SWC75
Bored Historian
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I’ll continue this season to make monthly reports on the top ten batters in each league in “bases produced” and “runs produced”.
The first stat is something I invented in preference to “OPS” or “production”. I like the idea of combining the two basic percentages: on base percentage and slugging percentage, (both of which are better measures of a player’s offense than batting average), but I have a few problems with it. You are adding together two percentages with different divisors: total plate appearances and “official” at bats. You are counting hits on both sides of the equation and thus counting them twice. You are including something the hitter is not actually trying to do: get hit by a pitch. And you are excluding something he is trying to do, something that turns singles into doubles and doubles into triples: steal a base. Also, you wind up with a stat that, while it serves as a ranking isn’t directly translatable into something you can understand. It looks like a percentage but it isn’t. Mike Trout as of May 1st has an OPS of 1.052. That’s better than Bryce Harper 0.878) but not as good as Ryon Healy (1.082). But what does it mean? Trout didn’t do something 1,052 times. He didn’t do something 1.052 percent of the time. Finally, I like gross numbers more than percentages. Gross numbers are what actually happened. Percentages are a rate of production, which will produce higher gross numbers if they are better unless there are fewer games played or at bats. And, in that case you don’t know that the rate of production would have continued had there been more games and at bats. It’s only the bases and runs that were actually produced that show up on the scoreboard and determine the outcome of actual games.
My solution is to add the batting bases a hitter produced, (1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run), to the walks to the stolen bases and call that “bases produced”. It would be the leading contributory statistic to the production of runs. If you want to turn it into a percentage, you could divide it by total plate appearances. But I prefer an average per game statistic: the top players in the league tend to play whole games. You’ll find that great offensive player will produce around 3 bases per game. That’s easy to comprehend. And you can watch a game and just count the bases the players accumulate. If your favorite player is in the race for MVP and he walks twice, hits a double and steals a base, he’s increased his base production by 5 bases. What did the other guy do?
The obvious sister stat for bases production is “runs produced”, which has been around for decades: runs scored plus runs batted in minus home runs, (so you don’t count them twice: they are the same run, scored and driven in by the same guy). A top offensive player will produce about 1 run per game. 3 bases and 1 run per game. That’s easy to remember. If all nine guys in the line-up did that, you’d be pretty tough to beat.
This year I’ve decided to add a few other stats, one of which will allow me to evaluate pitchers, too. The first one I’m calling “clutch percentage”. I’m aware that many people in baseball don’t think there is such a thing as clutch hitting. I don’t agree: I watch the games and it is completely apparent that it’s not just what you do but when you do it that counts. I’m a Mets fan and noticed that Wilson Ramos was, by most measures, having a poor season:.247 batting average, .313 on base percentage, .303 slugging percentage. But he had 17 RBIs compared to 27 total bases. Divide the RBIs by total bases and his bat is driving in 63% as many runs as it’s procuring based. Mike Trout has 16 RBIs on 48 batting bases, 33%. It’s very early and the numbers can change greatly but so far Ramos would seem to be a better clutch hitter than Trout.
I’ve always wanted to do something to evaluate pitchers. When I look at a box score, (and I’ve had occasion lately to look at Mets box scores to try to figure out the pitching), I look at the ‘BF’ (batters faced) on Baseball Reference.com. Then I look at hits, walks and hit batsmen to get the number of baserunners that were the pitcher’s fault. I divide that by the BF to get the percentage of batters that get on base off the pitcher. Then I look at earned runs and compare that to the number of these ‘earned’ baserunners. What percentage of them scored? Last year Jacob DeGrom faced 835 batters, 203 of whom reached base from hits, walks or being plunked. That’s 24.3%, or .243. That was best in the national league and second best in the majors to Justin Verlander of the Astros who had .241. Jake allowed 421 earned runs from those 203 earned baserunners, or .202, the best in the majors, (Blake Snell and Trevor Bauer led the AL .215.
