right field and third base, a cereal company ran a contest to determine the most popular major league player at each position. Mel received the most votes for both positions. And despite the Giants' awful season in 1943, Mel's popularity with the fans remained undiminished. Sport Magazine named him Sports Father of the Year. In a nationwide vote by war bond buyers in 1944, he was selected as the most popular sports hero of all time, beating out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Christy Mathewson, Joe Lo
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