Leaderboards of Pleasure – 8/29/11

Desmond Jennings just keeps doing this kind of thing.

It’s probably about time, reader, that we had a conversation about Desmond Jennings — on account of, as you’ll notice below, Jennings has claimed the top spot on the Player NERD leaderboard. That is, in the words of someone who unnecessarily repeats adjectives, a “big, big deal.”

Let’s use this edition of Leaderboards of Pleasure to further our understanding of Jennings, hm?

• First of all, here are some numbers that will interest the baseballing nerd. On the season so far, through 153 plate appearances, Jennings has made these stats a thing: .354/.440/.646, .470 wOBA, 205 wRC+, 8 HR, 14-for-19 SB, 2.3 WAR.

• It’s important to note that Jennings UZR is actually -1.8 — which is to say that Jennings’ WAR isn’t inflated artificially by that.

• One thing that is inflating Jennings’ impressive line is his BABIP. It’s currently at .413. ZiPS suggests that something like .333 is more reflective of his his true talent. Slash12’s xBABIP calculator suggests .323.

• Question: What would Jennings’ line look like if normalized for BABIP? Answer: Still quite good. Using the FIB calculator Bradley Woodrum’s introduced last week, we find that (figuring a .330 BABIP) Jennings should hit like this:

• In conclusion, Desmond Jennings is good.

1. Team NERD Leaderboard
2. Underrated Player Leaderboard
3. Player NERD Leaderboard
4. Pitcher NERD Leaderboard

Team NERD Leaderboard
Like the NERD scores you’ll find below, this one represents an attempt to anticipate the “watchability” of each team. The first iteration appears in a heartfelt love letter to America, which anyone is free to read here.

Please note that the “POFF” numbers (playoff-odds adjustments) are not included in the Team NERD scores you see below, but are instead the bonuses/penalties applied to the Game Scores for each respective team — a thing about which you can learn more by reading here.

Teams	NERD	Age	BAT	HR/FB	Spd	BULL	UZR	Pay	Luck	POFF
Royals	10	2.53	0.07	-0.54	0.89	-0.43	0.09	1.40	1.45	-1
Yankees	10	0.00	2.39	1.80	1.39	0.99	0.93	0.00	0.00	0
Red Sox	10	0.00	2.23	1.55	0.89	0.64	1.91	0.00	0.16	0
Diamondbacks	9	0.54	-0.41	0.67	0.89	-0.08	2.18	0.97	0.00	0
Marlins	8	1.26	-0.51	0.12	-0.45	0.50	-0.50	0.89	2.00	-1
Rays	8	0.45	0.46	0.18	0.89	-1.85	1.69	1.25	0.82	0
Rangers	7	0.00	1.45	1.31	0.89	-0.12	0.51	0.02	0.00	1
Brewers	7	0.00	0.65	0.93	0.06	1.33	0.17	0.18	0.04	0
Padres	6	0.63	-0.70	-1.13	2.06	0.02	0.44	1.16	0.00	-1
Blue Jays	6	0.36	0.33	0.31	0.89	0.16	-0.51	0.75	0.00	-1
Angels	6	0.00	-0.15	-0.08	0.39	-0.43	1.27	0.00	1.29	4
Rockies	5	0.18	-0.20	0.36	0.56	1.16	-0.26	0.12	0.00	0
Reds	5	0.00	0.28	0.86	-0.78	-0.33	1.46	0.41	0.00	0
Indians	5	0.90	-0.06	0.31	-0.28	-0.33	-0.90	1.08	0.00	1
Nationals	5	0.08	-0.79	0.64	-0.11	-0.36	-0.18	0.72	1.50	-1
Pirates	5	1.44	-1.25	-0.91	-0.11	-0.29	-0.06	1.15	0.00	-1
Dodgers	4	0.00	-0.54	-0.71	0.22	0.19	0.19	0.00	1.78	0
Mets	4	0.63	0.77	-1.48	1.06	-0.08	-1.99	0.00	1.47	-1
Braves	4	0.00	-0.44	1.38	-1.95	2.23	-0.86	0.15	0.20	0
Cubs	4	0.00	-0.55	0.12	-0.28	-0.57	-0.27	0.00	2.00	-1
Astros	4	0.36	-0.56	-1.70	0.22	0.09	-0.92	0.55	1.99	-1
Cardinals	3	0.00	1.22	1.30	-1.78	0.05	-0.96	0.00	0.00	0
Phillies	3	0.00	0.09	0.09	0.72	-0.43	-0.64	0.00	0.00	0
Giants	3	0.00	-1.91	-1.42	-1.11	1.54	0.55	0.00	1.93	2
White Sox	2	0.00	-0.73	-0.58	-1.45	1.54	-0.05	0.00	0.09	1
Orioles	2	0.36	-0.04	0.53	-1.62	0.16	-1.62	0.19	0.34	-1
Tigers	2	0.18	0.76	-0.20	-1.11	-1.40	-0.58	0.00	0.74	1
Athletics	1	0.00	-0.47	-1.37	0.06	-0.57	-0.95	0.65	0.00	-1
Mariners	0	0.00	-1.63	-1.22	-0.28	-0.74	-0.17	0.16	0.53	-1
Twins	0	0.99	-1.22	-1.11	-0.78	-2.61	0.07	0.00	0.00	-1

