SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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(This season I’ve decided to just make one report on the baseball statistics I like. I’ll probably just do season ending reports on this and on NBA Net Points at the end of the season rather than making monthly reports, which are a little labor intensive. I need more time for other projects and chores.)
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. (From my 2019 intro), 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, two 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, (in 2019), 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 bases. 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? (In 2018), 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, then 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.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Hitters
Bases Produced
Vladimir Guerrero TOR 453 in 161 games (2.81) and 698 plate appearances (.649)
Shohei Ohtani, LAA 440 in 155 games (2.84) and 639 plate appearances (.689)
Marcus Siemen TOR 432 in 162 games (2.67) and 724 plate appearances (.597)
Cedric Mullins BAL 401 in 159 games (2.52) and 675 plate appearances (.594)
Jose Ramirez, CLE 396 in 152 games (2.61) and 636 plate appearances (.623)
Rafael Devers, BOS 385 in 156 games (2.47) and 664 plate appearances (.580)
Aaron Judge NYY 380 in 148 games (2.57) and 633 plate appearances (.600)
Bo Bichette TOR 375 in 159 games (2.36) and 690 plate appearances (.543)
Salvatore Perez KC 366 in 161 games (2.27) and 665 plate appearances (.550)
Jose Altuve HOU 365 in 146 games (2.50) and 678 plate appearances (.538)
Runs Produced
Bo Bichette TOR 194 in 159 games (1.22) and 690 plate appearances (.281)
Vladimir Guerrero TOR 186 in 161 games (1.16) and 698 plate appearances (.266)
Jose Ramirez, CLE 178 in 152 games (1.17) and 636 plate appearances (.280)
Rafael Devers, BOS 176 in 156 games (1.13) and 664 plate appearances (.265)
Jose Abreu, CWS 173 in 152 games (1.14) and 659 plate appearances (.263)
Matt Olson OAK 173 in 156 games (1.11) and 673 plate appearances (.257)
Marcus Siemen TOR 172 in 162 games (1.06) and 724 plate appearances (.238)
Mitch Haniger SEA 171 in 157 games (1.09) and 691 plate appearances (.247)
Carlos Correa HOU 170 in 148 games (1.15) and 640 plate appearances (.266)
Jose Altuve HOU 169 in 146 games (1.16) and 678 plate appearances (.249)
Clutch Hitting
Austin Meadows TB 106 RBI from 237 batting bases = .447
Jose Abreu, CWS 117 RBI from 272 batting bases = .430
Miguel Cabrera DET 75 RBI from 182 batting bases = .412
Teoscar Hernandez, TOR 116 RBI from 288 batting bases = .403
Franmil Reyes CLE 85 RBI from 218 batting bases = .390
Kyle Seagar, SEA 101 RBI from 264 batting bases = .383
Bobby Dalbec BRS 78 RBI from 206 batting bases = .379
Jed Lowrie OAK 69 RBI from 182 batting bases = .379
Randal Grichok TOR 81 RBI from 216 batting bases = .375
Giancarlo Santon NYY 97 RBI from 263 batting bases = .369
Pitchers
On Base Percentage
Carlos Rodon CWS 135 baserunners of 534 batters faced = .253
John Means BAL 155 baserunners of 590 batters faced = .263
Robbie Ray TOR 206 baserunners of 773 batters faced = .266
Lance Lynn CWS 170 baserunners of 641 batters faced = .265
Gerrit Cole NYY 194 baserunners of 726 batters faced = .267
Lucas Giolito, CWS 199 baserunners of 720 batters faced = .276
Chris Bassitt OAK 177 baserunners of 637 batters faced = .278
Jose Berrios MIN/TOR 219 baserunners of 781 batters faced = .280
Steven Matz TOR 207 baserunners of 647 batters faced = .281
Shohei Ohtani, LAA 152 baserunners of 533 batters faced = .285
Scoring Percentage
Carlos Rodon CWS 35 earned runs from 135 baserunners = .250
Cal Quantrill CLE 48 earned runs from 185 baserunners = .259
Framber Valdez, HOU 47 earned runs from 179 baserunners = .263
Lance McCullars HOU 57 earned runs from 208 baserunners = .274
Lance Lynn CWS 47 earned runs from 170 baserunners = .276
Frankie Montas 70 earned runs from 241 baserunners = .290
Robbie Ray TOR 61 earned runs from 206 baserunners = .296
Shane McClanahan TB 47 earned runs from 159 baserunners = .296
Shohei Ohtani, LAA 46 earned runs from 152 baserunners = .303
Luis Garcia, TB 57 earned runs from 185 baserunners = .308