My data base is the top 50 players in each league in runs scored and runs batted in and the top 50 pitchers in innings pitched. For the batters, ties are broken first by games played, the n by plate appearances, (the fewer of each you have, the more impressive your gross bases and runs produced are. The more you have the more impressive a clutch percentage is: you’ve maintained it longer). Pitching ties are broken by innings pitched, (the more innings you’ve pitched, the more impressive a low rate of giving up baserunners and runs is.) If there is a tie for 10th place all those tied will be listed.
AL
Bases Produced
Alex Bregman, Astros 452 in 156 games (2.90) and 690 plate appearances (.655)
Marcus Semien, Athletics 440 in 162 games (2.72) and 747 plate appearances (.589)
Mookie Betts, Red Sox 426 in 150 games (2.84) and 706 plate appearances (.603)
Mike Trout, Angels 424 in 134 games (3.16) and 600 plate appearances (.707)
Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox 421 in 155 games (2.72) and 698 plate appearances (.603)
Rafael Devers, Red Sox 415 in 156 games (2.66) and 702 plate appearances (.591)
Jorge Solar, Royals 411 in 162 games (2.54) and 679 plate appearances (.605)
Carlos Santana, Indians 407 in 158 games (2.58) and 686 plate appearances (.593)
J. D. Martinez, Red Sox 394 in 146 games (2.70) and 657 plate appearances (.600)
Trey Mancini, Orioles 386 in 154 games (2.51) and 679 plate appearances (.568)
Comments: I’m a baseball fan but I tend to focus on the teams I root for. In focus I can enjoy watching any game between good teams. But In baseball I wind up knowing all about the Mets- both the Syracuse and New York variety- and little about other teams, especially in the American league, (I’m not into fantasy sports). When I did this review, I’d never heard of a guy named Jorge Solar. All he did was lead the American League in home runs with 48. Here is his career record:
www.baseball-reference.com
He’s a big guy, (6-4 230) and a young guy (22) but going into this season he’d played 307 major league games and hit 38 home runs. This year he hit 48 home runs in 162 games. He hit 20 of those in the last two months. Hmmmm…
Another “owl”, (Who???) is Marcus Semien. Who is smaller (6-0 195) and older, (29) and who had played in 643 games and hit 75 home runs and suddenly hits 33 in 162 games, 16 in the last two months.
Meanwhile Mike Trout had the highest rate of production and was the best player, even though Alex Bregman led in in the stat.
Runs Produced
Rafael Devers, Red Sox 212 in 156 games (1.36) and 702 plate appearances (.302)
Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox 194 in 155 games (1.25) and 698 plate appearances (.278)
Alex Bregman, Astros 193 in 156 games (1.24) and 690 plate appearances (.280)
Mookie Betts, Red Sox 186 in 150 games (1.24) and 706 plate appearances (.263)
DJ LeMahieu, Yankees 185 in 145 games (1.28) and 655 plate appearances (.282)
Marcus Semien, Athletics 182 in 162 games (1.12) and 747 plate appearances (.244)
Jose Abreu, White Sox 175 in 159 games (1.10) and 693 plate appearances (.253)
Carlos Santana, Indians 169 in 158 games (1.07) and 686 plate appearances (.246)
Mike Trout, Angels 169 in 134 games (1.26) and 600 plate appearances (.282)
Eddie Rosario, Twins 168 in 137 games (1.23) and 590 plate appearances (.285)
Trey Mancini, Orioles 168 in 154 games (1.09) and 679 plate appearances (.247)
Comments: It’s too bad the Red Sox pitching collapsed because they could still score runs with the best of them. Mike Trout may be the best player but perhaps Alex Bregman should get some consideration for MVP.
Clutch Percentage
Albert Pujols, Angels 93 RBI from 211 batting bases = .441
Rougned Odor, Rangers 93 RBI from 229 batting bases = .406
Kris Davis, Athletics 73 RBI from 186 batting bases = .392
Eddie Rosario, Twins 109 RBI from 281 batting bases = .388
Edwin Encarnacion, SEA/NY 86 RBI from 222 batting bases = .387
Jose Abreu, White Sox 123 RBI from 319 batting bases = .386
Yordan Alvarez, Astros 78 RBI from 205 batting bases = .380
Daniel Vogelbach, Seattle 76 RBI from 203 batting bases = .374
Nelson Cruz, Twins 108 RBI from 290 batting bases = .372
Gary Sanchez, Yankees 77 RBI from 208 batting bases = .370
Comments: O’l Albert ain’t what he used to be but when he hits the ball the ducks are still on the pond. In fact the average age of these ten players is 30.4. Veteran players may not get as many hits but they make them count.