Underrated Player Leaderboard
To determine the most underrated player, we look at each player’s WAR relative to a very fake version of WAR (called FANT, in this case) constructed only by the five most common fantasy categories. (Read more here.)

Name	Diff	WAR	FANT	Avg	HR	R	RBI	SB
Alex Avila	2.3	5.0	2.7	1.06	0.26	-0.72	0.30	-0.68
Howie Kendrick	2.2	5.3	3.1	0.96	-0.10	0.51	-0.71	0.22
Shane Victorino	2.2	6.1	3.9	1.22	-0.10	1.09	-0.45	0.72
Brendan Ryan	2.1	2.3	0.2	-0.45	-1.54	-1.05	-1.25	-0.08
Placido Polanco	2.1	2.4	0.3	0.30	-1.30	-1.50	-0.98	-0.68
Peter Bourjos	2.1	3.9	1.8	0.17	-0.70	-0.27	-1.41	0.82
Yunel Escobar	1.9	3.9	2.0	0.33	-0.46	0.57	-0.82	-0.68
Dustin Pedroia	1.9	7.2	5.3	1.19	0.26	1.48	0.62	1.41
Kurt Suzuki	1.8	1.8	0.0	-1.18	-0.34	-1.11	-1.30	-0.78
Ben Zobrist	1.8	6.2	4.4	0.27	0.02	1.61	0.78	0.62
Alexei Ramirez	1.8	4.1	2.3	-0.36	-0.22	0.57	-0.23	-0.28
Matt Wieters	1.8	3.2	1.4	-0.22	-0.10	-0.40	-0.50	-0.88
Jamey Carroll	1.8	1.7	-0.1	0.70	-1.78	-1.24	-2.53	0.02
Alberto Callaspo	1.7	2.5	0.8	0.27	-1.18	-1.05	-0.98	-0.38
John Buck	1.7	2.1	0.4	-1.24	0.14	-1.50	-0.39	-0.98
Casey Kotchman	1.7	2.8	1.1	1.68	-0.82	-1.63	-0.98	-0.88
Evan Longoria	1.6	4.0	2.4	-1.18	1.09	-0.34	0.94	-0.88
Brett Gardner	1.6	4.6	3.0	-0.09	-1.18	0.77	-1.46	2.71
Omar Infante	1.5	1.6	0.1	0.20	-1.42	-1.37	-1.25	-0.68
Matt Holliday	1.5	5.2	3.7	1.16	0.49	0.90	0.41	-0.88

Player NERD Leaderboard
Very similar to Pitcher NERD (below), except for position players. (Read more here.)