Comments: Ohtani had the highest rate of base production but it resulted in only 157 runs, well off the top ten there. But the fact that he also showed up on the pitcher top tens makes him a strong MVP candidate. Guerrero is the most logical traditional MVP candidate but neither one of them was on a playoff team. As a matter of facto only Rafael Devers, Jose Altuve and Jose Abreu finished in either of the main batting top tens and made the playoffs. Of those only Devers appeared in both and the playoffs. Maybe it should go to him. Or maybe it should go to Austin Meadows, the top clutch hitter. I think I’d go with Ohtani, whose combined achievements are amazing. Rodon seems an obvious choice for Cy Young.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Hitters
Bases Produced
Juan Soto, WAS 422 in 151 games (2.79) and 654 plate appearances (.645)
Bryce Harper, PHI 413 in 141 games (2.93) and 599 plate appearances (.689)
Freddie Freeman, ATL 393 in 159 games (2.47) and 695 plate appearances (.565)
Trae Turner, WAS/LAD 392 in 148 games (2.65) and 646 plate appearances (.607)
Paul Goldschmidt STL 389 in 158 games (2.46) and 679 plate appearances (.573)
Fernando Tatis Jr., SD 379 in 130 games (2.92) and 546 plate appearances (.694)
Ozzie Albies, ATL 374 in 156 games (2.40) and 686 plate appearances (.545)
Bryan Reynolds, PIT 372 in 159 games (2.34) and 646 plate appearances (.576)
Austin Riley, ATL 365 in 160 games (2.28) and 662 plate appearances (.551)
Pete Alonso, NYM 354 in 152 games (2.33) and 637 plate appearances (.556)
Runs Produced
Ozzie Albies, ATL 179 in 156 games (1.15) and 686 plate appearances (.261)
Juan Soto, WAS 177 in 151 games (1.17) and 654 plate appearances (.271)
Freddie Freeman, ATL 172 in 159 games (1.08) and 695 plate appearances (.261)
Manny Machado, SD 170 in 153 games (1.11) and 640 plate appearances (.266)
Paul Goldschmidt STL 170 in 158 games (1.08) and 679 plate appearances (.250)
Austin Riley, ATL 165 in 160 games (1.03) and 662 plate appearances (.249)
Nick Castellanos CIN 161 in 138 games (1.17) and 585 plate appearances (.275)
Bryan Reynolds, PIT 159 in 159 games (1.00) and 646 plate appearances (.246)
Trae Turner, WAS/LAD 156 in 148 games (1.05) and 646 plate appearances (.241)
Fernando Tatis Jr., SD 154 in 130 games (1.18) and 546 plate appearances (.282)
Clutch Hitting
Jesus Aguilar MIA 93 RBI from 206 batting bases =.451
Adam DuVall MIA/ATL 113 RBI from 252 batting bases = .448
Yadier Molina, STL 66 RBI from 163 batting bases = .405
Joey Votto CIN 99 RBI from 252 batting bases = .395
Manny Machado, SD 106 RBI from 276 batting bases = .394
Avisail Garcia MIL 86 RBI from 226 batting bases = .381
Andrew McCutcheon PIT 80 RBI from 214 batting bases = .374
Will Smith LAD 76 RBI from 205 batting bases = .371
Josh Bell WAS 88 RBI from 237 batting bases = .371
Charlie Blackmon Col 78 RBI from 276 batting bases =.370
Pitchers
On Base Percentage
Max Scherzer WAS/LAD 165 baserunners of 693 batters faced = .238
Corbin Burnes MIL 163 baserunners of 657 batters faced = .248
Walker Buehler LAD 207 baserunners of 705 batters faced = .254
Brandon Woodruff MIL 180 baserunners of 708 batters faced = .254
Freddy Peralta MIL 151 baserunners of 508 batters faced = .260
Clayton Kershaw, LAD 127 baserunners of 488 batters faced = .260
Zach Wheeler Phil 223 baserunners of 849 batters faced = .262
Kevin Gausman SF 204 baserunners of 775 batters faced = .263
Julio Urias LAD 196 baserunners of 745 batters faced = .263
Adam Wainwright STC 227 baserunners of 828 batters faced = .274
Anthony DeSchafani SF 185 baserunners of 676 batters faced = .274
Scoring Percentage
Trevor Rogers, MIA 39 earned runs from 158 baserunners = .247
Adrian Houser MIL 51 earned runs from 191 baserunners = .267
Walker Buehler LAD 57 earned runs from 207 baserunners = .275
Corbin Burris, MIL 45 earned runs from 163 baserunners = .276
Wade Miley CIN 61 earned runs from 219 baserunners = .279
Brandon Woodruff MIL 51 earned runs from 180 baserunners = .283
Marcus Stroman NYM 60 earned runs from 212 baserunners = .283
Logan Webb SF 50 earned runs from 172 baserunners = .291
Kevin Gausman SF 60 earned runs from 204 baserunners = .294
Zach Wheeler PHI 66 earned runs from 223 baserunners = .296
Comments: Juan Soto is probably already the best player in the league. He his .313, waled 145 times and hit 29 home runs. His OPS if you prefer that was .999, easily the best. But his team gave up on the season and wound up 65-97, so he’s not likely to win MVP. His former teammate Trea Turner has a good chance: he won the batting title at .328 and was almost a 30-30 man, showing power with 28 homers and speed with 32 steals – and he wound up with the Dodgers. Atlanta has a triumvirate of Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley but being part of a triumvirate isn’t helpful to an MVP candidate. Fernando Tatis has some numbers, but his team faded.
