Backstage
Menu
Statting Lineup
Blog Posts
For those that enjoy reading, seeing visuals, and having immediate access to data sources that are used. The frequency of posts varies greatly and merely depends on when I have an idea come to mind and when I have the time to address it. Feel free to contact me with any blog ideas or desires.
An Application of My New Player Value Metric on the 2010 Season: Batting Value and Silver Sluggers9/18/2022 In my last post, I used the Fielding Value portion of my new Player Value metric to determine which players should have won a Gold Glove in 2010, as well as which two players were deserving of the Platinum Glove, had the award existed then. You can read about my Player Value metric here and an important addendum to the metric here. As a quick summary of the metric, each player gets credited and docked for the run-value of each event they achieve, from hitting a home run to striking out. These values are applied on a 'per opportunity' basis, such as per plate appearance or per inning. These are then compared to a player's positional first quartile value. If you hit fewer HR per PA than your position's first quartile, that means you are in the bottom 25% of home run hitters at your position, for example. We multiply the differences by a player's total # of opportunities to credit players that are able to stay healthy and play more. In this post, I will use the Batting Value portion of my Player Value metric to determine which players should have won a Silver Slugger, as well as which two players should have won the Hank Aaron Award in each league. Then I'll look at how Batting Value varies by position to show that it is not biased towards or against any particular position. Any player that is an elite hitter at their position has the chance to add the same amount of value. This is because of the inherent offensive expectations of each position. I don't reward guys that play positions that are more prone to product offensively like first base, right field, or DH because it is expected that guys that play those positions are good at offense. Each additional event that a player makes is basically worth the same, regardless of your position. Here's a look at the offensive expectations (first quartile values) by position in 2010: First basemen, third basemen, corner outfielders, and designated hitters clearly tend to do more offensively. To compare a player to a league-wide average or first quartile would obviously benefit him if he played one of these positions, and hurt him if he played a different position like shortstop. Because of this, we compare players to their positional first quartile, and we weight each player's first quartile values depending on their proportion of games played at each position. So a 100% second baseman gets different first quartile values than a 60% second baseman that also plays 40% of his games at first. Here's a quick reminder of the run value weights for the relevant offensive events: Single: .30 runs Double: .58 runs Triple: .91 runs Home Run: 1.29 runs Unintentional Walk: .22 runs Intentional Walk: .17 runs Hit By Pitch: .24 runs Sacrifice Bunt: -.22 runs Sacrifice Fly: -.10 runs Strikeout: -.34 runs Groundball Double Play: -.75 runs Other Out: -.33 runs Note that I don't claim ultimate precision for my run value weights, so these have been rounded to 2 decimal places from the values shown in the Player Value explanation posts. Also recall that stolen bases and caught stealings are placed into Baserunning Value, a separate portion of total Player Value. SILVER SLUGGERS View the 2010 NL Silver Slugger winners here. View the 2010 AL Silver Slugger winners here. Read about the award and how it is decided here. The idea of the award is for it to go to the best hitting player at each position in each league. However, they only look at batting average, home runs, RBI, and total bases when deciding which players are the "best hitters". It's been around since 1980 and is voted on by MLB managers and coaches. Catchers NL Catcher Actual Winner: Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves NL Catcher Player Value Winner: Geovany Soto, Chicago Cubs A pretty close call here. Soto led MLB and the NL with a Batting Value of 20.35, while McCann finished 3rd in MLB and 2nd in the NL with a Batting Value of 17.34. Both players spent about 99% of their time at catcher, and about 1% as the DH. Soto had a Batting Value Average of -.0444, while McCann had a Batting Value Average of -.0662. I know the negative values for Batting Value Average is a little tricky to interpret, but it makes sense in the context of a game where being successful roughly only 1/3 of the time is considered doing a good job. A player with a positive Batting Value Average is truly defying the laws of baseball and contributing more as a batter than they are causing harm. For the most part, a player should just seek to have a less negative Batting Value Average, meaning contributing more relative to their peers. A player with a positive Batting Value Average has done alarmingly well. Here are their batting rate values compared to their first quartiles, in the order of batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and wOBA: Soto: .280 vs .248, .393 vs .309, .497 vs .344, .890 vs .671, .387 vs .300 McCann: .269 vs .249, .375 vs .309, .453 vs .345, .828 vs .672, .362 vs .300 So Soto generally had higher rate values than McCann, while also having lower first quartile values than McCann since he spent slightly more time at catcher than at DH. Not surprisingly, DH's generally are better hitters than catchers. Here are some of their traditional batting counting stats: Soto: 387 PA, 54 1B, 19 2B, 0 3B, 17 HR, 53 RBI, 58 uBB, 4 IBB, 0 HBP, 83 SO, 0 SH, 3 SF, 5 GIDP McCann: 566 PA, 83 1B, 25 2B, 0 3B, 21 HR, 77 RBI, 64 uBB, 10 IBB, 9 HBP, 98 SO, 0 SH, 4 SF, 12 GIDP McCann has more of most events types given his more plate appearances, but some things like doubles, homers, and unintentional walks are pretty close considering the nearly 200 additional plate appearances that McCann had. In considering how a first quartile catcher would have fared had they played as often, here is how above and below they were in the different offensive events: Soto: 1.77 less singles, 4.75 more doubles, .01 less triples, 12.09 more homers, 35.68 more unintentional walks, 42.31 more strikeouts, 2.69 more intentional walks, 1.93 less hit by pitches, 0 more sac bunts, .90 more sac flies, 2.78 less groundball double plays, and 21.46 less other outs McCann: 1.48 more singles, 4.14 more doubles, .01 less triples, 13.77 more homers, 31.27 more unintentional walks, 38.28 more strikeouts, 8.09 more intentional walks, 6.19 more hit by pitches, 0 more sac bunts, .93 more sac flies, .64 more groundball double plays, 1.81 more other outs Baseball Reference has Soto with an Rbat of 19 in 2010, and McCann with an Rbat of 18. FanGraphs has Soto at a wRAA of 20.5, the 2nd most in MLB and highest in the NL. They have McCann with a wRAA of 18.4, the 4th most in MLB and 2nd highest in the NL. My metric thus agrees with Rbat and wRAA that Soto was a better offensive player than McCann. The worst offensive catcher in the NL was Ivan Rodriguez of the Washington Nationals, with a Batting Value of -22.32. It was a tough penultimate season for the Hall of Famer, as Pudge's Rbat was -13 and his wRAA was -13.1, the 9th worst in MLB and 2nd worst in the NL. Koyie Hill of the Cubs had the worst wRAA in the NL at -14.8, and I had his Batting Value at -15.26. AL Catcher Actual Winner: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins AL Catcher Player Value Winner: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins This award was handed out correctly, as Mauer led the AL and was 2nd in MLB among catchers with a Batting Value of 17.40. The next highest in the AL was Victor Martinez of the Boston Red Sox, who had a Batting Value of 11.34. Mauer spent about 83% of his time at catcher and the remaining 13% at DH, while Martinez played catcher 86% of the time, first base 11% of the time, and DH 3% of the time. Mauer had a Batting Value Average of -.0622 compared to a first quartile of -.1169, while Martinez had a Batting Value Average of -.0726 vs a first quartile of 0.1206. Here are how Mauer and Martinez compared against their first quartiles in terms of AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA: Mauer: .327 vs .252, .402 vs .317, .469 vs .359, .871 vs .695, .377 vs .309 Martinez: .302 vs .248, .400 vs .309, .447 vs .343, .847 vs .670, .368 vs .299 Here are how Mauer and Martinez compare in terms of some traditional counting batting stats: Mauer: 584 PA,114 1B, 43 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 75 RBI, 51 uBB, 14 IBB, 3 HBP, 0 SH, 6 SF, 53 SO, 19 GIDP Martinez: 538 PA, 96 1B, 32 2B, 1 3B, 20 HR, 79 RBI, 35 uBB, 5 IBB, 0 HBP, 0 SH, 5 SF, 52 SO, 17 GIDP Here are how Mauer and Martinez compare relative to their first quartiles overall: Mauer: +31.59 1B, +20.75 2B, +.85 3B, -.11 HR, +14.37 uBB, -15.21 SO, +11.89 IBB, +.25 HBP, +0 SH, +2.79 SF, +7.83 GIDP, +27.28 other Outs Martinez: +19.53 1B, +11.93 2B, +.97 3B, +11.98 HR, +1.78 uBB, -8.38 SO, +2.98 IBB, -2.57 HBP, +0 SH, +2.06 SF, +6.52 GIDP, +47.95 other Outs Mauer's Rbat was 26, while Martinez's Rbat was 15. Mauer had a wRAA of 26.1, the highest in MLB and the AL. Martinez had a wRAA of 18.6, the 3rd most in MLB and 2nd most in the AL. The worst offensive catcher in the AL was Jason Kendall of the Kansas City Royals, with a Batting Value of -18.59. It was a tough final season for Kendall, who had an Rbat of -19 and a wRAA of -16, the 3rd worst in MLB and the AL. Jeff Mathis of the Angels had the worst wRAA at -17.7, and I had his Batting Value at -17.32 for the 4th worst in MLB and 3rd worst in the AL. First Basemen NL First Base Actual Winner: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals NL First Base Player Value Winner: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds Votto led MLB and the NL with a Batting Value of 41.30. Across all positions, Votto had the 2nd largest Batting Value in MLB and the largest in the NL. Pujols had a Batting Value of 36.42, good for 3rd in MLB and 2nd in the NL at first base. Both players were 100% first basemen, and the position's first quartile Batting Value Average was -.0906. Votto had a Batting Value Average of -.0092, and Pujols had a Batting Value Average of -.0209. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Votto: .324 vs .250, .424 vs .332, .600 vs .406, 1.024 vs .749, .438 vs .332 Pujols: .312 vs .250, .414 vs .332, .596 vs .406, 1.011 vs .749, .419 vs .332 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Votto: 648 PA, 102 1B, 36 2B, 2 3B, 37 HR, 113 RBI, 83 uBB, 8 IBB, 7 HBP, 0 SH, 3 SF, 125 SO, 11 GIDP Pujols: 700 PA, 101 1B, 39 2B, 1 3B, 42 HR, 118 RBI, 65 uBB, 38 IBB, 4 HBP, 0 SH, 6 SF, 76 SO, 23 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their firrst quartiles: Votto: +17.84 1B, +10.42 2B, +2 3B, +18.07 HR, +25.67 uBB, +24.7 SO, +3.73 IBB, +4.76 HBP, +0 SH, -.73 SF, +.78 GIDP, -18.97 other Outs Pujols: +10.08 1B, +11.36 2B, +1 3B, +21.55 HR, +3.07 uBB, -32.35 SO, +33.38 IBB, +1.58 HBP, +0 SH, +1.97 SF, +11.96 GIDP, +31.73 other Outs Votto had an Rbat of 56, and Pujols had an Rbat of 54. Votto had a wRAA of 60.6, the most in MLB and in the NL. Pujols had a wRAA of 54.6, the 3rd most in MLB and 2nd most in the NL. The worst offensive first baseman in the NL was Garrett Jones of the Pittsburgh Pirates, with a Batting Value of -23.15. He had an Rbat of -4 and a wRAA of -3.1. The lowest wRAA in the NL was Jeff Clement of the Pirates at -8, who I had at a Batting Value of -10.45. AL First Base Actual Winner: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers AL First Base Player Value Winner: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers Another Silver Slugger awarded correctly, as Miggy led the AL and finished 2nd in MLB with a Batting Value of 40.38. This was good for 3rd most in MLB and 2nd most in the AL across all positions. His closest competitor at first base was Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox, who had a Batting Value of 31.04. Cabrera had a 99%/1% split between time at first base and DH, while Konerko had an about 85%/15% split. Cabrera had a Batting Value Average of -.0105 compared to a first quartile of -.0904, while Konerko had a Batting Value Average of -.0226 vs a first quartile of -.0877. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Cabrera: .328 vs .250, .420 vs .332, .622 vs .406, 1.042 vs .749, .431 vs .332 Konerko: .312 vs .253, .393 vs .336, .584 vs .411, .977 vs .760, .417 vs .336 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Cabrera: 648 PA, 96 1B, 45 2B, 1 3B, 38 HR, 126 RBI, 57 uBB, 32 IBB, 3 HBP, 0 SH, 8 SF, 95 SO, 17 GIDP Konerko: 631 PA, 101 1B, 30 2B, 1 3B, 39 HR, 111 RBI, 65 uBB, 7 IBB, 5 HBP, 0 SH, 6 SF, 110 SO, 9 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Cabrera: +11.87 1B, +19.37 2B, +.99 3B, +19.06 HR, -.33 uBB, -5.49 SO, +27.74 IBB, +.76 HBP, +0 SH, +4.27 SF, +6.79 GIDP, +3.25 other Out Konerko: +19.46 1B, +4.57 2B, +.85 3B, +20.43 HR, +9.15 uBB, +10.16 SO, +3 IBB, +2.84 HBP, +0 SH, +2.36 SF, -.79 GIDP, +14.19 other Out Cabrera had an Rbat of 55, and Konerko had an Rbat of 48. Cabrera had a wRAA of 57.1, the 2nd most in MLB and most in the AL. Konerko had a wRAA of 4784, the 4th most in MLB and 2nd most in the AL. The worst offensive first baseman in the AL was Casey Kotchman of the Seattle Mariners with a Batting Value of -30.82. Kotchman also had the worst wRAA in MLB and the AL at -18.5. He had the 3rd worst Batting Value in MLB across all positions. Second Basemen NL Second Base Actual Winner: Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins NL Second Base Player Value Winner: Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins This one was also rewarded correctly, as Uggla led the NL and was 2nd in MLB with a Batting Value of 33.34. Rickie Weeks of the Milwaukee Brewers was the next closest, finishing 3rd in MLB and 2nd in the NL with a Batting Value of 30.16. Uggla was 100% a second baseman, while Weeks spent 99% of his time at second and was a DH 1% of the time. Uggla had a Batting Value Average of -.0516 vs a first quartile of -.1112, while Weeks had a Batting Value Average of -.0609 vs a first quartile of -.1109. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Uggla: .287 vs .267, .369 vs .329, .508 vs .374, .877 vs .699, .382 vs .311 Weeks: .269 vs .267, .366 vs .329, .464 vs .375, .830 vs .699, .368 vs .311 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Uggla: 674 PA, 105 1B, 31 2B, 0 3B, 33 HR, 105 RBI, 76 uBB, 2 IBB, 2 HBP, 0 SH, 5 SF, 149 SO, 9 GIDP Weeks: 754 PA, 110 1B, 32 2B, 4 3B, 29 HR, 83 RBI, 76 uBB, 0 IBB, 25 HBP, 0 SH, 2 SF, 184 SO, 5 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Uggla: +.6 1B, +4.06 2B, -1.31 3B, +26.1 HR, +32.25 uBB, +71.98 SO, +1.75 IBB, -2.21 HBP, -1.51 SH, +2.04 SF, +.06 GIDP, -48.03 other Outs Weeks: -6.66 1B, +1.84 2B, +2.54 3B, +21.19 HR, +26.94 uBB, +97.53 SO, -.3 IBB, +20.3 HBP, -1.68 SH, -1.32 SF, -5.01 GIDP, -59.41 other Outs Uggla had an Rbat of 27, while Weeks had an Rbat of 22. Uggla had a wRAA of 32.7, the 2nd most in MLB and most in the NL. Weeks had a wRAA of 28.1, the 4th most in MLB and 3rd most in the NL. In between them was Kelly Johnson of the Dbacks with a wRAA of 30.8, who I had with a Batting Value of 28.34 (4th most in MLB, 3rd most in the NL). The worst offensive second baseman in the NL was Ryan Theriot of the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a Batting Value of -18.04. He played 96 games with the Cubs and 54 with the Dodgers. He had an Rbat of -11 and a wRAA of -17.7, the 2nd most in MLB and most in the NL. AL Second Base Actual Winner: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees AL Second Base Player Value Winner: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees This one was right on the money, as Cano led all of MLB and the AL with a Batting Value of 35.99. His closest competitor was Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox, with a Batting Value of 14.53. Cano was about a 99% second baseman and 1% DH, while Pedroia was 100% a second baseman. Cano had a Batting Value Average of -.0489 vs a first quartile of -.1107, and Pedroia had a Batting Value Average of -.0597 vs a first quartile of -.1112. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Cano: .319 vs .267, .381 vs .329, .534 vs .375, .914 vs .700, .391 vs .311 Pedroia: .288 vs .267, .367 vs .329, .493 vs .374, .860 vs .699, .373 vs .311 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Cano: 696 PA, 127 1B, 41 2B, 3 3B, 29 HR, 109 RBI, 43 uBB, 14 IBB, 8 HBP, 0 SH, 5 SF, 77 SO, 19 GIDP Pedroia: 351 PA, 50 1B, 24 2B, 1 3B, 12 HR, 41 RBI, 36 uBB, 1 IBB, 3 HBP, 2 SH, 4 SF, 83 SO, 4 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Cano: +19.45 1B, +13.14 2B, +1.65 3B, +21.7 HR, -2.39 uBB, -3.08 SO, +13.71 IBB, +3.67 HBP, -1.54 SH, +1.93 SF, +9.76 GIDP, +10.68 other Outs Pedroia: -4.37 1B, +9.97 2B, +.32 3B, +8.41 HR, +13.22, -2.11 SO, +.87 IBB, +1.81 HBP, +1.21 SH, +4.46 SF, +2.34 GIDP, +8.55 other Outs Cano had an Rbat of 33, while Pedroia had an Rbat of 10. Cano had a wRAA of 39, the most in MLB and in the AL. Pedroia had a wRAA of 14.7, the 2nd most in the AL. The worst offensive second baseman in the AL was Luis Valbuena of the Cleveland Indians, with a Batting Value of -17.9. He had an Rbat of -18 and a wRAA of -18.7, the worst in MLB and in the AL. Third Basemen NL Third Base Actual Winner: Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals NL Third Base Player Value Winner: Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals This one was also awarded correctly, as Zimmerman led MLB and the NL with a Batting Value of 22.07. The next most in the NL was David Wright of the New York Mets, who had a Batting Value of 17.23. Both guys were about 99% third basemen and 1% DHs. Zimmerman had a Batting Value Average of -.0505 vs a first quartile of -.1068, while Wright had a Batting Value Average of -.0614 vs a first quartile of -.1069. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Zimmerman: .307 vs .247, .388 vs .320, .510 vs .397, .899 vs .721, .390 vs .316 Wright: .283 vs .247, .354 vs .320, .503 vs .397, .856 vs .721, .366 vs .316 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Zimmerman: 603 PA, 104 1B, 32 2B, 0 3B, 25 HR, 85 RBI, 63 uBB, 6 IBB, 4 HBP, 0 SH, 5 SF, 98 SO, 16 GIDP Wright: 670 PA, 98 1B, 36 2B, 3 3B, 29 HR, 103 RBI, 60 uBB, 9 IBB, 2 HBP, 0 SH, 12 SF, 161 SO, 12 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Zimmerman: +19.78 1B, +5.52 2B, -1.09 3B, +12.14 HR, +30.99 uBB, +20.11 SO, +4.41 IBB, +2.49 HBP, +0 SH, +0 SF, +4.02 GIDP, +.15 other Outs Wright: +4.42 1B, +6.58 2B, +1.79 3B, +14.71 HR, +24.45 uBB, +74.49 SO, +7.23 IBB, +.33 HBP, +0 SH, +6.44 SF, -1.31 GIDP, -29.64 other Outs Zimmerman had an Rbat of 31, and Wright had an Rbat of 22. Zimmerman had a wRAA of 33.1, the 2nd most in MLB and most in the NL. Wright had a wRAA of 24.1, good for 4th most in MLB and 2nd most in the NL. The worse offensive third baseman in the NL was Pedro Feliz of the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals, with a Batting Value of -36.14. In his final season, Feliz played 97 games with the Astros and 40 games with the Cardinals. He had an Rbat of -10 and a wRAA of -29.5, the worst in MLB and in the NL. His Batting Value was the 2nd worst in MLB across all positions. AL Third Base Actual Winner: Adrian Beltre, Boston Red Sox AL Third Base Player Value Winner: Adrian Beltre, Boston Red Sox And yet another award given out correctly! Silver Sluggers are turning out pretty well. Beltre came 2nd in MLB and led the AL with a Batting Value of 20.78. Finishing just behind him was Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays with a Batting Value of 20.35. Both players were 100% third basemen, where the positional first quartile Batting Value Average was -.1071. Beltre had a Batting Value Average of -.0549 and Longoria had a Batting Value Average of -.0565. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Beltre: .321 vs .247, .365 vs .320, .553 vs .396, .919 vs .720, .391 vs .316 Longoria: .294 vs .247, .372 vs .320, .507 vs .396, .879 vs .720, .375 vs .316 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Beltre: 641 PA, 110 1B, 49 2B, 2 3B, 28 HR, 102 RBI, 30 uBB, 10 IBB, 5 HBP, 0 SH, 7 SF, 82 SO, 25 GIDP Longoria: 661 PA, 96 1B, 46 2B, 5 3B, 22 HR, 104 RBI, 60 uBB, 12 IBB, 5 HBP, 0 SH, 10 SF, 124 SO, 15 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Beltre: +20.41 1B, +20.85 2B, +.84 3B, +14.37 HR, -3.86 uBB, -.57 SO, +8.32 IBB, +3.4 HBP, +0 SH, +1.67 SF, +12.24 GIDP, +27.17 other Outs Longoria: +3.61 1B, +16.98 2B, +3.81 3B, +7.95 HR, +25.08 uBB, +38.85 SO, +10.27 IBB, +3.35 HBP, +0 SH, +4.5 SF, +1.84 GIDP, -8.12 other Outs Beltre had an Rbat of 29, and Longoria had an Rbat of 30. Beltre had a wRAA of 35.8, the most in MLB and in the AL. Longoria had a wRAA of 28.8, the 3rd most in MLB and 2nd most in the AL. The worst offensive third baseman in the AL was Jose Lopez of Seattle Mariners, with a Batting Value of -38.26. In fact, Lopez had the worst Batting Value in MLB across all positions. You may recall from my last post that Lopez had the highest Fielding Value among AL third basemen, but his terrible batting was more than enough to make him a poor third baseman overall. Lopez had an Rbat of -22, and a wRAA of -25.6, the 3rd worst in MLB and 2nd worst in the AL. Brandon Wood of the Angels had the worst wRAA in the AL at -28.7, and I had his Batting Value at -28.37 for 3rd worst in MLB and 2nd worst in the AL. Shortstops NL Shortstop Actual Winner: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies NL Shortstop Player Value Winner: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies This Silver Slugger was also given out correctly, as Tulo led MLB and the NL with a Batting Value of 39.75. Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins finished 2nd in MLB and the NL with a Batting Value of 32.78. Both players were 100% shortstops, where the first quartile Batting Value Average was -.1261. Tulowtizki had a Batting Value Average of -.0405 and Ramirez had a Batting Value Average of -.0627. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Tulowitzki: .315 vs .250, .381 vs .294, .568 vs .326, .949 vs .652, .406 vs .294 Ramirez: .300 vs .250, .378 vs .294, .475 vs .326, .853 vs .652, .369 vs .294 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Tulowitzki: 529 PA, 86 1B, 32 2B, 3 3B, 27 HR, 95 RBI, 44 uBB, 4 IBB, 5 HBP, 1 SH, 5 SF, 78 SO, 17 GIDP Ramirez: 619 PA, 112 1B, 28 2B, 2 3B, 21 HR, 76 RBI, 52 uBB, 12 IBB, 7 HBP, 0 SH, 5 SF, 93 SO, 14 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Tulowitzki: +.37 1B, +13.25 2B, +1.37 3B, +23.27 HR, +20.48 uBB, +14.62 SO, +3.14 IBB, +2.84 HBP, -1.48 SH, +2.86 SF, +10.49 GIDP, -23.57 other Outs Ramirez: +11.8 1B, +6.06 2B, +.1 3B, +16.63 HR, +24.47 uBB, +18.84 SO, +10.99 IBB, +4.47 HBP, -2.9 SH, +2.5 SF, +6.39 GIDP, -20.2 other Outs Tulowitzki had an Rbat of 24, and Hanley Ramirez had an Rbat of 20. Tulo had a wRAA of 36.1, the most in MLB and in the NL. Ramirez had a wRAA of 23.9, the 2nd most in MLB and in the NL. The worst offensive shortstop in the NL was Brendan Ryan of the St. Louis Cardinals, with a Batting Value of -15.71. Like Jose Lopez, Ryan was also an elite defender and terrible hitter, but fortunately unlike Lopez, Ryan's fielding at least outweighs his batting. Ryan had an Rbat of -26 and a wRAA of -25.6, the 3rd worst in MLB and worst in the NL. AL Shortstop Actual Winner: Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox AL Shortstop Player Value Winner: Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox This makes for 7 awards in a row handed out correctly! Alexei Ramirez led the AL with a Batting Value of 8.87, but finished 6th in MLB overall. Among the other NL shortstops that were superior batters are Stephen Drew of the Dbacks, Rafael Furcal of the Dodgers, and Jose Reyes of the Mets. The next highest in the AL was technically Alex Gonzalez, but he had a near 50/50 split between the Blue Jays and the Braves in 2010. The next highest solely AL player was Marco Scutaro of the Boston Red Sox, with a Batting Value of 6.84. If you'll recall from my last post, interestingly enough Ramirez was also the best fielding shortstop in the AL, while Scutaro was the worst. Ramirez was 100% a shortstop, while Scutaro was 89% a shortstop and 11% a second baseman. Ramirez had a Batting Value Average of -.1015 vs a first quartile of -.1261, and Scutaro had a Batting Value Average of -.1042 vs a first quartile of -.1245. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, and wOBA first quartile comparisons: Ramirez: .282 vs .250, .313 vs .294, .431 vs .326, .744 vs .652, .324 vs .294 Scutaro: .275 vs .252, .333 vs .298, .388 vs .331, .721 vs .657, .321 vs .296 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Ramirez: 626 PA, 116 1B, 29 2B, 2 3B, 18 HR, 70 RBI, 25 uBB, 2 IBB, 2 HBP, 7 SH, 5 SF, 82 SO, 12 GIDP Scutaro: 695 PA, 125 1B, 38 2B, 0 3B, 11 HR, 56 RBI, 52 uBB, 1 IBB, 3 HBP, 4 SH, 3 SF, 71 SO, 14 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Ramirez: +14.67 1B, +6.82 2B, +.07 3B, +13.58 HR, -2.84 uBB, +7 SO, +.98 IBB, -.56 HBP, +4.07 SH, +2.47 SF, +4.3 GIDP, +29.48 other Outs Scutaro: +13.02 1B, +13.03 2B, -2.05 3B, +5.86 HR, +19.56 uBB, -11.85 SO, -.04 IBB, +0 HBP, +.93 SH, +.17 SF, +4.38 GIDP, +45.83 other Outs Ramirez had an Rbat of 0 and Scutaro had an Rbat of -5. Ramirez had a wRAA of 1.7, which is highest in the AL among mainly shortstops but just 10th most in MLB. Jed Lowrie of the A's comes out higher at 11.8, but he didn't spend at least 50% of his time at any one position so I have him down as a utility guy. Scutaro had a wRAA of 0.1. The worst offensive shortstop in the AL was Cesar Izturis of the Baltimore Orioles, with a Batting Value of -22.86. He had an Rbat of -30 and a wRAA of -29.7, the worst in MLB and in the AL. Outfielders NL Outfield Actual Winner #1: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies NL Outfield Actual Winner #2: Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals NL Outfield Actual Winner #3: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers NL Outfield Player Value Winner #1: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies NL Outfield Player Value Winner #2: Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals (Best LF) NL Outfield Player Value Winner #3: Colby Rasmus, St. Louis Cardinals (Best CF) NL Rightfield Player Value Winner: Jayson Werth, Philadelphia Phillies Got 2 out of the 3 outfield Silver Sluggers correct. Cargo led the NL and finished 3rd in MLB among outfielders with a Batting Value of 40.02. Cardinals teammates Holliday and Rasmus finished 2nd and 3rd in the NL and 4th and 5th in MLB with Batting Values of 33.73 and 24.74, respectively. Braun had a Batting Value of 20.47, which was 4th in MLB and 2nd in the NL among left fielders. Werth had a Batting Value of 22.2, the 2nd most in MLB and most in the NL among right fielders. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, and Batting Value Average first quartile comparisons: Gonzalez: .336 vs .257, .376 vs .329, .598 vs .390, .974 vs .726, .413 vs .323, -.0281 vs -.1016 Holliday: .312 vs .262, .390 vs .332, .532 vs .386, .922 vs .730, .397 vs .324, -.0423 vs -.0996 Rasmus: .276 vs .249, .361 vs .319, .498 vs .364, .859 vs .680, .369 vs .307, -.0577 vs -.1149 Braun: .304 vs .262, .365 vs .332, .501 vs .386, .866 vs .730, .378 vs .324, -.0624 vs -.0996 Werth: .296 vs .259, .388 vs .338, .532 vs .427, .921 vs .775, .396 vs .339, -.0402 vs -.0888 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Gonzalez: 636 PA, 120 1B, 34 2B, 9 3B, 34 HR, 117 RBI, 32 uBB, 8 IBB, 2 HBP, 0 SH, 7 SF, 135 SO, 9 GIDP Holliday: 675 PA, 112 1B, 45 2B, 1 3B, 28 HR, 103 RBI, 59 uBB, 10 IBB, 8 HBP, 0 SH, 2 SF, 93 SO, 13 GIDP Rasmus: 534 PA, 74 1B, 28 2B, 3 3B, 23 HR, 66 RBI, 54 uBB, 9 IBB, 1 HBP, 2 SH, 4 SF, 148 SO, 5 GIDP Braun: 684 PA, 117 1B, 45 2B, 1 3B, 25 HR, 103 RBI, 55 uBB, 1 IBB, 6 HBP, 0 SH, 3 SF, 105 SO, 17 GIDP Werth: 652 PA, 89 1B, 46 2B, 2 3B, 27 HR, 85 RBI, 76 uBB, 6 IBB, 7 HBP, 0 SH, 9 SF, 147 SO, 11 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Gonzalez: +30.79 1B, +8.67 2B, +6.48 3B, +24.07 HR, -9.63 uBB, +41.77 SO, +6.73 IBB, -.41 HBP, -.35 SH, +4.63 SF, +1.49 GIDP, -16.92 other Outs Holliday: +14.16 1B, +16.59 2B, -.78 3B, +19.07 HR, +15.71 uBB, -.46 SO, +8.92 IBB, +4.91 HBP, +0 SH, -.94 SF, +5.81 GIDP, +18.4 other Outs Rasmus: +1.3 1B, +10.01 2B, +.02 3B, +18.19 HR, +19.88 uBB, +69.12 SO, +8.14 IBB, -1.02 HBP, +1.2 SH, +2.41 SF, +.04 GIDP, -41.16 other Outs Braun: +17.86 1B, +16.21 2B, -.81 3B, +15.95 HR, +11.13 uBB, +10.29 SO, -.09 IBB, +2.87 HBP, +0 SH, +.02 SF, +9.71 GIDP, +19.6 other Outs Werth: -1.18 1B, +17.48 2B, -.55 3B, +9.67 HR, +30.7 uBB, +44.6 SO, +4.04 IBB, +5.24 HBP, -.13 SH, +6.55 SF, +.4 GIDP, -23.72 other Outs Gonzalez had an Rbat of 36 and a wRAA of 46.8, the 3rd most in MLB and most in the NL among outfielders. Holliday had an Rbat of 39 and a wRAA of 41.2, the 4th most in MLB and 2nd most in the NL. Rasmus had an Rbat of 20 and a wRAA of 20.4. Braun had an Rbat of 30 and a wRAA of 31.3, the 4th most in the NL. Werth had an Rbat of 34 and a wRAA of 39, the 3rd most in the NL. So the other advanced metrics treat outfielders more uniformly since they get compared to league averages across all positions. My Batting Value metric rewards Rasmus more by acknowledging that his level of offensive production was rare and unique among centerfielders. However, do recall that Rasmus had the 2nd worst Fielding Value in the NL among outfielders. The worst offensive outfielders in the NL were Jeff Francoeur of the New York Mets with a Batting Value of -21.89, Garrett Anderson of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a Batting Value of -17.25, and Carlos Lee of the Houston Astros with a Batting Value of -16.21. Francouer spent some time with the Rangers (15 games), but spent the vast majority of the year in the NL with the Mets (124 games). He had an Rbat of -13 and a wRAA of -10.6, the 5th worst in the NL. Anderson had an Rbat of -14 in his final season and a wRAA of -15, the 2nd worst in MLB and in the NL. Lee has the unique distinction of being among the 3 worst outfielders in the NL in terms of both Fielding Value and Batting Value. He had an Rbat of -9 and a wRAA of -5.9. Nyjer Morgan of the Washington Nationals had the worst wRAA in MLB and in the NL at -15.3, and I had his Batting Value at -11.66. AL Outfield Actual Winner #1: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers AL Outfield Actual Winner #2: Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays AL Outfield Actual Winner #3: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays AL Outfield Player Value Winner #1: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers (Best LF) AL Outfield Player Value Winner #2: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays (Best RF) AL Outfield Player Value Winner #3: Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays AL Centerfield Player Value Winner: Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays Hamilton led MLB and the AL outfielders with a Batting Value of 48.48. He also led MLB across all positions. Bautista finished 2nd in MLB and the AL among outfielders with a Batting Value of 40.29, good for 4th in MLB and 2nd in the AL across all positions. Crawford finished 3rd best in the AL among outfielders with a Batting Value of 21.10, so we have quite a disparity between the top 2 and the rest. Wells led all AL centerfielders with a Batting Value of 21.08, but was barely surpassed by Crawford among all outfield positions. That means we got all 3 of the AL outfielders right! Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, and Batting Value Average first quartile comparisons: Hamilton: .359 vs .259, .411 vs .331, .633 vs .384, 1.044 vs .724, .445 vs .322, -.0085 vs -.1016 Bautista: .260 vs .257, .378 vs .334, .617 vs .425, .995 vs .768, .422 vs .336, -.0160 vs -.0913 Crawford: .307 vs .262, .356 vs .333, .495 vs .387, .851 vs .731, .369 vs .324, -.0598 vs -.0993 Wells: .273 vs .250, .331 vs .320, .515 vs .365, .847 vs .683, .363 vs .308, -.0707 vs -.1141 Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Hamilton: 571 PA, 111 1B, 40 2B, 3 3B, 32 HR, 100 RBI, 38 uBB, 5 IBB, 5 HBP, 1 SH, 4 SF, 95 SO, 11 GIDP Bautista: 683 PA, 56 1B, 35 2B, 3 3B, 54 HR, 124 RBI, 98 uBB, 2 IBB, 10 HBP, 0 SH, 4 SF, 116 SO, 10 GIDP Crawford: 657 PA, 122 1B, 30 2B, 13 3B, 19 HR, 90 RBI, 43 uBB, 3 IBB, 3 HBP, 3 SH, 5 SF, 104 SO, 2 GIDP Wells: 646 PA, 83 1B, 44 2B, 3 3B, 31 HR, 88 RBI, 45 uBB, 5 IBB, 3 HBP, 0 SH, 3 SF, 84 SO, 18 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Hamilton: +30.55 1B, +17.17 2B, +1.08 3B, +24.29 HR, +.24 uBB, +12.63 SO, +3.93 IBB, +2.57 HBP, +.76 SH, +1.66 SF, +4.97 GIDP, -12.3 other Outs Bautista: -38.65, +4.47 2B, +.94 3B, +35.62 HR, +52.94 uBB, +13.48 SO, -.15 IBB, +8.25 HBP, -.01 SH, +.44 SF, -2.27 GIDP, +24.86 other Outs Crawford: +26.94 1B, +2.32 2B, +11.27 3B, +10.15 HR, +.64 uBB, +12.69 SO, +1.92 IBB, +.01 HBP, +3 SH, +2.12 SF, -5.03 GIDP, +32.54 other Outs Wells: -4.83 1B, +22.1 2B, -.55 3B, +24.92 HR, +3.43 uBB, -11.77 SO, +3.92 IBB, +.56 HBP, -.95 SH, +1.05 SF, +11.94 GIDP, +56.49 other Outs Hamilton had an Rbat of 51 and a wRAA of 56.8, the most in MLB and the AL. Bautista also had an Rbat of 51 and a wRAA of 55.1, the 2nd most in MLB and the AL. Crawford had an Rbat of 28 and a wRAA