Name	NERD	Age	WAR	xBABIP	HR/FB	Spd	K%
Desmond Jennings	10	1.18	2.76	-0.90	2.70	1.83	-0.20
Ryan Braun	10	0.46	2.01	-0.20	1.48	1.57	0.65
Jacoby Ellsbury	10	0.46	2.17	-0.06	1.16	1.41	0.77
Shane Victorino	10	0.00	2.43	-0.36	0.17	2.03	1.46
Curtis Granderson	10	0.00	1.99	0.04	2.46	2.08	-0.93
Jose Reyes	10	0.23	1.87	0.00	-0.97	2.39	2.02
Jose Bautista	10	0.00	2.69	-0.39	2.56	-0.08	0.27
Justin Upton	10	1.42	1.75	-0.43	1.01	1.21	0.09
Carlos Gonzalez	10	0.94	1.08	-0.32	2.09	1.26	-0.03
Matt Kemp	10	0.70	1.92	-0.23	2.13	1.16	-0.69
Albert Pujols	9	0.00	1.15	0.38	1.86	-0.03	1.55
Robinson Cano	9	0.23	1.13	0.10	1.57	1.05	0.83
Troy Tulowitzki	9	0.70	1.93	-0.21	1.37	-0.03	1.05
Ian Kinsler	9	0.00	1.42	0.43	0.18	1.26	1.41
Dustin Pedroia	9	0.46	2.04	-0.13	0.39	0.59	1.33
Joey Votto	9	0.46	1.87	0.01	2.06	-0.24	0.26
Chase Utley	9	0.00	1.88	-0.26	-0.27	1.52	1.49
Howie Kendrick	9	0.46	1.88	0.03	1.39	0.90	-0.37
Andrew McCutchen	9	1.18	1.41	0.19	0.45	0.85	0.21
Mike Stanton	9	1.90	1.03	-0.25	2.77	0.18	-1.51

Pitcher NERD Leaderboard
The idea with Pitcher NERD — as with the other NERDs — is to express with one number the likelihood that the learned fan might have interest in a certain player. (To read more about Pitcher NERD, click here.)

Name	NERD	xFIP	SwStrk	Strk	Velo	Luck	Age	KN
Zack Greinke	10	2.72	1.92	0.36	0.73	1.60	0.17	0.00
Clayton Kershaw	10	2.14	1.80	0.57	1.04	0.00	1.16	0.00
Roy Halladay	10	2.52	1.63	2.32	0.54	0.00	0.00	0.00
Michael Pineda	10	0.94	2.25	1.35	1.61	0.21	1.41	0.00
Cliff Lee	10	2.23	0.90	2.33	0.39	0.00	0.00	0.00
Brandon Morrow	10	1.02	2.14	0.57	1.26	1.34	0.42	0.00
Justin Verlander	10	1.74	1.30	1.16	1.68	0.00	0.00	0.00
CC Sabathia	10	1.79	1.63	1.60	1.15	0.00	0.00	0.00
Madison Bumgarner	10	1.41	0.45	1.43	0.50	0.37	1.66	0.00
Matt Garza	10	1.55	1.80	0.64	1.19	0.54	0.17	0.00
Cole Hamels	10	1.85	1.86	1.21	0.50	0.00	0.17	0.00
David Price	10	1.45	0.45	0.39	1.57	0.20	0.67	0.00
Anibal Sanchez	9	1.50	1.58	0.66	0.50	0.84	0.17	0.00
Jonathon Niese	9	1.38	0.17	1.26	0.01	1.16	0.91	0.00
Cory Luebke	9	1.72	1.52	1.16	0.35	0.00	0.42	0.00
Brandon Beachy	9	1.40	2.08	0.42	0.46	0.08	0.91	0.00
Mike Minor	9	1.16	0.34	0.91	0.27	1.00	1.16	0.00
Juan Nicasio	9	1.12	0.34	-0.11	1.34	0.75	0.91	0.00
Felix Hernandez	9	1.50	0.57	0.28	1.07	0.20	0.67	0.00
R.A. Dickey	9	0.22	-0.11	1.56	0.00	0.00	0.00	3.78