Jake DeGrom was on his way to blowing away all these pitchers: his On-Base percentage was .160 and his Scoring percentage was .212. But you have to stay healthy. In his first two Cy Young seasons, he struck our 11.2 and 11.3 batters per 9 innings. He was on a rate of 14.3 when his season ended. I think starting pitchers these days think that since they are only going to through the line-up twice, they might as well throw like they were closers instead of having full-game strategies and painting the strike zone. I also wonder where the Mets would have wound up if they still had Zach Wheeler and Stephen Matz.
Julio Urias was the only 20 game winner in the major leagues at 20-3, (that’s what it takes now: win 87% of your decisions). Nobody else had more than 17. But Urias’ teammate, Walker Buehler, had better overall numbers and won 80% of his decisions, (16-4). Hopefully the voters will see that. A pitcher’s won-lost record meant something when starters pitched complete games. But starting pitchers are now part of a team of pitchers that pitch the games. Who is on the mound when the winning run is scored isn’t all that significant. You’ve got to look pas the won-lost record. Maybe we should just drop 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. (From my 2019 intro), 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, two 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, (in 2019), 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 bases. 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? (In 2018), 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, then 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.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Hitters
Bases Produced
Vladimir Guerrero TOR 453 in 161 games (2.81) and 698 plate appearances (.649)
Shohei Ohtani, LAA 440 in 155 games (2.84) and 639 plate appearances (.689)
Marcus Siemen TOR 432 in 162 games (2.67) and 724 plate appearances (.597)
Cedric Mullins BAL 401 in 159 games (2.52) and 675 plate appearances (.594)
Jose Ramirez, CLE 396 in 152 games (2.61) and 636 plate appearances (.623)
Rafael Devers, BOS 385 in 156 games (2.47) and 664 plate appearances (.580)
Aaron Judge NYY 380 in 148 games (2.57) and 633 plate appearances (.600)
Bo Bichette TOR 375 in 159 games (2.36) and 690 plate appearances (.543)
Salvatore Perez KC 366 in 161 games (2.27) and 665 plate appearances (.550)
Jose Altuve HOU 365 in 146 games (2.50) and 678 plate appearances (.538)
Runs Produced
Bo Bichette TOR 194 in 159 games (1.22) and 690 plate appearances (.281)
Vladimir Guerrero TOR 186 in 161 games (1.16) and 698 plate appearances (.266)
Jose Ramirez, CLE 178 in 152 games (1.17) and 636 plate appearances (.280)
Rafael Devers, BOS 176 in 156 games (1.13) and 664 plate appearances (.265)
Jose Abreu, CWS 173 in 152 games (1.14) and 659 plate appearances (.263)
Matt Olson OAK 173 in 156 games (1.11) and 673 plate appearances (.257)
Marcus Siemen TOR 172 in 162 games (1.06) and 724 plate appearances (.238)
Mitch Haniger SEA 171 in 157 games (1.09) and 691 plate appearances (.247)
Carlos Correa HOU 170 in 148 games (1.15) and 640 plate appearances (.266)
Jose Altuve HOU 169 in 146 games (1.16) and 678 plate appearances (.249)
Clutch Hitting
Austin Meadows TB 106 RBI from 237 batting bases = .447
Jose Abreu, CWS 117 RBI from 272 batting bases = .430
Miguel Cabrera DET 75 RBI from 182 batting bases = .412
Teoscar Hernandez, TOR 116 RBI from 288 batting bases = .403
Franmil Reyes CLE 85 RBI from 218 batting bases = .390
Kyle Seagar, SEA 101 RBI from 264 batting bases = .383
Bobby Dalbec BRS 78 RBI from 206 batting bases = .379
Jed Lowrie OAK 69 RBI from 182 batting bases = .379
Randal Grichok TOR 81 RBI from 216 batting bases = .375