of 25.2. Wells had an Rbat of 19 and a wRAA of 21.9. Shin-Soo Choo and Nick Swisher rated better than Crawford and Wells in terms of wRAA at 33.6 and 29.5, respectively. I had Choo still faring pretty well with a Batting Value of 13.43, but Swisher not as much at 6.46. The worst offensive outfielders in the AL were Juan Pierre of the Chicago White Sox with a Batting Value of -19.95, Trevor Crowe of the Cleveland Indians with a Batting Value of -18.50, and Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners with a Batting Value of -15.38. Ichiro! What! But he batted .315! Sure, but his slugging, OPS, wOBA, and Batting Value Average are all worse than the first quartile. Ichiro gets a lot of hits, but the vast majority of them are singles, and he doesn't walk very often. His teammate Franklin Gutierrez had the worst wRAA in the AL at -15.43, and had a Batting Value of -10.17. Pierre had the 2nd worst wRAA in the AL at -11.1. Pitchers and Designated Hitters NL Pitcher Actual Winner: Yovani Gollardo, Milwaukee Brewers NL Pitcher Player Value Winner: Yovani Gollardo, Milwaukee Brewers Nowadays the hitting ability of a pitcher no longer really matters, but in 2010 pitchers in the NL still hit and could provide value in that manner. Gallardo led all NL pitchers with a Batting Value of 9.07, and was properly identified as the best hitting pitcher in the league. The next best was Dan Haren of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who had a Batting Value of 7.90. Starters get more plate appearances so they have more opportunities to increase their Batting Value. The best hitting relief pitcher was Gustavo Chacin of the Houston Astros with a Batting Value of 1.29. Pitchers in the AL can still provide Batting Value when on the road against NL teams, but the amounts generally aren't consequential so I won't dive into those. No Silver Slugger award is given to AL pitchers. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, and Batting Value Average first quartile comparisons: Gallardo: .254 vs .104, .329 vs .127, .508 vs .113, .837 vs .246, .631 vs .650, -.940 vs -1.162 Haren: .364 vs .104, .375 vs .127, .527 vs .113, .902 vs .246, .996 vs .650, -.993 vs -1.162 An .837 OPS for a pitcher is certainly something to marvel at, but granted that he did this in only 72 plate appearances. Shohei Ohtani had a .965 OPS in 2021 with 639 plate appearances. According to Stathead, Gallardo's season ranks as the 65th best pitcher season in terms of OPS among pitchers with at least 70 plate appearances. Haren's OPS was even better, but he had even fewer plate appearances with just 57. Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Gallardo: 72 PA, 8 1B, 4 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 5 uBB, 0 IBB, 2 HBP, 2 SH, 0 SF, 17 SO, 0 GIDP Haren: 57 PA, 13 1B, 6 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 uBB, 0 IBB, 0 HBP, 1 SH, 0 SF, 9 SO, 0 GIDP Gallardo had the most homers by a pitcher in MLB in 2010, and nobody else even had more than 1. Haren had the most doubles, but Gallardo was tied for 3rd. Given the smallness of their counting stats, I won't dive into how they compare above/below their first quartiles for the different stats. Both Gallardo and Haren had an Rbat of 3. Haren actually led with a wRAA of 3.3, with Gallardo in 2nd at 2.5. The worst offensive pitcher in the NL was Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a Batting Value of -7.32. Kershaw was the 6th best NL pitcher at pitching in 2010, but his poor batting actually puts him behind Gallardo in terms of overall value. Even in small quantities, every additional hit/walk/etc that a team can get is valuable. Kershaw had an Rbat of -13 and a wRAA of -15.4, also the worst in the NL. AL Designated Hitter Actual Winner: Vladimir Guerrero, Texas Rangers AL Designated Hitter Player Value Winner: Jim Thome, Minnesota Twins This one hurt to see. Vladimir Guerrero is my favorite player and the reason my favorite number is 27. And on the surface he had a great penultimate season in his lone year with the Rangers, hitting 29 homers and batting .300. He won his 9th Silver Slugger and appeared in his 8th All-Star game, and finished 11th in MVP voting. But his Batting Value was just -3.40. Thome had a notably superior Batting Value of 20.04. As was the case for all seasons prior to 2022, there was no DH in the NL in 2010. Here are their AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, and Batting Value Average first quartile comparisons: Vlad: .300 vs .270, .345 vs .353, .496 vs .438, .841 vs .816, .363 vs .356, -.0719 vs -.0736 Thome: .283 vs .271, .412 va .355, .627 vs .438, 1.039 vs .820, .439 vs .358, -.0070 vs -.0719 We can see that where Vlad gains over Thome in batting average, he quickly gets outgained in terms of on-base percentage. My man liked to hit and would swing at anything thrown his way. Walking wasn't his forte, and neither was mine. Here are their traditional counting batting stats: Vlad: 643 PA, 121 1B, 27 2B, 1 3B, 29 HR, 115 RBI, 30 uBB, 5 IBB, 9 HBP, 0 SH, 6 SF, 60 SO, 19 GIDP Thome: 340 PA, 35 1B, 16 2B, 2 3B, 25 HR, 59 RBI, 56 uBB, 4 IBB, 2 HBP, 0 SH, 2 SF, 82 SO, 8 GIDP Here are their comparisons relative to their first quartiles: Vlad: +39.18 1B, -1.78 2B, -.16 3B, +9.5 HR, -25.59 uBB, -52.21 SO, +1.99 IBB, +6.93 HBP, +0 SH, +2.37 SF, +9.7 GIDP, +99.53 other Outs Thome: -7.71 1B, +.8 2B, +1.47 3B, +14.6 HR, +25.83 uBB, +21.86 SO, +2.34 IBB, +.88 HBP, +0 SH, +0 SF, +3.2 GIDP, -15.99 other Outs Like was the problem with Ichiro, Vlad didn't walk enough. He did have some power, but he also grounded into too many double plays. He also had a decent knack for getting plunked, something I can relate to in my high school playing days as well. Thome had an Rbat of 32 and a wRAA of 32, the highest among DHs. Vlad had an Rbat of 14 and a wRAA of 21.9, the 4th best among DHs. So the assertion that Thome was better than Vlad and was the best hitting DH isn't unique. The worst offensive designated hitter in the AL was Adam Lind of the Toronto Blue Jays, with a Batting Value of -23.64. He had an Rbat of -12 and a wRAA of -5.6, the 6th worst among DHs. Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners had the worst wRAA among DHs at -9.2, and I had his Batting Value at -12.86, the 5th worst. SILVER SLUGGER SUMMARY Now that we've gone through each position and each league, here's a quick summary of the players that should have won the Silver Slugger at each position, based on Batting Value: AL C - Joe Mauer (actual winner), Twins 1B - Miguel Cabrera (actual winner), Tigers 2B - Robinson Cano (actual winner), Yankees 3B - Adrian Beltre (actual winner), Red Sox SS - Alexei Ramirez (actual winner), White Sox OF - Josh Hamilton (actual winner), Rangers OF - Carl Crawford (actual winner), Rays OF - Jose Bautista (actual winner), Blue Jays DH - Jim Thome, Twins NL C - Geovany Soto, Cubs 1B - Joey Votto, Reds 2B - Dan Uggla (actual winner), Marlins 3B - Ryan Zimmerman (actual winner), Nationals SS - Troy Tulowitzki (actual winner), Rockies OF - Carlos Gonzalez (actual winner), Rockies OF - Matt Holliday (actual winner), Cardinals OF - Colby Rasmus, Cardinals P - Yovanni Gallardo (actual winner), Brewers The AL got 8 of their 9 right, and the NL got 6 of their 9 right. We were much better at giving the Silver Sluggers out correctly than we were the Gold Gloves! HANK AARON AWARD The Hank Aaron award is given to the best overall offensive player in the AL and the NL. It is decided between a mix of a fan vote and a panel of Hall of Famers, and was first created in 1999. You can view past winners here. Below are the winners in 2010 compared to which players should have won based on their Batting Value: NL Actual Winner: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds, First Base NL Player Value Winner: Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds, First Base Somehow we correctly identified Votto as the best offensive player in the entire National League but failed to realize that he was the best offensive first baseman in the NL. Granted that the Silver Slugger and Hank Aaron Award don't have the same built-in layering that the Gold Glove and Platinum Glove do, but this result was still odd. AL Actual Winner: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays, Right Field AL Player Value Winner: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers, Left Field Hamilton would be voted the MVP in 2010, and it certainly wasn't for his fielding prowess, so it's odd that Bautista was declared the superior hitter. Sharing of the spoils, I suppose. BATTING VALUE BY POSITION Like I did for the Fielding Value post, I'll now show that Batting Value isn't particularly biased or skewed towards certain positions. Any guy at any position that leads his position in batting can be among the league leaders. A shortstop that gives you +10 home runs over the positional first quartile is just as valuable as a first baseman that does the same thing, even if the first baseman hit 40 homers and the shortstop only hit 20. Here are the boxplots of Batting Value by position: Most positions have pretty similar spreads, with perhaps the exception of catchers. This is likely because they tend to get fewer plate appearances, as the first quartile values by position from earlier showed. Okay, those are the visuals. But what are the actual values? Here are some summary statistics of Batting Value by position: Note that the pitcher values are the values of all pitchers, starters and relievers, in both leagues. In reality, I divide pitchers into 4 groups: AL SP, AL RP, NL SP, and NL RP. The values above are also among all players, not just starters. Thought would have it that since a team's Batting Value correlates well with its runs scored per game, then the teams that have players with the most Batting Value should be the ones that scored the most runs. These also may be the teams that win the most, since run differential per game correlates well with winning percentage (wins per game). Here are the boxplots of Batting Value by team in 2010: Looks like the Reds had a higher median than most teams, and we know they were good in 2010. The Mariners appear to have a lower median than most teams, and they were bad in 2010. And here are summary statistics of Batting Value by team in 2010: Sure enough, the Reds had the highest median Batting Value and went 91-71 and won their division, while the Mariners had the lowest median Batting Value and went 61-101 and came last in their division. Pirates, Orioles, Nationals, and Diamondbacks all had lower median Batting Values and all came last in their divisions. But this isn't perfect, as the Padres had a low median too and won their division. Yankees, Phillies, Braves, and Giants join the Reds as teams with higher medians and good records. The Rockies, however, had a higher median but were barely above .500. Let's cap it off by viewing the runs scored by team in 2010: You'll notice a strong correlation between a team's median Batting Value and its runs scored. Reds, Phillies, Yankees, Rays all towards the top, and Mariners, Pirates, Orioles, Astros, and Nationals all towards the bottom.
So, in conclusion, why use Batting Value and thus Player Value?