Pitcher’s On Base Percentage
Justin Verlander, Astros 185 baserunners of 847 batters faced = .218
Gerrit Cole, Astros 193 baserunners of 817 batters faced = .236
Ryan Yarborough, Rays 150 baserunners of 563 batters faced = .266
Shane Bieber, Indians 232 baserunners of 859 batters faced = .270
Yonny Chirinos, Rays 143 baserunners of 530 batters faced = .270
Lucas Golito, White Sox 192 baserunners of 705 batters faced = .272
Charlie Morton, Rays 223 baserunners of 790 batters faced = .282
Chris Sale, Red Sox 173 baserunners of 612 batters faced = .283
John Means, Orioles 181 baserunners of 637 batters faced = .284
Domingo German, Yankees 169 baserunners of 594 batters faced = .285
Comments: Verlander was easily the best at keeping people off the bases. Chris Sale actually had a decent year in that department: .283, (last year it was .243). His problem was that he couldn’t keep baserunners from scoring: .416 (last year it was .247).
Pitcher’s Scoring Percentage
Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays 41 earned runs from 153 baserunners = .268
Charlie Morton, Rays 66 earned runs from 223 baserunners = .296
Gerrit Cole, Astros 59 earned runs from 193 baserunners = .306
Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox 86 earned runs from 277 baserunners = .310
Mike Minor, Rangers 83 earned runs from 265 baserunners = .313
Jake Odorizzi, Twins 62 earned runs from 196 baserunners = .316
Wade Miley, Astros 74 earned runs from 230 baserunners = .322
Jose Berrios, Twins 59 earned runs from 254 baserunners = .323
Lance Lyon, Rangers 85 earned runs from 262 baserunners = .324
Brett Anderson, Athletics 76 earned runs from 234 baserunners = .325
Comments: Stroman, of course, was traded to the Mets. Overall he had 66 earned runs from 242 baserunners = .273. Verlander was nothing special in this category: 64 of 185 baserunners scored: .346. I think I’d go for Cole for the Cy Young.
NL
Bases Produced
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers 461 in 156 games (2.96) and 661 plate appearances (.697)
Christian Yelich, Brewers 438 in 130 games (3.37) and 580 plate appearances (.755)
Ronald Acuna, Braves 437 in 156 games (2.80) and 715 plate appearances (.611)
Pete Alonso, Mets 421 in 161 games (2.61) and 693 plate appearances (.608)
Freddie Freeman, Braves 419 in 158 games (2.65) and 692 plate appearances (.605)
Juan Soto, Nationals 417 in 159 games (2.62) and 659 plate appearances (.633)
Anthony Rendon, Nationals 411 in 146 games (2.82) and 646 plate appearances (.636)
Nolan Arenado, Rockies 408 in 146 games (2.79) and 662 plate appearances (.616)
Trevor Story, Rockies 407 in 145 games (2.81) and 656 plate appearances (.620)
Eugenio Suarez, Reds 402 in 159 games (2.53) and 662 plate appearances (.607)
Comments: Christian Yelich is so good that he could miss 32 games - 20% of the season and still produce the second most bases in the league. If he’d played as many games as Bellinger and maintained the same rate of production, he would have produced 526 bases. He‘s the best player in the National League.