Giancarlo Santon NYY 97 RBI from 263 batting bases = .369
Pitchers
On Base Percentage
Carlos Rodon CWS 135 baserunners of 534 batters faced = .253
John Means BAL 155 baserunners of 590 batters faced = .263
Robbie Ray TOR 206 baserunners of 773 batters faced = .266
Lance Lynn CWS 170 baserunners of 641 batters faced = .265
Gerrit Cole NYY 194 baserunners of 726 batters faced = .267
Lucas Giolito, CWS 199 baserunners of 720 batters faced = .276
Chris Bassitt OAK 177 baserunners of 637 batters faced = .278
Jose Berrios MIN/TOR 219 baserunners of 781 batters faced = .280
Steven Matz TOR 207 baserunners of 647 batters faced = .281
Shohei Ohtani, LAA 152 baserunners of 533 batters faced = .285
Scoring Percentage
Carlos Rodon CWS 35 earned runs from 135 baserunners = .250
Cal Quantrill CLE 48 earned runs from 185 baserunners = .259
Framber Valdez, HOU 47 earned runs from 179 baserunners = .263
Lance McCullars HOU 57 earned runs from 208 baserunners = .274
Lance Lynn CWS 47 earned runs from 170 baserunners = .276
Frankie Montas 70 earned runs from 241 baserunners = .290
Robbie Ray TOR 61 earned runs from 206 baserunners = .296
Shane McClanahan TB 47 earned runs from 159 baserunners = .296
Shohei Ohtani, LAA 46 earned runs from 152 baserunners = .303
Luis Garcia, TB 57 earned runs from 185 baserunners = .308
Comments: Ohtani had the highest rate of base production but it resulted in only 157 runs, well off the top ten there. But the fact that he also showed up on the pitcher top tens makes him a strong MVP candidate. Guerrero is the most logical traditional MVP candidate but neither one of them was on a playoff team. As a matter of facto only Rafael Devers, Jose Altuve and Jose Abreu finished in either of the main batting top tens and made the playoffs. Of those only Devers appeared in both and the playoffs. Maybe it should go to him. Or maybe it should go to Austin Meadows, the top clutch hitter. I think I’d go with Ohtani, whose combined achievements are amazing. Rodon seems an obvious choice for Cy Young.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Hitters
Bases Produced
Juan Soto, WAS 422 in 151 games (2.79) and 654 plate appearances (.645)
Bryce Harper, PHI 413 in 141 games (2.93) and 599 plate appearances (.689)
Freddie Freeman, ATL 393 in 159 games (2.47) and 695 plate appearances (.565)
Trae Turner, WAS/LAD 392 in 148 games (2.65) and 646 plate appearances (.607)
Paul Goldschmidt STL 389 in 158 games (2.46) and 679 plate appearances (.573)
Fernando Tatis Jr., SD 379 in 130 games (2.92) and 546 plate appearances (.694)
Ozzie Albies, ATL 374 in 156 games (2.40) and 686 plate appearances (.545)
Bryan Reynolds, PIT 372 in 159 games (2.34) and 646 plate appearances (.576)
Austin Riley, ATL 365 in 160 games (2.28) and 662 plate appearances (.551)
Pete Alonso, NYM 354 in 152 games (2.33) and 637 plate appearances (.556)
Runs Produced
Ozzie Albies, ATL 179 in 156 games (1.15) and 686 plate appearances (.261)
Juan Soto, WAS 177 in 151 games (1.17) and 654 plate appearances (.271)
Freddie Freeman, ATL 172 in 159 games (1.08) and 695 plate appearances (.261)
Manny Machado, SD 170 in 153 games (1.11) and 640 plate appearances (.266)
Paul Goldschmidt STL 170 in 158 games (1.08) and 679 plate appearances (.250)
Austin Riley, ATL 165 in 160 games (1.03) and 662 plate appearances (.249)
Nick Castellanos CIN 161 in 138 games (1.17) and 585 plate appearances (.275)
Bryan Reynolds, PIT 159 in 159 games (1.00) and 646 plate appearances (.246)
Trae Turner, WAS/LAD 156 in 148 games (1.05) and 646 plate appearances (.241)
Fernando Tatis Jr., SD 154 in 130 games (1.18) and 546 plate appearances (.282)
Clutch Hitting
Jesus Aguilar MIA 93 RBI from 206 batting bases =.451
Adam DuVall MIA/ATL 113 RBI from 252 batting bases = .448
