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January 11, 2010
Andre Dawson Elected to Hall of Fame
Andre Dawson, who hit 438 homers and stole 314 bases in a 21-year career with the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox, and Marlins, was the only player to receive the required 75% of ballots this year for induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar fell only a few votes short.
I'll just leave this here:
All 62 Hall of Fame Outfielders
Ranked by On Base Percentage
January 1, 2010
2010 Projections Available
Preliminary batter and pitcher projections for 2010 have been posted. Players have not yet been assigned to teams, so the projections are all calculated for neutral parks. Team effects, park effects, playing time adjustments, hit trajectory adjustments, and other refinements will be added as opening day approaches. Minor leaguers who are likely to play in the majors this year will also be included.
The projections can be downloaded as an Excel spreadsheet here.
November 28, 2009
Hit Luck - 2009
Which batters were the luckiest and unluckiest in terms of batting average on balls in play?
There were 284 batters who received 300 or more PA this year. Here are the ten luckiest. These guys had far more hits than they should have based on their career BABIP. Carlos Beltran leads the way...if his balls in play had fallen at his career rate of .307, he would have put up a slash line of .286/.382/.449. However, they fell in at a .353 rate, which spiked his OPS by 84 points to .325/.415/.500. Another Met was second, as David Wright managed a ridiculous .400 BABIP, even higher than his impressive .350 career rate.
Some other notable players who were particularly lucky in 2009 include Torii Hunter, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Mauer (although he would have been fantastic even without any extra luck), Kendry Morales, and Miguel Tejada.
| | 2009 | 2009 | Career | Actual | | Expected | | |
| Rank | Name | AB | BABIP | BABIP | BA/OBA/SLG | OPS | BA/OBA/SLG | OPS | Difference |
| 1. | Carlos Beltran | 308 | .353 | .307 | .325/.415/.500 | .915 | .286/.382/.449 | .831 | .084 |
| 2. | David Wright | 535 | .400 | .350 | .307/.390/.447 | .837 | .271/.359/.401 | .760 | .077 |
| 3. | Ben Zobrist | 501 | .330 | .284 | .297/.405/.543 | .948 | .264/.377/.499 | .875 | .072 |
| 4. | Juan Uribe | 398 | .330 | .290 | .289/.329/.495 | .824 | .259/.301/.455 | .755 | .069 |
| 5. | Felipe Lopez | 604 | .360 | .323 | .310/.383/.427 | .810 | .279/.356/.389 | .745 | .065 |
| 6. | Jason Bartlett | 500 | .368 | .330 | .320/.389/.490 | .879 | .290/.362/.452 | .814 | .065 |
| 7. | Aramis Ramirez | 306 | .331 | .295 | .317/.389/.516 | .905 | .288/.363/.479 | .842 | .063 |
| 8. | Rajai Davis | 390 | .366 | .332 | .305/.360/.423 | .784 | .277/.335/.387 | .722 | .061 |
| 9. | Michael Bourn | 606 | .367 | .333 | .285/.354/.384 | .738 | .259/.330/.352 | .682 | .056 |
| 10. | Craig Counsell | 404 | .321 | .292 | .285/.357/.408 | .766 | .260/.336/.378 | .714 | .052 |
And here are the unlucky guys. These guys could have been expected to hit much better if they had been able to match their career BABIP. Kelly Johnson wins the "unluckiest player" title as he could have been expected to hit .276/.349/.459 if his balls in play fell at his career .313 rate. Unfortunately for Kelly, they only fell in at a .249 rate so his slash line was a meager .224/.303/.389, and as a result he lost his second base starting job.
Some other players who were unlucky in 2009 and can be expected to improve significantly in 2010 are Andruw Jones, Curtis Granderson, Grady Sizemore, Jay Bruce, and Carlos Quentin.
| | 2009 | 2009 | Career | Actual | | Expected | | |
| Rank | Name | AB | BABIP | BABIP | BA/OBA/SLG | OPS | BA/OBA/SLG | OPS | Difference |
| 275. | Jimmy Rollins | 672 | .253 | .295 | .250/.296/.423 | .719 | .286/.330/.472 | .802 | -.083 |
| 276. | Ian Kinsler | 566 | .245 | .293 | .253/.327/.488 | .814 | .292/.361/.538 | .900 | -.085 |
| 277. | Willy Taveras | 404 | .278 | .326 | .240/.275/.285 | .559 | .281/.313/.332 | .645 | -.086 |
| 278. | Geovany Soto | 331 | .251 | .310 | .218/.321/.381 | .702 | .261/.358/.439 | .797 | -.095 |
| 279. | Carlos Guillen | 277 | .267 | .325 | .242/.339/.419 | .757 | .286/.376/.476 | .853 | -.096 |
| 280. | Jason Varitek | 364 | .238 | .304 | .209/.313/.390 | .703 | .256/.353/.451 | .804 | -.101 |
| 281. | Jason Giambi | 293 | .230 | .303 | .201/.343/.382 | .725 | .251/.383/.445 | .829 | -.104 |
| 282. | Ken Griffey Jr. | 387 | .222 | .292 | .214/.324/.411 | .735 | .266/.368/.477 | .845 | -.110 |
| 283. | Garrett Atkins | 354 | .247 | .311 | .226/.308/.342 | .650 | .278/.354/.407 | .761 | -.111 |
| 284. | Kelly Johnson | 303 | .249 | .313 | .224/.303/.389 | .692 | .276/.349/.459 | .808 | -.115 |
Download the data for 2009 as an Excel spreadsheet here.
November 24, 2009
Pitches Per Out - 2009
Which batters were the toughest outs this season?
Here are the 2009 pitches-per-out leaders among players with 400 or more plate appearances. Kevin Youkilis is this year's champ, seeing 7.31 pitches for each out he made. Jayson Werth and Adam Dunn finish in the top ten again.
And the trailers. For the second year in a row, Yuniesky Betancourt is last in all of baseball in pitches per out. Bengie Molina finishes second-to-last for the second year in a row.
Download the data for 2009 here.
June 16, 2009
Pitches Per Out - 2008
Which batters made the pitcher work the most last year?
Here are the 2008 pitches-per-out leaders among players with 400 or more plate appearances:
And the trailers:
Download the data for 2008 here.
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