Runs Produced
Anthony Rendon, Nationals 209 in 146 games (1.43) and 646 plate appearances (.324)
Freddie Freeman, Braves 196 in 158 games (1.24) and 692 plate appearances (.283)
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers 189 in 156 games (1.21) and 661 plate appearances (.286)
Ronald Acuna, Braves 187 in 156 games (1.20) and 715 plate appearances (.262)
Juan Soto, Nationals 186 in 150 games (1.24) and 659 plate appearances (.282)
Nolan Arenado, Rockies 179 in 155 games (1.15) and 662 plate appearances (.270)
Bryce Harper, Phillies 177 in 157 games (1.13) and 573 plate appearances (.309)
Eduardo Escobar, D-Backs 177 in 158 games (1.12) and 699 plate appearances (.253)
Josh Bell, Pirates 173 in 143 games (1.21) and 613 plate appearances (.282)
Pete Alonso, Mets 170 in 161 games (1.06) and 693 plate appearances (.245)
Comments: Yelich is the best player but Rendon is the MVP.
Clutch Percentage
Colin Moran, Pirates 80 RBI from 200 batting bases = .400
Daniel Murphy, Rockies 78 RBI from 198 batting bases = .394
Max Muncy, Dodgers 98 RBI from 251 batting bases = .3904382
Bryce Harper, Phillies 114 RBI from 292 batting bases = .3904109
Marcell Ozuna, Cardinals 89 RBI from 230 batting bases = .3869565
Josh Bell, Pirates 116 RBI from 300 batting bases = .3866667
Anthony Rendon, Nationals 126 RBI from 326 batting bases = .3865030
Ryan McMahon, Rockies 83 RBI from 216 batting bases = .384
Wilson Ramos, Mets 73 RBI from 197 batting bases = .3705583
Juan Soto, Nationals 110 RBI from 297 batting bases = .3703703
Comments: Colin Moran hit .277 with 13 home runs but still drove in 80 runs. The Mets should never have gotten rid of Daniel Murphy. Everybody’s dumping on Bryce Harper, who hit only .260. But he did hit 35 home runs and rive in 114 teammates.
Pitcher’s On Base Percentage
Zach Greinke, D-Backs 141 baserunners of 562 batters faced = .251
Chris Paddack, Padres 144 baserunners of 568 batters faced = .254
Jacob DeGrom, Mets 205 baserunners of 804 batters faced = .2549751
Jack Flaherty, Cardinals 197 baserunners of 772 batters faced = .2551813
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Dodgers 188 baserunners of 723 batters faced = .260
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers 188 baserunners of 706 batters faced = .2662889
Max Scherzer, Nationals 184 baserunners of 693 batters faced = .2655122
Walker Buehler, Dodgers 197 baserunners of 737 batters faced = .267
Stephen Strasburg, Nationals 227 baserunners of 841 batters faced = .2699167
Kenta Maeda, Dodgers 169 baserunners of 624 batters faced = .2708333
Comments: Counting his performance with the Astros, (for whom he went 8-1 after being traded), Greinke allowed 209 baserunners of 810 batters faced who scored 68 runs. That makes his On base percentage .258 and his scoring percentage .325.
Pitcher’s Scoring Percentage
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Dodgers 47 earned runs from 188 baserunners = .250
Dakota Hudson, Cardinals 65 earned runs from 255 baserunners = .255
Mike Soroka, Braves 52 earned runs from 201 baserunners = .259
Jacob DeGrom, Mets 55 earned runs from 205 baserunners = .268
Sonny Gray, Reds 56 earned runs from 197 baserunners = .284
Cole Hamels, Cubs 60 earned runs from 204 baserunners = .294
Patrick Corbin, Nationals 73 earned runs from 242 baserunners = .3016528
Julio Teheran, Braves 74 earned runs from 245 baserunners = .3020408
Zach Davies, Brewers 63 earned runs from 208 baserunners = .3028846
Max Scherzer, Nationals 56 earned runs from 184 baserunners = .304
Comments: People are promoting Jake DeGrom for a second straight Cy Young. I think it’s between him and Hyun-Jin Ryu They and Scherzer are the only pitchers in the NL on both lists. DeGrom was 3rd best at keeping runners of the bases and 4th best at preventing them from scoring. Ryu was the best at keeping them off the bases and 5th best at preventing them from scoring Scherzer was 10ths and 7th. Using traditional numbers, Jake was 11-8 with 255 strikeouts and 44 walks and a 2.43 ERA for a team that went 86-76. Hyun-JIn was 14-5 with 163/24 and a 2.32 ERA for a team that went 106-56. I think Ryu wins it.