Yadier Molina, STL 66 RBI from 163 batting bases = .405
Joey Votto CIN 99 RBI from 252 batting bases = .395
Manny Machado, SD 106 RBI from 276 batting bases = .394
Avisail Garcia MIL 86 RBI from 226 batting bases = .381
Andrew McCutcheon PIT 80 RBI from 214 batting bases = .374
Will Smith LAD 76 RBI from 205 batting bases = .371
Josh Bell WAS 88 RBI from 237 batting bases = .371
Charlie Blackmon Col 78 RBI from 276 batting bases =.370
Pitchers
On Base Percentage
Max Scherzer WAS/LAD 165 baserunners of 693 batters faced = .238
Corbin Burnes MIL 163 baserunners of 657 batters faced = .248
Walker Buehler LAD 207 baserunners of 705 batters faced = .254
Brandon Woodruff MIL 180 baserunners of 708 batters faced = .254
Freddy Peralta MIL 151 baserunners of 508 batters faced = .260
Clayton Kershaw, LAD 127 baserunners of 488 batters faced = .260
Zach Wheeler Phil 223 baserunners of 849 batters faced = .262
Kevin Gausman SF 204 baserunners of 775 batters faced = .263
Julio Urias LAD 196 baserunners of 745 batters faced = .263
Adam Wainwright STC 227 baserunners of 828 batters faced = .274
Anthony DeSchafani SF 185 baserunners of 676 batters faced = .274
Scoring Percentage
Trevor Rogers, MIA 39 earned runs from 158 baserunners = .247
Adrian Houser MIL 51 earned runs from 191 baserunners = .267
Walker Buehler LAD 57 earned runs from 207 baserunners = .275
Corbin Burris, MIL 45 earned runs from 163 baserunners = .276
Wade Miley CIN 61 earned runs from 219 baserunners = .279
Brandon Woodruff MIL 51 earned runs from 180 baserunners = .283
Marcus Stroman NYM 60 earned runs from 212 baserunners = .283
Logan Webb SF 50 earned runs from 172 baserunners = .291
Kevin Gausman SF 60 earned runs from 204 baserunners = .294
Zach Wheeler PHI 66 earned runs from 223 baserunners = .296
Comments: Juan Soto is probably already the best player in the league. He his .313, waled 145 times and hit 29 home runs. His OPS if you prefer that was .999, easily the best. But his team gave up on the season and wound up 65-97, so he’s not likely to win MVP. His former teammate Trea Turner has a good chance: he won the batting title at .328 and was almost a 30-30 man, showing power with 28 homers and speed with 32 steals – and he wound up with the Dodgers. Atlanta has a triumvirate of Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman and Austin Riley but being part of a triumvirate isn’t helpful to an MVP candidate. Fernando Tatis has some numbers, but his team faded.
Jake DeGrom was on his way to blowing away all these pitchers: his On-Base percentage was .160 and his Scoring percentage was .212. But you have to stay healthy. In his first two Cy Young seasons, he struck our 11.2 and 11.3 batters per 9 innings. He was on a rate of 14.3 when his season ended. I think starting pitchers these days think that since they are only going to through the line-up twice, they might as well throw like they were closers instead of having full-game strategies and painting the strike zone. I also wonder where the Mets would have wound up if they still had Zach Wheeler and Stephen Matz.
Julio Urias was the only 20 game winner in the major leagues at 20-3, (that’s what it takes now: win 87% of your decisions). Nobody else had more than 17. But Urias’ teammate, Walker Buehler, had better overall numbers and won 80% of his decisions, (16-4). Hopefully the voters will see that. A pitcher’s won-lost record meant something when starters pitched complete games. But starting pitchers are now part of a team of pitchers that pitch the games. Who is on the mound when the winning run is scored isn’t all that significant. You’ve got to look pas the won-lost record. Maybe we should just drop it.
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