Thank you all for reading and let me know your thoughts on the comments below. Also be sure to sign up for my newsletter using the link below to get updates for each post. We've done Fielding Value and Batting Value for 2010, so the last step in the 2010 example rollout of Player Value is Pitching Value and total Player Value. In the next post I plan to go over which players should have won the MVP, Cy Young, Reliever of the Year, and Rookie of the Year in each league. I'll also list out some 1st team and 2nd team honors. Statting Lineup Newsletter Signup Form: If you'd like to receive email updates for each new post that I make, sign up for the Statting Lineup newsletter using the link below: https://weebly.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ab653f474b2ced9091eb248b1&id=3a60f3b85f
0 Comments
An Application of My New Player Value Metric on the 2010 MLB Season: Fielding Value and Gold Gloves9/5/2022 I have recently unveiled my new metric for assessing player value, which you can read about here. I also made some quick changes to the metric, which you can read about in the addendum here. The goal of this metric is to act like WAR, but be more understandable and transparent. For the time being I'm resorting to just calling it 'Player Value', but am open to name change recommendations. As a quick summary of the metric, each player gets credited and docked for the run-value of each event they achieve, from hitting a home run to striking out. These values are applied on a 'per opportunity' basis, such as per plate appearance or per inning. These are then compared to a player's positional first quartile value. If you hit fewer HR per PA than your position's first quartile, that means you are in the bottom 25% of home run hitters at your position, for example. We multiply the differences by a player's total # of opportunities to credit players that are able to stay healthy and play more. In this post I will apply the Fielding Value portion of my Player Value metric to players in the 2010 season to determine who should have won the Gold Glove at each position in each league. I'll also decide who should have won the Platinum Glove based on Fielding Value, if the award had existed back then. Then I'll look at how Fielding Value varies by position to show that it is not biased towards or against any particular position. Any player that is an elite defender at their position has the chance to add the same amount of value. This is because of the inherent defensive expectations of each position. I don't reward 'more difficult' positions to play like catcher, shortstop, or center field because it is expected that guys that play those positions are good at defense. Each additional out a player makes is basically worth the same, regardless of your position. Your shortstop is likely a better defender than your third baseman, yes. But if you have the best defensive third baseman, that's tremendously valuable; you're getting extra outs from that position that other teams aren't. If your shortstop is pretty average compared to ones on other teams, that's not as valuable. We could move the shortstop to third and he would fare better defensively, but likely will fare worse offensively. A player can either uphold the standards of his position or not. I will end by looking at each team's aggregate Fielding Value to show that it does a good job of explaining the runs that a team allows. Here's a look at the defensive expectations (first quartile values) by position in 2010: Catchers and first basemen clearly have higher fielding percentages, make more putouts, and have higher ranges (make more outs per game). Third basemen and shortstops make more assists and more errors. Outfielders get far less defensive chances. It is because of these positional differences that we must compare on a position basis. Even applying the run value of the events leaves things skewed, as we can see in the 'FieldVA' column above that different positions have very different Field Value Average expectations. I chose this season because as a kid from Cincinnati, 2010 was the first good season in my Reds fandom. We made the playoffs for the first time in my life (first berth since 1995) and Joey Votto won the MVP. I thought it would be cool to see if Votto's MVP was merited and if my Player Value metric can explain the success of the Reds (and other teams) that season. Three Reds players won Gold Gloves in 2010 as well. I am eventually going to step through the different awards and look at who actually won them in 2010 compared to who should have won them, according to Player Value. Again in this post I'll just examine the Gold Gloves and Platinum Gloves, but in later posts I'll look at Silver Sluggers, Rookies of the Year, MVPs, Hank Aarons, Relievers of the Year, and Cy Youngs. I can't do hypothetical All-Stars since I don't have the data for specifically the first half of the season only, but I will also determine some First Team and Second Team honors in later posts. Here's a quick reminder of the run value weights for the relevant defensive events: Putout by a non catcher or first baseman: .33 runs Unassisted Putout by a first baseman: .33 runs Non-strikeout Putout by a catcher: .33 runs Assisted Putout by a first baseman: .2*.33 = .066 runs Strikeout Putout by a catcher: .33*.33 = .1089 runs Assist: .8*.33 = .264 runs Error: -.68 runs Double Play: .10 runs Passed Ball: -.26 runs Stolen Base allowed by catcher: -.15 runs Caught Stealing by catcher: .39 runs Note that I don't claim ultimate precision for my run value weights, so these have been rounded to 2 decimal places from the values shown in the Player Value explanation posts. GOLD GLOVES View the 2010 AL Gold Glove winners here. View the 2010 NL Gold Glove winners here. Read how the Gold Gloves are decided and the requirements here. The awards are given out based on a combo of MLB coaches voting and the SABR Defensive Index, which itself is a mix of several different defensive measures. Catchers NL Catcher Actual Winner: Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals NL Catcher Player Value Winner: Miguel Olivo, Colorado Rockies Olivo led all catchers in MLB in 2010 with a Fielding Value of 20.06. Molina finished 4th overall in MLB, and was the 3rd highest in the NL, with a Fielding Value of 16.02. Olivo had a Fielding Value Average of .3817, while Molina had a Fielding Value Average of .3913. The first quartile value for catchers is .2600. The disparity here is because the rate version of Fielding Value does not take the catcher and first base adjustments into consideration, nor does it account for comparing to a player's positional first quartile. Olivo played all 111 of his games at catcher, so he was 100% a catcher. Molina played 135 games at catcher and 7 at first base, so he was only a 95.07% catcher. Thus their positional first quartile values were slightly different, since I weight each player's quartiles based on their proportion of time played at each position. Olivo played 935 innings and Yadier played 1,145 innings. In the eyes of fielding percentage, it makes sense why Molina won. Yadi had a .9950 fielding percentage, above his positional first quartile of .9911. Olivo had a .9900 fielding percentage, actually below his positional first quartile of .9910. It is in terms of range factor that Olivo comes out on top. His range factor per game (RFG) of 7.95 and range factor per 9 innings (RF9) of 8.50 are both well above the catcher first quartile of 6.66 (sorry, folks) and 7.35. Molina's values are 6.91 vs 6.75 and 7.71 vs 7.43. So on a rate basis Molina made fewer errors than Olivo, but Olivo was making more outs than Molina. As for throwing runners out, the catcher first quartile was a 22.77% caught stealing rate. Olivo was well above this at 42.31%, but Molina was even better at 48.53%. However, Olivo was confronted with having to throw runners out more frequently; runners tried to steal on him 78 times, but on Yadi just 68 times. The rate basis matters, but so too does how often you threw guys out at that rate. Throwing out 90% of 1,000 runners is better than throwing out 95% of 100 runners. Those are the more traditional catcher fielding metrics; how about the metrics that Fielding Value actually considers? Olivo made .878 putouts per inning, .066 assists per inning, .01 errors per inning, .01 double plays per inning, allowed .011 passed balls per inning, and had .083 runners attempt to steal on him per inning. Molina's values are .788 PO/Inn, .069 A/Inn, .004 E/Inn, .007 DP/Inn, .011 PB/Inn, and .059 CSopps/Inn. So sure, Molina on a rate basis was throwing more guys out and making fewer errors. But on a per opportunity basis, Olivo was making more outs and having to try to throw more guys out, which he still did at a high rate. Recall that we adjust catchers putouts that are via strikeouts. We assume this is the case for 93% of their putouts, and we give them credit for .33 of the value for these strikeout putouts. The non-strikeout putouts (the other 7%) get the full regular value of a putout. The final values come out that Olivo threw out 15.24 more runners than his positional first quartile, allowed 6.43 fewer runners to steal on him, allowed 6.36 more passed balls, made 5.01 more double plays, recorded 4.59 more errors, had 19.25 more assists, had 92.31 more strikeout putouts, and had 6.95 more non-strikeout putouts. Molina threw out 18.28 more runners, allowed 7.63 less steals, allowed 2.77 more passed balls, made 2.67 more double plays, recorded .31 fewer errors, had 25.73 more assists, had 8.63 more strikeout putouts, .65 more non-strikeout putouts, and .43 more assisted putouts and .05 more unassisted putouts for his time at first base. As an example calculation for Olivo, that would be: 15.24*.39 - 6.43*-.15 + 6.36*-.26 + 5.01*.10 + 4.59*-.68 + 19.25*.8*.33 + 92.31*.33*.33 + 6.95*.33 = 20.07. This is slightly off due to rounding. Nick Hundley had the most putouts above the catcher first quartile in the NL, but Olivo was still near the top while Yadi was near the middle. Yadi did have the most assists, but Olivo was also towards the top. Yadi also had the most caught stealings, but Olivo was 2nd. Olivo was towards the top for double plays, Yadi wasn't. Yadi was on the lower end of errors, while Olivo was on the higher end. In considering all of these with their run value weights, it's Miguel Olivo that comes out on top. Baseball Reference WAR had Molina at an Rfield of 20 in 2010, with Olivo at 11. FanGraphs had Molina with 26 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and 26.4 framing runs. Molina had the highest DRS among NL catchers in 2010. They had Olivo at 10 DRS and -3.4 framing runs. So those metrics tend to prefer Molina as the Gold Glove system did. I'll again highlight that Molina was not graded poorly by Fielding Value; he was the 3rd best defensive catcher in the NL. Shoutout to Jonathan Lucroy of the Milwaukee Brewers, who finished 2nd in the NL with a Fielding Value of 18.24. The advanced metrics liked him more; just 4 Rfield, but 22 DRS and 28.3 framing (highest in NL in 2010). The worst defensive catcher in the NL was Ryan Doumit of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had a Fielding Value of -18.25. The advanced metrics give him an Rfield of -11, -15 DRS (worst in NL), and -20.6 framing (worst in NL). Overall compared to the other advanced defensive metrics, I believe my Fielding Value has tracked well. AL Catcher Actual Winner: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins AL Catcher Player Value Winner: Jose Molina, Toronto Blue Jays So Yadi doesn't get his Gold Glove, but his brother Jose does. Jose Molina led all AL catchers and was 3rd in MLB overall with a Fielding Value of 16.24, just above his brother Yadier. Their brother Bengie also fared pretty well, with a Fielding Value of 9.56. The Molinas could field! Joe Mauer, on the other hand, had a Fielding Value of just -6.30, one of the worst in the AL and MLB overall. Molina's Fielding Value Average was .4199, and Mauer's was just .2427. The first quartile value for catchers is .2600. I'll note that Jose Molina technically wouldn't qualify for the Gold Glove under its minimum playing requirements, as he only played in 56 games. However, the Fielding Value metric does take innings played into consideration; Molina was so defensively great during those 56 games that he was more than able to make up for the 100+ games that he didn't appear in. If we want to be super technical and live and die by the Gold Glove's requirements, then the highest qualifying AL catcher would be Gerald Laird of the Detroit Tigers, who had a Fielding Value of 7.65. Qualifications aside, Bengie Molina would be the 2nd highest AL catcher; he split that season with the Giants and the Rangers, so his 57 games in the AL also wouldn't have been enough. Jose appeared in 56 games at catcher and 1 game as the DH, so he was 98% a catcher. Mauer played in 112 games at catcher and 23 games at DH, so he was 83% a catcher. Note that since DHs don't field, they won't alter the fielding side of our