The first stat is something I invented in preference to “OPS” or “production”. I like the idea of combining the two basic percentages: on base percentage and slugging percentage, (both of which are better measures of a player’s offense than batting average), but I have a few problems with it. You are adding together two percentages with different divisors: total plate appearances and “official” at bats. You are counting hits on both sides of the equation and thus counting them twice. You are including something the hitter is not actually trying to do: get hit by a pitch. And you are excluding something he is trying to do, something that turns singles into doubles and doubles into triples: steal a base. Also, you wind up with a stat that, while it serves as a ranking isn’t directly translatable into something you can understand. It looks like a percentage but it isn’t. Mike Trout as of May 1st has an OPS of 1.052. That’s better than Bryce Harper 0.878) but not as good as Ryon Healy (1.082). But what does it mean? Trout didn’t do something 1,052 times. He didn’t do something 1.052 percent of the time. Finally, I like gross numbers more than percentages. Gross numbers are what actually happened. Percentages are a rate of production, which will produce higher gross numbers if they are better unless there are fewer games played or at bats. And, in that case you don’t know that the rate of production would have continued had there been more games and at bats. It’s only the bases and runs that were actually produced that show up on the scoreboard and determine the outcome of actual games.
My solution is to add the batting bases a hitter produced, (1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run), to the walks to the stolen bases and call that “bases produced”. It would be the leading contributory statistic to the production of runs. If you want to turn it into a percentage, you could divide it by total plate appearances. But I prefer an average per game statistic: the top players in the league tend to play whole games. You’ll find that great offensive player will produce around 3 bases per game. That’s easy to comprehend. And you can watch a game and just count the bases the players accumulate. If your favorite player is in the race for MVP and he walks twice, hits a double and steals a base, he’s increased his base production by 5 bases. What did the other guy do?
The obvious sister stat for bases production is “runs produced”, which has been around for decades: runs scored plus runs batted in minus home runs, (so you don’t count them twice: they are the same run, scored and driven in by the same guy). A top offensive player will produce about 1 run per game. 3 bases and 1 run per game. That’s easy to remember. If all nine guys in the line-up did that, you’d be pretty tough to beat.
This year I’ve decided to add a few other stats, one of which will allow me to evaluate pitchers, too. The first one I’m calling “clutch percentage”. I’m aware that many people in baseball don’t think there is such a thing as clutch hitting. I don’t agree: I watch the games and it is completely apparent that it’s not just what you do but when you do it that counts. I’m a Mets fan and noticed that Wilson Ramos was, by most measures, having a poor season:.247 batting average, .313 on base percentage, .303 slugging percentage. But he had 17 RBIs compared to 27 total bases. Divide the RBIs by total bases and his bat is driving in 63% as many runs as it’s procuring based. Mike Trout has 16 RBIs on 48 batting bases, 33%. It’s very early and the numbers can change greatly but so far Ramos would seem to be a better clutch hitter than Trout.
I’ve always wanted to do something to evaluate pitchers. When I look at a box score, (and I’ve had occasion lately to look at Mets box scores to try to figure out the pitching), I look at the ‘BF’ (batters faced) on Baseball Reference.com. Then I look at hits, walks and hit batsmen to get the number of baserunners that were the pitcher’s fault. I divide that by the BF to get the percentage of batters that get on base off the pitcher. Then I look at earned runs and compare that to the number of these ‘earned’ baserunners. What percentage of them scored? Last year Jacob DeGrom faced 835 batters, 203 of whom reached base from hits, walks or being plunked. That’s 24.3%, or .243. That was best in the national league and second best in the majors to Justin Verlander of the Astros who had .241. Jake allowed 421 earned runs from those 203 earned baserunners, or .202, the best in the majors, (Blake Snell and Trevor Bauer led the AL .215.
