JABO: In Defense of Brandon Phillips

“If you don’t get on base, then you suck. That’s basically what they’re saying.” So said Brandon Phillips to USA Today Sports on Tuesday, in a vehement defense of the way that he plays baseball. And to be sure, there are plenty of people who have said this (more or less). I cut my sabermetric teeth on Gary Huckabay and Joe Sheehan proclaiming that “OBP is life. Life is OBP.” But there are plenty of ways to skin a cat, and not focusing on on-base percentage has worked out just fine for Phillips. In fact, it’s worked out better for him than most players in baseball history.

In the FanGraphs glossary entry for on-base percentage, the rule of thumb for an average OBP is listed as .320. With a .319 career OBP, Phillips is basically right at that average mark. And that is a touch unfair to him. During his time in Cleveland, before he put it all together, he logged a paltry .246 OBP in 462 plate appearances. In his time in Cincy, his OBP has been .325, just a shade over average. He has had an OBP above league average in three of his nine seasons in Cincy. Last season, when he posted a paltry .306 OBP — his worst in his nine years in Cincy — it was still better than the average National League second baseman. Of the 11 NL second basemen who compiled at least 400 PA last season, Emilio Bonifacio, Kolten Wong, Aaron Hill and Jedd Gyorko all posted worse OBP’s than did Phillips. In other words, while Phillips isn’t the OBP messiah, he’s far from a pariah.

In fact, among his average or worse OBP peer group, Phillips is a top-20 player all time:

Most Valuable Players by WAR, .319 Career OBP or less
Player PA OBP WAR
Matt Williams 7,595 0.317 44.8
Willie Davis 9,822 0.311 43.5
Lance Parrish 7,797 0.313 43.4
Devon White 8,080 0.319 41.8
Alfonso Soriano 8,395 0.319 39.7
Hal Chase 7,939 0.319 39.1
Gary Gaetti 9,817 0.308 39.0
Tim Wallach 8,908 0.316 37.6
Lee May 8,219 0.313 35.7
Bert Campaneris 9,625 0.311 32.5
Frank White 8,468 0.293 31.0
Bob Boone 8,148 0.315 30.4
Benito Santiago 7,516 0.307 28.7
Ezra Sutton 5,536 0.316 28.2
Terry Pendleton 7,637 0.316 28.2
John Ward 8,084 0.314 28.1
Rick Dempsey 5,407 0.319 27.8
Brandon Phillips 6,154 0.319 27.1
J.J. Hardy 5,166 0.312 26.7
Marquis Grissom 8,959 0.318 26.4

Read the rest on Just a Bit Outside.





Paul Swydan used to be the managing editor of The Hardball Times, a writer and editor for FanGraphs and a writer for Boston.com and The Boston Globe. Now, he owns The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, an independent bookstore in Acton, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @Swydan. Follow the store @SilUnicornActon.

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Matthew Tobin
9 years ago

I think people aren’t criticizing for Brandon Phillips for not changing his approach because it has worked for him. They are criticizing his ignorance about baseball and value. It is essentially similar to a Nobel Prize winning Biologist saying global warming doesn’t exist. You can be really good at what you do, but when you start saying others that are experts in different area are wrong, it is utter ignorance.

mcbrown
9 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Tobin

No, it’s more like Usain Bolt saying wind isn’t a factor in race results. Yeah, he’s wrong, but why were you expecting him to be right?

Umpire Weekend
9 years ago
Reply to  mcbrown

Why did you have to bring race into it? 😉

TheGrandslamwich
9 years ago
Reply to  Matthew Tobin

Anyone who actively chooses ignorance in the face of mountains of evidence deserves to be mocked mercilessly.