positional first quartiles. Solely defensively speaking, both Jose and Joe were 100% catchers. Jose played about 445 innings, and Mauer played about 952 innings. Both Joe Mauer and Jose Molina had a .996 fielding percentage compared to the positional first quartile of .991. Jose had an RFG of 8.11 and an RF9 of 9.19. Joe's values were 6.52 and 6.90, both below the first quartile values of 6.66 (sorry again, folks) and 7.35. Joe threw out 26.39% of runners, compared to the first quartile mark of 22.77%, but Jose was much better at 44.12%. Given the disparity in innings played, we'll focus on their per inning values. Molina had .938 PO/Inn, .083 A/Inn, .004 E/Inn, .007 DP/Inn, .011 PB/Inn, and .076 CSopps/Inn. Mauer had .731 PO/Inn, .036 A/Inn, .003 E/Inn, .003 DP/Inn, .004 PB/Inn, and also .076 CSopps/Inn. So Mauer is making fewer errors and allowing less passed balls, which certainly are good things, but these don't make up for the superior ability of Molina to make outs overall. Overall compared to the level of a first quartile catcher, Molina gave you 16.67 more assists, .1 less errors, 1.1 more double plays, 3.27 more passed balls, 3.42 fewer stolen bases, 7.26 more caught stealings, 68.59 more strikeout putouts, and 5.16 more non-strikeout putouts. Mauer gave you 6.51 fewer assists, 1.49 less errors, 1.06 less double plays, .3 more passed balls, 5.52 more stolen bases, 2.6 more caught stealings, 35.91 less strikeout putouts, and 2.7 less non-strikeout putouts. Jose Molina had an Rfield of 4, a DRS of 11, and 22.8 framing, the highest in the AL in 2010. Joe Mauer had an Rfield of 3, a DRS of 3, and 5.5 framing. These advanced metrics agree with me that Molina was the better fielder than Mauer. The AL catcher with the highest DRS was Matt Wieters of the Orioles, with 15. My metric didn't like Wieters as much, giving him -1.46 Fielding Value. The worst defensive catcher in the AL was Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees, with a Fielding Value of -7.63. Posada had an Rfield of -14. His DRS of -30 and framing of -23.3 were worst in the AL and MLB overall. First Basemen NL First Base Actual Winner: Albert Pujols, St.Louis Cardinals NL First Base Player Value Winner: Albert Pujols, St.Louis Cardinals Not much to debate here, we got this one right! Albert had a Fielding Value of 39.50, the highest among first basemen in the NL and MLB, and the highest of any player at any position in 2010. This sounds uncharacteristic of Pujols, but he truly was a great fielder this season. He had a Fielding Value Average of .3946, compared the first basemen quartile of .3393. Pujols' closest competitor was Aubrey Huff of the San Francisco Giants, who had a Fielding Value of 19.92, the 3rd highest among MLB first basemen. But since the actual award winner aligns with who Fielding Value prefers, I won't drag this out and compare Pujols to Huff at length. I will note that Huff only played first 56% of the time, spending 26% of his time in left field and 19% of his time in right field. Albert played about 1,381 innings in 157 games all at first base, making him 100% a first basemen. His .998 fielding percentage was above the first quartile of .9923. His RFG of 10.29 and RF9 of 10.53 were above the first quartiles of 8.56 and 9.11. His efforts led to 168.3 more assisted putouts, 18.7 more unassisted putouts, 71.52 more assists, .27 less errors, and 31.51 more double plays than the first quartile first basemen. Pujols had an Rfield of 8, a DRS of 6, and an Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) of 1.8. Those last two values ranked 8th and 16th in MLB. Ike Davis of the New York Mets had the highest DRS in the NL at 13, and the highest UZR in the NL at 10.4. His Fielding Value is 13.49, good for 3rd best in the NL. The worst defensive first baseman in the NL was Gaby Sanchez of the Florida Marlins, with a Fielding Value of -11.12. Sanchez had an Rfield of -10, a DRS of -10, and an UZR of 0.7. His DRS was 6th worst in the NL and MLB. Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers had the worst DRS in the NL and MLB, with -17. He was the 2nd worst in the NL and 3rd worst in MLB with a Fielding Value of -4.64. Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies had the worst UZR in the NL at -12.4, with a mediocre Fielding Value of 2.50. AL First Base Actual Winner: Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees AL First Base Player Value Winner: Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota Twins Cuddyer was 2nd best among MLB first basemen overall and the highest in the AL with a Fielding Value of 21.89. Teixeira was somewhat middle of the pack with a Fielding Value of 7.18, about 8th best in the AL. Cuddyer had a Fielding Value Average of .2287 (compared to his quartile of .2083) and Teixeira had a Fielding Value Average of .3429, compared to the first base quartile of .3393. It can be argued that Cuddyer shouldn't be crowned because he only played 50.3% of his 167 game appearances at first base, or even that his values are somewhat skewed by his fielding diversity, as he played in right field about 40% of the time and at third base another 8% of the time. If that's your stance, then feel free to consider Lyle Overbay of the Toronto Blue Jays as your true 'should have' first base winner. He had a Fielding Value of 16.53 for the 4th most in MLB and was 100% a first basemen. Teixeira was a first baseman 94% of the time and a DH the other 6%, so that won't effect his fielding results any. Cuddyer had a .994 fielding percentage compared to his quartile of .9853. Teixeira had a .998 fielding percentage compared to his quartile of .9923. Cuddyer's RFG is 5.70 vs 5.28 and his RF9 is 6.18 vs 5.65, while Teixeira's RFG is 8.77 vs 8.56 and his RF9 is 9.11 vs 9.11. Cuddyer played 4,160 innings in the field, while Teixeira 3,875. Since both players have pretty different first quartile comparisons, I won't dive into their per inning values. In aggregate compared to their first quartiles, Cuddyer got you 54.47 more putouts while he wasn't a first baseman, 49.62 more assisted putouts as a first baseman, 5.51 more unassisted putouts as a first baseman, 3.68 less assists, 1.76 more errors, and 9.95 more double plays. Teixeira got you 34.14 more assisted putouts, 3.79 more unassisted putouts, .03 more assists, 1 less error, and 29.89 more double plays. Teixeira had an Rfield of 6, a DRS of 6 (4th highest in AL), and an UZR of -1.6. Cuddyer had an Rfield of -20, a DRS of -8, and an UZR of -6.7. So these metrics disagree pretty strongly with Fielding Value on Cuddyer; in fact, his DRS and UZR were worst in the AL among first basemen. Daric Barton of the Oakland Athletics had the highest DRS in the AL at 19, and the highest UZR in the AL at 11.8. Fielding Value liked Barton pretty well, scoring him at 12.13 for the 4th highest in the AL. The worst defensive first baseman in the AL was Mike Napoli of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, with a Fielding Value of -6.96. His Rfield was -6, his DRS was 0, and his UZR was 0.7. Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox had the worst DRS in the AL at -12, and the worst UZR in the AL and MLB at -14. I actually had Konerko faring pretty well with a Fielding Value of 9.72. Second Basemen NL Second Base Actual Winner: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds NL Second Base Player Value Winner: Clint Barmes, Colorado Rockies As a Reds fan it hurt to see BP not come out on top, but he still did pretty well. Barmes led the NL and was 3rd in MLB with a Fielding Value of 20.67. Phillips was 4th in the NL with a Fielding Value of 15.91. Clint had a Fielding Value Average of .1854 against his quartile of .1616, while BP had a Fielding Value Average of .1819 against the second base quartile of .1700. Clint spent about 65% of his time at second and about 35% of his time at shortstop. BP was 100% a second basemen. Clint played about 995 innings, and BP played 1,311 innings. Clint's fielding percentage comparisons are .982 vs .9751, while BP's are .996 vs .9803. Clint's RFG and RF9 comparison are 4.06 vs 4.13 and 4.99 vs 4.47, whereas Brandon's are 4.61 vs 4.29 and 4.81 vs 4.66. The traditional stats clearly favor Brandon, so it's no shocker that he won. After comparing their per inning values to their quartile's per inning values and then multiplying by their innings played, we see that Barmes would have gotten you 23.76 more putouts, 45.59 more assists, 3.10 more errors, and 28.96 more double plays. Phillips would have gotten you 7.36 more putouts, 38.69 more assists, 3.4 less errors, and 9.56 more double plays. Phillips gets you less errors, but Barmes gets you more outs. Barmes basically only appeared worse on a rate basis because of the time he spent playing shortstop. Barmes had an Rfield of 13, but FanGraphs calculates their metrics differently for guys at each position. As a second baseman, he had a DRS of 3 and an UZR of -.9, which are pretty unimpressive. But as a shortstop, he had a DRS of 8 and an UZR of 4.5. Phillips had an Rfield of 10, a DRS of 11, and an UZR of 8.2. So Fielding Value and Rfield at least agree on these players. Chase Utley had the highest DRS in the NL at 17 and the highest UZR in the NL and MLB at 10.4. Utley's Fielding Value was 18.27, good for 3rd best in the NL. The worst defensive second baseman in the NL was Adam Kennedy of the Washington Nationals, with a Fielding Value of -14.01. His Rfield was 0, his DRS was -1 and his UZR was 2. Skip Schumaker had the worst DRS in the NL at -16 and the UZR in the NL at -14.4. Fielding Value disagrees very strongly, scoring him at 20.36 for the 2nd best in the NL and 3rd best in MLB. Schumaker's fielding percentage is below the first quartile, but his range factors are well above the first quartiles. AL Second Base Actual Winner: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees AL Second Base Player Value Winner: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees Hey, our second case of complete agreement! Cano led the AL and all of MLB second basemen with a Fielding Value of 28.81. This was good for the 5th highest across all positions in both leagues. His Fielding Value Average was .1898, compared to the second base first quartile of .1700. Cano appeared in 158 games at second and in 2 games as a DH, making him about 99% a second baseman and just 1% a DH. He played in about 1,393 innings. He boasted a .996 fielding percentage compared to the first quartile of .9803, with a 4.89 vs 4.29 RFG comparison and a 4.99 vs 4.66 RF9 comparison. In total Cano got you 50.18 more putouts, 27.81 more assists, 3.8 less errors, and 23.19 more double plays. It is no surprise that he won the Gold Glove. Cano had an Rfield of 16, a DRS of 18 (highest in the AL and MLB), and a UZR of -.5. The highest UZR in the AL was Orlando Hudson of the Minnesota Twins at 8.7. Hudson's Fielding Value was 26.63, the 2nd highest in the AL and MLB. The worse defensive second baseman in the AL was Chone Figgins of the Seattle Mariners, with a Fielding Value of -12.85. He had an Rfield of -10, a DRS of -7, and an UZR of -11.1 (worst in the AL). The worst DRS in the AL was Mike Aviles of the Kansas City Royals at -8, who actually had a decent Fielding Value of 10.2 Third Basemen NL Third Base Actual Winner: Scott Rolen, Cincinnati Reds NL Third Base Player Value Winner: Placido Polanco, Philladelphi Phillies Alas it appears that I've done another Reds player dirty. Polanco led the NL and MLB with a Fielding Value of 22.02. Rolen still fared well and finished 2nd in the NL with a Fielding Value of 16.67. Polanco's Fielding Value Average was .1139 vs a first quartile of .0916 and Rolen's was .1026 vs .0839. Rolen was 100% a third baseman, while Polanco played third about 91% of the time and second the other 9% of the time. Polanco played 1,157 innings and Rolen played 1,074 innings. Polanco had a fielding percentage of .988 compared to his first quartile of .9545, a RFG of 2.95 vs 2.50, and an RF9 of 3.1 vs 2.68. Rolen had comparisons of .977 vs .952 for fielding percentage, 2.63 vs 2.33 for RFG, and 2.87 vs 2.48 for RF9. Compared to their first quartiles, Polanco would have gotten you 12.52 more putouts, 50.27 more assists, 4.98 less errors, and 12.28 more double plays. Rolen would have gotten you 12.72 more putouts, 40.13 more assists, 1.65 less errors, and 7.61 more double plays. Polanco had an Rfield of 11, a DRS of 7, and an UZR of 11.4 (third highest in NL). Rolen had an Rfield of 10, a DRS of 10, and an UZR of 10 (fourth highest in NL). Chase Headley had the highest DRS in the NL at 16, and the highest UZR in the NL at 16.5. Fielding Value doesn't think much of him, rating him at -2.53. The worst defensive third baseman in the NL was Jorge Cantu of the Florida Marlins (primarily, for 97 games) and the Texas Rangers (for 30 games), with a Fielding Value of -29.49. Cantu also was actually the worst fielder across all positions and both leagues in 2010. He had an Rfield of -13 with the Marlins and -2 with the Rangers. He had a DRS of -13 and an UZR of -9.2, both third worst in the NL. Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs had the worst DRS in the NL at -15, and had the third worst Fielding Value in the NL at -12.76. David Wright of the New York Mets had the worst UZR in the NL at -11, but was favorably seen by Fielding Value with a rating of 13.11, the third best in the NL. If we want to be strict and only focus on players that played entirely in the NL in 2010, then Chris Johnson of the Houston Astros was the worst with a Fielding Value of -17.67. AL Third Base Actual Winner: Evan Longoria, Tamba Bay Rays AL Third Base Player Value Winner: Jose Lopez, Seattle Mariners Lopez led the AL and was 2nd in MLB with a Fielding Value of 21.81. Longoria was still viewed favorably, finishing 5th in the AL with a Fielding Value of 15.13. Lopez had a Fielding Value Average of .1056 and Longoria had a Fielding Value Average of .0962. Both guys were 100% third basemen, where the first quartile Fielding Value Average was .0839. Lopez played about 1,253 innings and Longoria played about 1,331 innings. Lopez's fielding percentage was .960 and Longoria's was .966, both compared to the third base first quartile of .952. Lopez's RFG and RF9 were 3.02 and 3.08 while Longoria's were 2.67 and 2.73, with the first quartile values being 2.33 and 2.48. Lopez would have gotten you 25.03 more putouts, 66.72 more assists, 6.75 more errors, and 5.22 more double plays. Longoria would have gotten you 39.92 more putouts, 4.83 more assists, 2.05 more erros, and 20.74 more double plays. Lopez had an Rfield of 10, a DRS of 11 (4th best in AL) and an UZR of 8.7 (also 4th best in AL). Longoria had an Rfield of 20, a DRS of 17 (2nd best in the AL and MLB), and an UZR of 12.1 (2nd best in the AL and 4th best in MLB). The highest DRS in the AL was Adrian Beltre of the Boston Red Sox with 20, who had a Fielding Value of 15.38 (4th best in AL). The highest UZR in the AL was Kevin Kouzmanoff of the Oakland Athletics with 15.3, who had a Fielding Value of 10.16. The worst defensive third baseman in the AL was Wilson Betemit of the Kansas City Royals, with a Fielding Value of -11.95. I'll note again that Jorge Cantu was worse and spent part of the season in the AL with the Rangers, but most of the year he was in the NL with the Marlins. Betemit had an Rfield of -15, a DRS of -13 (worst in the AL, 5th worst in MLB), and an UZR of -10.1 (worst in the AL, 2nd worst in MLB). Shortstops NL Shortstop Actual Winner: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies NL Shortstop Player Value Winner: Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies Another point of total agreement! Tulo led the NL and all of MLB at SS with a Fielding Value of 35.48. This was good for the 2nd most across all positions and both leagues, behind only Pujols. His Fielding Value Average was .1889 compared to the positional first quartile of .1475. Tulowitzki played in 1,065 innings and was 100% a shortstop in his 122 games. He had a .984 fielding percentage vs the shortstop first quartile of .9658, a RFG of 4.91 vs 3.86, and an RF9 of 5.06 vs 4.16. Tulo would have given you 42.83 more putouts, 62.70 more assists, 1.43 less errors, and 38.23 more double plays. Tulowitzki had an Rfield of 19, a DRS of 16 (2nd/3rd highest in NL), and an UZR of 6.6 (4th highest in NL). The highest DRS in MLB was Alex Gonzalez, who split time that season between the Toronto Blue Jays (AL, 85 games) and the Atlanta Braves (NL, 72 games). Gonzalez had a DRS of 26, and Fielding Value rates him at 11.31. The highest DRS by a solely NL player was Brendan Ryan of the St. Louis Cardinals at 24, who had a Fielding Value of 28.89 (2nd highest in the NL, 3rd highest in MLB). Ryan also had the highest UZR in the NL and MLB at 13.3. The worst defensive shortstop in the NL was Edgar Renteria of the San Francisco Giants, with a Fielding Value of -7.02. This was 5th worst in MLB at short overall. His Rfield was -2, his DRS was -2, and his UZR was 1.8. Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins had the worst DRS in the NL at -17 and the worst UZR in the NL at -9.5. His Fielding Value was -6.86, 2nd worst in the NL. AL Shortstop Actual Winner: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees AL Shortstop Player Value Winner: Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox Ah, the classic 'Jeter was an overrated fielder' discussion' Maybe at least one of his 5 career Gold Gloves will be deserving, but that's not the case for this year. Ramirez led the AL and was 2nd in MLB at SS with a Fielding Value of 30.13. Jeter had a Fielding Value of -9.73, 3rd worst in the AL and MLB! Both these guys were 100% shortstops, where the first quartile Fielding Value Average was .1475. Ramirez had a Fielding Value Average of .1773, and Jeter's was .1425. Ramirez had the 3rd highest Fielding Value across all positions and leagues, behind Pujols and Tulowitzki. Jeter played about 1,304 innings and Ramirez played about 1,377. The shortstop first quartile fielding percentage was .9658, Jeter's was .989, and Ramirez's was .974. But in terms of RFG and RF9, the first quartile values were 3.86 and 4.16, Ramirez had values of 4.79 and 4.89, and Jeter had values of 3.62 and 3.78. Ramirez would have gotten you 31.61 more putouts, 78.51 more assists, 5.22 more errors, and 25.28 more double plays. Jeter would have gotten you 23.86 less putouts, 33.2 less assists, 7.99 less errors, and 14.72 more double plays. Jeter was great at making the routine plays (avoiding errors) but not so much at making plays (having good range). Ramirez had an Rfield of 20, a DRS of 20 (highest in the AL, 3rd most in MLB), and an UZR of 10.5 (highest in AL, 2nd most in MLB). Jeter had an Rfield of -9, a DRS of -5, and an UZR of -4.4. The aforementioned Alex Gonzalez would have been the closest in terms of DRS and UZR. Cliff Pennington of the Oakland Athletics had the next highest Fielding Value in the AL at 24.28. The worst defensive shortstop in the AL was Marco Scutaro of the Boston Red Sox, with a Fielding Value of -21.54. His Rfield was 0, his DRS was -2, and his UZR was -4. Yuniesky Betancourt had the worst DRS and UZR in the AL and in MLB at -23 and -11.5, respectively. Fielding Value disagrees very strongly, rating him at 15.84, the 3rd or 4th most in the AL depending on how you view Gonzalez. Just looking at his baseline stats of fielding percentage, RFG, and RF9, and comparing them to the first quartile, Betancourt is well above the quartile in each, so I'm inclined to believe Fielding Value has him right. Outfielders NL Outfield Actual Winner #1: Michael Bourn, Houston Astros NL Outfield Actual Winner #2: Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies NL Outfield Actual Winner #3: Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies NL Outfield Player Value Winner #1: Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds (Best RF) NL Outfield Player Value Winner #2: Angel Pagan, New York Mets (Best CF) NL Outfield Player Value Winner #3: Andres Torres, San Francisco Giants NL Leftfield Player Value Winner: Gerardo Parra, Arizona Diamondbacks The outfield Gold Gloves are a little weird in that they aren't position specific. They don't go to the best defensive LF/CF/RF, but rather to the 3 best outfielders overall, which normally results in all centerfielders. I find this to be unfair to the quality corner outfielders. Each position has its own offensive and defensive expectations; a right fielder that can exceed those expectations by a greater amount than a center fielder should be rewarded. Sure, the center fielder is probably the better defender, but he's also more easily replaced by any other center fielder; the right fielder would have unique fielding talent. Thus, I don't compare all outfielders to some overall outfielder first quartile, because then we'd just get a bunch of centerfielders being the best fielders and a bunch of corner outfielders being the best hitters. Rather, I compare each outfield position to its own positional first quartile, and then aggregate the comparisons across all outfield positions. So I don't reward the 3 Gold Gloves to the best LF, best CF, and best RF. That's because the 2nd best CF may still have a greater difference above the first quartile than say the best LF, for example. That all said, Jay Bruce led all right fielders and outfielders in the NL and MLB with a Fielding Value of 27.58. Hey, I've given the Reds a Gold Glove after taking 2 away! Angel Pagan led all center fielders in the NL with a Fielding Value of 18.48. Andres Torres was 2nd among NL center fielders with a Fielding Value of 16.33. Gerardo Parra was the best defensive left fielder in the NL with a Fielding Value of 16.03, but he doesn't get a Gold Glove. Michael Bourn had a Fielding Value of 10.89, Carlos Gonzalez had a Fielding Value of -4.42, and Shane Victorino had a Fielding Value of 6. So the NL was 0 for 3 on getting the Gold Gloves right, according to Fielding Value. 'Cargo' was a pretty diverse outfielder, spending about 39% of his time in LF, 36% in CF, and 25% in RF. Victorino and Bourn were 100% center fielders, and Bruce was 100% a right fielder. Pagan was diverse too, with a 18%/61%/21% split between LF/CF/RF, and so too was Torres, with a 23%/51%/26% split. Gerardo Parra had a 64%/6%/30% split. Now let's fire out some fielding percentage, RFG, and RF9 comparisons to first quartiles, for each player, in that order: Bruce .992 vs .9835, 2.40 vs 1.85, and 2.63 vs 2.02 Pagan .987 vs .9848, 2.45 vs 2.13, and 2.71 vs 2.29 Torres .997 vs .9845, 1.96 vs 2.06, and 2.58 vs 2.23 Bourn .992 vs .986, 2.66 vs 2.38, and 2.78 vs 2.54 Victorino .995 vs .986, 2.59 vs 2.38, and 2.38 vs 2.65 Gonzalez .996 vs .9838, 1.66 vs 1.94, and 1.96 vs 2.11 And now let's fire out some putouts, assists, errors, and double plays above/below the first quartiles, for each player, in that order: Bruce +83.95 PO, +1.82 A, +0.89 E, +0 DP Pagan +56.65 PO, +6.37 A, +3.04 E, +1.78 DP Torres +44.56 PO, +3.58 A, -0.74 E, +1.76 DP Bourn +30.44 PO, +5.35 A, +1.12 E, +2 DP Victorino +10.44 PO, +8.18 A, +0 E, +4 DP Gonzalez -18.56 PO, +4.05 A, -0.83 E, +0.75 DP And lastly, let's fire out some Rfield, DRS, and UZR values for each player, in that order: Bruce 17 Rfield, 16 DRS, 19.6 UZR Pagan 21 Rfield, 19 DRS, 16.1 UZR Torres 17 Rfield, 14 DRS, 21.7 UZR (highest in the NL) Bourn 30 Rfield, 28 DRS (highest in the NL), 19.8 UZR Victorino 1 Rfield, 1 DRS, 1.3 UZR Gonzalez 2 Rfield, 1 DRS, -1.5 UZR The worst defensive outfielders in the NL were Carlos Lee of the Houston Astros with a Fielding Value of -19, Colby Rasmus of the St. Louis Cardinals with a Fielding Value of -17.57, and Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a Fielding Value of -15.56. Here are their Rfield, DRS, and UZR values: Lee -17 Rfield, -16 DRS, -17.7 UZR (2nd worst in the NL) Rasmus -6 Rfield, -5 DRS, -6 UZR Kemp -37 Rfield, -33 DRS (worst in the NL and MLB), -25.8 UZR (worst in the NL and MLB) AL Outfield Actual Winner #1: Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners AL Outfield Actual Winner #2: Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle Mariners AL Outfield Actual Winner #3: Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays AL Outfield Player Value Winner #1: Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Rays (Best LF) AL Outfield Player Value Winner #2: Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle Mariners (Best CF) AL Outfield Player Value Winner #3: Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles AL Rightfield Player Value Winner: Nelson Cruz, Texas Rangers The AL fared better, getting 2 out of the 3 Gold Gloves correct according to Fielding Value. Crawford led all left fielders in the AL and MLB and led all outfielders in the AL with a Fielding Value of 23.28. Gutierrez led all center fielders in the AL and MLB with a Fielding Value of 20.99. Adam Jones was 2nd among AL center fielders with a Fielding Value of 20.54. Nelson Cruz doesn't get a Gold Glove, but he did lead the AL among right fielders with a Fielding Value 17.75. Ichiro gets his 10th and last career Gold Glove stripped, falling behind Cruz to finish 2nd in the AL among right fielders with a Fielding Value of 15.37. Crawford was a 98% LF and 2% DH. Gutierrez was a 97% CF and 3% DH. Jones was 100% a CF. Cruz was a 13% LF, 85% RF, and 3% DH. Ichiro was a 99% RF and a 1% DH. Here are their fielding percentage, RFG, and RF9 comparisons: Crawford .994 vs .9823, 2.13 vs 1.61, 2.24 vs 1.76 Gutierrez 1.000 vs .986, 2.84 vs 2.38, 2.92 vs 2.54 Jones .984 vs .986, 2.91 vs 2.38, 3.01 vs 2.54 Ichiro .989 vs .9835, 2.26 vs 1.85, 2.30 vs 2.02 Cruz .981 vs .9832, 2.34 vs 1.81, 2.56 vs 1.99 I went ahead and included Cruz since having a now-prominent DH rating higher than the legendary Ichiro is interesting, and since the AL got 2 players right already we have less other players to compare to. Here are their above/below first quartile putouts, assists, errors, and double plays comparisons: Crawford +69.33 PO, +2.66 A, +0.44 E, +0 DP Gutierrez +60.13 PO, -0.85 A, -2.02 E, +0 DP Jones +63.32 PO, +9.11 A, +4.95 E, +6 DP Ichiro +49.02 