My data base is the top 50 players in each league in runs scored and runs batted in and the top 50 pitchers in innings pitched. For the batters, ties are broken first by games played, the n by plate appearances, (the fewer of each you have, the more impressive your gross bases and runs produced are. The more you have the more impressive a clutch percentage is: you’ve maintained it longer). Pitching ties are broken by innings pitched, (the more innings you’ve pitched, the more impressive a low rate of giving up baserunners and runs is.) If there is a tie for 10th place all those tied will be listed.
AL
Bases Produced
Alex Bregman, Astros 452 in 156 games (2.90) and 690 plate appearances (.655)
Marcus Semien, Athletics 440 in 162 games (2.72) and 747 plate appearances (.589)
Mookie Betts, Red Sox 426 in 150 games (2.84) and 706 plate appearances (.603)
Mike Trout, Angels 424 in 134 games (3.16) and 600 plate appearances (.707)
Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox 421 in 155 games (2.72) and 698 plate appearances (.603)
Rafael Devers, Red Sox 415 in 156 games (2.66) and 702 plate appearances (.591)
Jorge Solar, Royals 411 in 162 games (2.54) and 679 plate appearances (.605)
Carlos Santana, Indians 407 in 158 games (2.58) and 686 plate appearances (.593)
J. D. Martinez, Red Sox 394 in 146 games (2.70) and 657 plate appearances (.600)
Trey Mancini, Orioles 386 in 154 games (2.51) and 679 plate appearances (.568)
Comments: I’m a baseball fan but I tend to focus on the teams I root for. In focus I can enjoy watching any game between good teams. But In baseball I wind up knowing all about the Mets- both the Syracuse and New York variety- and little about other teams, especially in the American league, (I’m not into fantasy sports). When I did this review, I’d never heard of a guy named Jorge Solar. All he did was lead the American League in home runs with 48. Here is his career record:
Jorge Soler Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com
Check out the latest Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More of Jorge Soler. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, bats, throws, school and more on Baseball-reference.com
www.baseball-reference.com
Another “owl”, (Who???) is Marcus Semien. Who is smaller (6-0 195) and older, (29) and who had played in 643 games and hit 75 home runs and suddenly hits 33 in 162 games, 16 in the last two months.
Meanwhile Mike Trout had the highest rate of production and was the best player, even though Alex Bregman led in in the stat.
Runs Produced
Rafael Devers, Red Sox 212 in 156 games (1.36) and 702 plate appearances (.302)
Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox 194 in 155 games (1.25) and 698 plate appearances (.278)
Alex Bregman, Astros 193 in 156 games (1.24) and 690 plate appearances (.280)
Mookie Betts, Red Sox 186 in 150 games (1.24) and 706 plate appearances (.263)
DJ LeMahieu, Yankees 185 in 145 games (1.28) and 655 plate appearances (.282)
Marcus Semien, Athletics 182 in 162 games (1.12) and 747 plate appearances (.244)
Jose Abreu, White Sox 175 in 159 games (1.10) and 693 plate appearances (.253)
Carlos Santana, Indians 169 in 158 games (1.07) and 686 plate appearances (.246)
Mike Trout, Angels 169 in 134 games (1.26) and 600 plate appearances (.282)
Eddie Rosario, Twins 168 in 137 games (1.23) and 590 plate appearances (.285)
Trey Mancini, Orioles 168 in 154 games (1.09) and 679 plate appearances (.247)
Comments: It’s too bad the Red Sox pitching collapsed because they could still score runs with the best of them. Mike Trout may be the best player but perhaps Alex Bregman should get some consideration for MVP.
Clutch Percentage
Albert Pujols, Angels 93 RBI from 211 batting bases = .441
Rougned Odor, Rangers 93 RBI from 229 batting bases = .406
Kris Davis, Athletics 73 RBI from 186 batting bases = .392
Eddie Rosario, Twins 109 RBI from 281 batting bases = .388
Edwin Encarnacion, SEA/NY 86 RBI from 222 batting bases = .387
Jose Abreu, White Sox 123 RBI from 319 batting bases = .386
Yordan Alvarez, Astros 78 RBI from 205 batting bases = .380
Daniel Vogelbach, Seattle 76 RBI from 203 batting bases = .374
Nelson Cruz, Twins 108 RBI from 290 batting bases = .372
Gary Sanchez, Yankees 77 RBI from 208 batting bases = .370
Comments: O’l Albert ain’t what he used to be but when he hits the ball the ducks are still on the pond. In fact the average age of these ten players is 30.4. Veteran players may not get as many hits but they make them count.
Pitcher’s On Base Percentage
Justin Verlander, Astros 185 baserunners of 847 batters faced = .218
Gerrit Cole, Astros 193 baserunners of 817 batters faced = .236
Ryan Yarborough, Rays 150 baserunners of 563 batters faced = .266
Shane Bieber, Indians 232 baserunners of 859 batters faced = .270
Yonny Chirinos, Rays 143 baserunners of 530 batters faced = .270
Lucas Golito, White Sox 192 baserunners of 705 batters faced = .272
Charlie Morton, Rays 223 baserunners of 790 batters faced = .282
Chris Sale, Red Sox 173 baserunners of 612 batters faced = .283
John Means, Orioles 181 baserunners of 637 batters faced = .284
Domingo German, Yankees 169 baserunners of 594 batters faced = .285
Comments: Verlander was easily the best at keeping people off the bases. Chris Sale actually had a decent year in that department: .283, (last year it was .243). His problem was that he couldn’t keep baserunners from scoring: .416 (last year it was .247).
Pitcher’s Scoring Percentage
Marcus Stroman, Blue Jays 41 earned runs from 153 baserunners = .268
Charlie Morton, Rays 66 earned runs from 223 baserunners = .296
Gerrit Cole, Astros 59 earned runs from 193 baserunners = .306
Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox 86 earned runs from 277 baserunners = .310
Mike Minor, Rangers 83 earned runs from 265 baserunners = .313
Jake Odorizzi, Twins 62 earned runs from 196 baserunners = .316
Wade Miley, Astros 74 earned runs from 230 baserunners = .322
Jose Berrios, Twins 59 earned runs from 254 baserunners = .323
Lance Lyon, Rangers 85 earned runs from 262 baserunners = .324
Brett Anderson, Athletics 76 earned runs from 234 baserunners = .325
Comments: Stroman, of course, was traded to the Mets. Overall he had 66 earned runs from 242 baserunners = .273. Verlander was nothing special in this category: 64 of 185 baserunners scored: .346. I think I’d go for Cole for the Cy Young.
NL
Bases Produced
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers 461 in 156 games (2.96) and 661 plate appearances (.697)
Christian Yelich, Brewers 438 in 130 games (3.37) and 580 plate appearances (.755)
Ronald Acuna, Braves 437 in 156 games (2.80) and 715 plate appearances (.611)
Pete Alonso, Mets 421 in 161 games (2.61) and 693 plate appearances (.608)
Freddie Freeman, Braves 419 in 158 games (2.65) and 692 plate appearances (.605)
Juan Soto, Nationals 417 in 159 games (2.62) and 659 plate appearances (.633)
Anthony Rendon, Nationals 411 in 146 games (2.82) and 646 plate appearances (.636)
Nolan Arenado, Rockies 408 in 146 games (2.79) and 662 plate appearances (.616)
Trevor Story, Rockies 407 in 145 games (2.81) and 656 plate appearances (.620)
Eugenio Suarez, Reds 402 in 159 games (2.53) and 662 plate appearances (.607)
Comments: Christian Yelich is so good that he could miss 32 games - 20% of the season and still produce the second most bases in the league. If he’d played as many games as Bellinger and maintained the same rate of production, he would have produced 526 bases. He‘s the best player in the National League.
Runs Produced
Anthony Rendon, Nationals 209 in 146 games (1.43) and 646 plate appearances (.324)
Freddie Freeman, Braves 196 in 158 games (1.24) and 692 plate appearances (.283)
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers 189 in 156 games (1.21) and 661 plate appearances (.286)
Ronald Acuna, Braves 187 in 156 games (1.20) and 715 plate appearances (.262)
Juan Soto, Nationals 186 in 150 games (1.24) and 659 plate appearances (.282)
Nolan Arenado, Rockies 179 in 155 games (1.15) and 662 plate appearances (.270)
Bryce Harper, Phillies 177 in 157 games (1.13) and 573 plate appearances (.309)
Eduardo Escobar, D-Backs 177 in 158 games (1.12) and 699 plate appearances (.253)
Josh Bell, Pirates 173 in 143 games (1.21) and 613 plate appearances (.282)
Pete Alonso, Mets 170 in 161 games (1.06) and 693 plate appearances (.245)
Comments: Yelich is the best player but Rendon is the MVP.