PO, +0.90 A, +1.51 E, -0.18 DP Cruz +61.46 PO, -0.73 A, +3.50 E, +0.36 DP Here are their values for Rfield, DRS, and UZR: Crawford 8 Rfield, 8 DRS, 17.9 UZR Gutierrez 0 Rfield, -2 DRS, 5.9 UZR Jones -8 Rfield, -6 DRS, -3.8 UZR Ichiro -1 Rfield, -1 DRS, 14.1 UZR Crus 3 Rfield, 1 DRS, 10.1 UZR Not much agreement with Fielding Value here, it seems. Brett Gardner had the highest DRS in the AL and MLB at 33, and the highest UZR in the AL and MLB at 24.8. Fielding Value rates him at 13.13. The worst defensive outfielders in the AL were Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox with a Fielding Value of -7.85, Grady Sizemore of the Cleveland Indians with a Fielding Value of -4.01, and Michael Brantley of the Cleveland Indians with a Fielding Value of -3.22. I'll note that Willie Bloomquist rated at -5.14 and played 72 games in the AL that season with the Royals, and 11 games in the NL with the Reds. There were a good number of inferior NL outfielders that weren't mentioned previously that fared worse than these worst AL outfielders. Here are our 3 worst AL outfielders Rfield, DRS, and UZR values: Quentin -24 Rfield, -23 DRS (worst in the AL), -25.2 UZR (worst in the AL) Sizemore -3 Rfield, -3 DRS, -1 UZR Brantley -15 Rfield, -13 DRS, -9 UZR Pitchers NL Pitcher Actual Winner: Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati Reds NL Pitcher Player Value Winner: R.A. Dickey, New York Mets Golly, I've done it again! Yet another Red stripped of a Gold Glove. Dickey led all pitchers in the NL and MLB with a Fielding Value of 10.89. Arroyo still fared pretty well with a Fielding Value of 5.83. If we wanted to reward the best defensive NL reliever, that would go to Evan Meek of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a Fielding Value of 7.89. Dickey was a 96% SP and 4% RP, while Arroyo was 100% a SP. Dickey was in the field for about 174 innings, and Arroyo was in the field for about 216 innings. Dickey had a Fielding Value Average of .1174 compared to a first quartile of .0499, while Arroyo's was .0773 vs .0503. Here are their fielding percentage, RFG, and RF9 first quartile comparisons: Dickey 1.000 vs .9384, 2.26 vs 1.01, 3.15 vs 1.53 Arroyo 1.000 vs .9388, 1.48 vs 1.05, 2.04 vs 1.54 Here are their putouts, assists, errors, and double plays above/below their first quartiles: Dickey +10.06 PO, +24.49 A, -0.73 E, +3.16 DP Arroyo +9.31 PO, +6.58 A, -0.93 E, +3.92 DP Pitcher's don't have UZR incorporated into their FanGraphs WAR, and their Baseball Reference Rfields are always set to 0. Both Dickey and Arroyo had DRS values of 8. Evan Meek had a DRS of 2. Jake Westbrook had a DRS of 12 and played 12 games with the Cardinals, but spent most of the season (21 games) with the Indians in the AL. Jon Garland of the San Diego Padres led the NL with a DRS of 9. Westbrook's Fielding Value while in the NL was 6.95, and Garland's was 8 (4th highest). The worst defensive pitcher in the NL was Travis Wood of the Cincinnati Reds with a Fielding Value of -3.35. He had a DRS of 1. The worst defensive reliever in the NL was Ryota Igarashi of the New York Mets with a Fielding Value of -1.4, who also had a DRS of 1. Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants had the worst DRS in the NL at -6, and had a Fielding Value of -2.85 (3rd worst in NL). AL Pitcher Actual Winner: Mark Buehrle, Chicago White Sox AL Pitcher Player Value Winner: Fausto Carmona/Roberto Hernandez, Cleveland Indians The Pitcher Formerly Known As Fausto Carmona, and since revealed to be named Roberto Hernandez, led the AL with a Fielding Value of 9.60. Buehrle fared pretty well too with a Fielding Value of 6.66 (thrice in one post, yeesh). Both these guys were 100% starters. They also both pitched about 210 innings. Hernandez had a Fielding Value Average of .0921, and Buehrle's was .0803. The first quartile for AL starters was .0434. The best defensive AL reliever was Jamey Wright of the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners, who had a Fielding Value of 4.34. Here are the fielding percentage, RFG, and RF9 comparisons: Buehrle 1.0000 vs .9383, 1.52 vs 0.87, 2.14 vs 1.29 Hernandez .9680 vs .9383, 1.85 vs 0.87, 2.61 vs 1.29 Here are the putouts, assists, errors, and double plays above/below comparisons: Buehrle -4.38 PO, 29.02 A, -0.22 E, 2.99 DP Hernandez 13.62 PO, 22.02 A, 1.78 E, 4.99 DP Buehrle led the AL and MLB with a DRS of 12, tied with the aforementioned Jake Westbrook. Westbrook's Fielding Value while in the AL was only 2.26, however. Hernandez had a DRS of 2. Jamey Wright had a DRS of 0. The worst defensive pitcher in the AL was Colby Lewis of the Texas Rangers, with a Fielding Value of -4.47. He had a DRS of -5. Jeremy Bonderman of the Detroit Tigers had the worst DRS in the AL and MLB at -8, but his Fielding Value wasn't nearly as bad at -0.87. GOLD GLOVE SUMMARY Now that we've gone through each position and each league, here's a quick summary of the players that should have won the Gold Glove at each position, based on Fielding Value: AL C - Jose Molina, Blue Jays 1B - Michael Cuddyer, Twins 2B - Robinson Cano (actual winner), Yankees 3B - Jose Lopez, Mariners SS - Alexei Ramirez, White Sox OF - Franklin Gutierrez (actual winner), Mariners OF - Carl Crawford (actual winner), Rays OF - Adam Jones, Orioles P - Fausto Carmona/Roberto Hernandez, Indians NL C - Miguel Olivo, Rockies 1B - Albert Pujols (actual winner), Cardinals 2B - Clint Barmes, Rockies 3B - Placido Polanco, Phillies SS - Troy Tulowitzki (actual winner), Rockies OF - Jay Bruce, Reds OF - Angel Pagan, Mets OF - Andres Torres, Giants P - R.A. Dickey, Mets The AL got 3 of their 9 right, and the NL got 2 of their 9 right. The Mariners led the AL with 2 winners and the Rockies led the NL with 3 winners. PLATINUM GLOVES The Platinum Glove is supposed to be awarded to the best defensive player in each league. You can view past winners here. Only players that also won a Gold Glove are eligible, and the winner is determined via a fan vote. Since the award began in 2011, we don't have an actual player to compare to for the 2010 season. NL Player Value Winner: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals, First Base AL Player Value Winner: Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox, Shortstop As previously mentioned, Pujols led all positions in the MLB with a Fielding Value of 39.50. Alexei Ramirez led all positions in the AL with a Fielding Value of 30.13. Michael Bourn had the highest DRS in the NL among all positions at 28 and the highest UZR in the NL among all positions at 19.8, and as previously mentioned had a Fielding Value of 10.89. Brett Gardner had the highest DRS in the AL among all positions at 25 and the highest UZR in the AL among all positions at 25.8, and as previously mentioned had a Fielding Value of 13.13. I find my metric to be more positionally diverse, as a first baseman and a shortstop won. The advanced metrics seem to be more biased (at least on the sample size of the 2010 season), with the top 2 players both being outfielders. FIELDING VALUE BY POSITION Maybe you've seen the results and think that the metric is flawed since Albert Pujols rated the highest. Surely a first baseman can't be the best defender in the MLB! Well, think again. As explained at the beginning, it's how you compare to everyone else at your position that makes you valuable. To be valuable is to be uniquely good, not good in comparisons that don't matter. If a player has grown up playing baseball and has been groomed into being a shortstop it does not matter AT ALL if he is a better defender than his team's first baseman. It does not matter AT ALL that shortstop is generally a more difficult position to defend. All that matters is that the player is a shortstop and that therefore there are expectations of his defensive ability. There is a pool of available MLB shortstops across the league, and all we care about is how our shortstop is doing compared to everyone else. If I have the worst defensive shortstop in the league and he can't make up for it with his bat, he's got to go. If I have the best defensive first baseman in the league and he can adequately hit, I'll keep him around. The shortstop to first base comparison is of no consequence to my decision; if I swapped the players, my first baseman would probably be the greatest hitting shortstop the world has known and the worst defensive shortstop in history, while my shortstop would be a very poor hitting first baseman and likely not a great defensive one either given the uniqueness of the position. I hope I got my point across and I really can't emphasize this enough; relative to position is all that matters. Let's check out some boxplots of Fielding Value, by position: If anything, center fielders and shortstops have more spread and thus more potential to set themselves apart. But for the most part, players at each position have a similar opportunity to be among the best defenders or among the worst defenders at their position. Let's view some summary statistics of Fielding Value, by position: Note that these values are among all players, not just starters. Guys that don't play much or that are truly about first quartile quality are going to be closer to 0. Guys that play often and are among the bottom 25% are going to have larger negative values. Guys that play often and are not among the bottom 25% are likely to have positive values. So there isn't a universal bad/decent/good scale that we can use for Fielding Value, but players with Fielding Values less than their position's FirstQuart value above are poor defenders, players with Fielding Values around their position's Median value above are average/typical defenders, and players with Fielding Values greater than their position's ThirdQuart value above are good defenders. If your Fielding Value is close to your position's Max value above, you're in elite, Gold Glove territory. If your Fielding Value is close to your position's Min value above... hopefully you can hit or are considering a position or career change. FIELDING VALUE BY TEAM How did Fielding Value do in explaining which teams were the best defensively in 2010? Let's take a look at boxplots of Fielding Value by team: Looks like the Tiger were pretty good at fielding, despite having no Gold Glove winners. The Mariners look pretty good, as do the Reds, the Orioles, and the Twins. Some teams have a few outstanding players but maybe not as good as medians, while other teams have higher medians but no superstars. Let's take a look at the summary statistics of Fielding Value by team in 2010: A lot to take in, but we get some useful pieces of info, and some not. The Reds have a high average and total, and were good in 2010, going 91-71 and winning their division. The Twins have a high average and total, and were also good in 2010, going 94-68 and winning their division. But the Tigers have a high average and total and finished .500 and 3rd in their division. The Rangers and Giants don't look too impressive, but they both went to the World Series. The Nationals and Pirates have low totals and both finished last in their divisions. The Mariners have a low average and finished last in their division. So we can make some conclusions, but nothing too definitive. Of course, fielding is only one piece of the equation. Maybe once we add in batting, pitching, and baserunning, we'll get a clearer picture. I'll also note that the totals above are only for players that played their entire seasons with 1 team. Guys that switched teams got thrown out. Here's a plot of runs allowed by team in 2010: Of course, some of runs allowed are due to pitching, not fielding, but we get a little context here as well. Reds had a high total Fielding Value and are on the lower end of runs allowed. Pirates had a low total Fielding Value and are on the higher end of runs allowed. But Braves and Padres had low total Fielding Values and also low runs allowed, meaning they likely had stellar pitching.
Thank you for reading and I hope you've found this first application of Fielding Value interesting. I plan to do a similar thing (but in much less detail) for the other years. First, however, I will continue the application of Player Value on the 2010 season. Next up will be using Batting Value to determine the 2010 Silver Sluggers, and then I'll use Total Player Value to determine our MVPs, RoYs, and 1st team/2nd team honors, as well as Pitching Value to determine our Cy Youngs and Relievers of the Year. As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Now I normally like to share my Excel files and R code, but if I did that then you'd get a sneak peak into our leaders in other areas. For now you'll have to wait, but I'll share everything once I've completed the run through of the 2010 season. Statting Lineup Newsletter Signup Form: If you'd like to receive email updates for each new post that I make, sign up for the Statting Lineup newsletter using the link below: https://weebly.us18.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ab653f474b2ced9091eb248b1&id=3a60f3b85f |
Statting Lineup Newsletter Signup Form:
|