Clutch Percentage
Colin Moran, Pirates 80 RBI from 200 batting bases = .400
Daniel Murphy, Rockies 78 RBI from 198 batting bases = .394
Max Muncy, Dodgers 98 RBI from 251 batting bases = .3904382
Bryce Harper, Phillies 114 RBI from 292 batting bases = .3904109
Marcell Ozuna, Cardinals 89 RBI from 230 batting bases = .3869565
Josh Bell, Pirates 116 RBI from 300 batting bases = .3866667
Anthony Rendon, Nationals 126 RBI from 326 batting bases = .3865030
Ryan McMahon, Rockies 83 RBI from 216 batting bases = .384
Wilson Ramos, Mets 73 RBI from 197 batting bases = .3705583
Juan Soto, Nationals 110 RBI from 297 batting bases = .3703703
Comments: Colin Moran hit .277 with 13 home runs but still drove in 80 runs. The Mets should never have gotten rid of Daniel Murphy. Everybody’s dumping on Bryce Harper, who hit only .260. But he did hit 35 home runs and rive in 114 teammates.
Pitcher’s On Base Percentage
Zach Greinke, D-Backs 141 baserunners of 562 batters faced = .251
Chris Paddack, Padres 144 baserunners of 568 batters faced = .254
Jacob DeGrom, Mets 205 baserunners of 804 batters faced = .2549751
Jack Flaherty, Cardinals 197 baserunners of 772 batters faced = .2551813
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Dodgers 188 baserunners of 723 batters faced = .260
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers 188 baserunners of 706 batters faced = .2662889
Max Scherzer, Nationals 184 baserunners of 693 batters faced = .2655122
Walker Buehler, Dodgers 197 baserunners of 737 batters faced = .267
Stephen Strasburg, Nationals 227 baserunners of 841 batters faced = .2699167
Kenta Maeda, Dodgers 169 baserunners of 624 batters faced = .2708333
Comments: Counting his performance with the Astros, (for whom he went 8-1 after being traded), Greinke allowed 209 baserunners of 810 batters faced who scored 68 runs. That makes his On base percentage .258 and his scoring percentage .325.
Pitcher’s Scoring Percentage
Hyun-Jin Ryu, Dodgers 47 earned runs from 188 baserunners = .250
Dakota Hudson, Cardinals 65 earned runs from 255 baserunners = .255
Mike Soroka, Braves 52 earned runs from 201 baserunners = .259
Jacob DeGrom, Mets 55 earned runs from 205 baserunners = .268
Sonny Gray, Reds 56 earned runs from 197 baserunners = .284
Cole Hamels, Cubs 60 earned runs from 204 baserunners = .294
Patrick Corbin, Nationals 73 earned runs from 242 baserunners = .3016528
Julio Teheran, Braves 74 earned runs from 245 baserunners = .3020408
Zach Davies, Brewers 63 earned runs from 208 baserunners = .3028846
Max Scherzer, Nationals 56 earned runs from 184 baserunners = .304
Comments: People are promoting Jake DeGrom for a second straight Cy Young. I think it’s between him and Hyun-Jin Ryu They and Scherzer are the only pitchers in the NL on both lists. DeGrom was 3rd best at keeping runners of the bases and 4th best at preventing them from scoring. Ryu was the best at keeping them off the bases and 5th best at preventing them from scoring Scherzer was 10ths and 7th. Using traditional numbers, Jake was 11-8 with 255 strikeouts and 44 walks and a 2.43 ERA for a team that went 86-76. Hyun-JIn was 14-5 with 163/24 and a 2.32 ERA for a team that went 106-56. I think Ryu wins it.
