Archive for carter-batista award

I would like to begin with an apology to Bud Selig and Major League Baseball. I realize that Commissioner Selig does not want any big announcements this week that would take away from the glory of the World Series, but I just can’t help myself. I have too much brewing in the Junk Stat Laboratory, and if I don’t export some of this stuff, a major explosion could be in the works — bits of laptop, brain matter, and SQL code everywhere. So today we begin with what some (read: almost no one) would say is the most “prestigious” of my made-up, junk-stat-based, year-end awards. It recognizes the hitter whose RBI total most exaggerates his actual offensive contribution: the Joe Carter–Tony Batista award.

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As the 2010 season fades into memory and we look to 2011, my cheesy awards made from semi-“junk stats” need to get wrapped up soon. So today I unveil the 2010 winner of the Joe Carter–Tony Batista award, which is given to the player whose Runs Batted In most exaggerates his actual offensive value.

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Most of us are still recovering from this week’s Big Awards Euphoria, especially from Monday’s announcement of the 2009 Carter-Batista Award winner (I recommend reading that post before this one), which found that Ryan Ludwick was the 2009 player whose RBI total most exaggerated his offensive contribution.

Personally, I feel that the RBI/wRC system is the best way for figuring out how much RBI totals reflect true offensive contribution. But I also understand that some prefer a more “contextual” approach. As I did at greater length in an earlier series, let’s revisit the same ground using one of FanGraphs’ more context-sensitive stats — RE24 (Cf. Part Two of my Driveline Series) — to discover an “Alternate Universe” winner.

RE24 might appeal to those who believe situational hitting is a repeatable skill (I’m currently agnostic on this). The basic difference between RE24 and traditional linear weights (e.g. wRAA) is that it takes base/out state into account. For traditional linear weights, a double with two men on and two outs “counts” the same as a double with none on and no outs. RE24 recognizes that in those situations, the run expectancy both before and after the plate appearance are different. To quote myself:

There are 24 base-out states (hence the “24” in “RE24”): eight different combinations of baserunners (e.g., runner on first, bases empty, runners on second and third, etc.) multiplied by the three out states in which hitter might have that situation (no outs, 1 out, 2 outs). RE24 measure the difference in Run Expectancy from the beginning of the play until the next play.

For our purposes, the application is obvious — RE24 might identify players who were particularly good in situations with high run expectancy, and thus “earned” their RBI more than wRAA lets on.

To convert RE24 to an “absolute” measure like wRC, subtract the wRAA from wRC and add RE24. I call this “24RC“. Divide RBI by 24RC to get the comparison of real (situational) production to RBI. [Note that it’s not quite apples-to-apples, RE24 is park-adjusted, and the RBI are not, although it’s not a big problem.] The players are ranked by RBI/24RC. I’ve also included a number that sort of isolates situational contribution by subtracting wRAA from RE24. I dubbed it “Sitch.” Clever, huh?

Here are the 2009 Alternate Universe Carter-Batista Award leaders (among qualified hitters with at least 90 RBI).

5. David Ortiz, 1.134 RBI/24RC. .340 wOBA, 99 RBI, 6.40 Sitch
4. Alex Rodriguez, 1.138 RBI/24RC. .405 wOBA, 100 RBI, -10.03 Sitch
3. Michael Cuddyer, 1.141 RBI/24RC. .370 wOBA, 94 RBI, -17.48 Sitch
2. Cody Ross, 1.188 RBI/24RC. .342 wOBA, 90 RBI, -3.02 Sitch
1. Jose Lopez, 1.202 RBI/24RC. .325 wOBA, 96 RBI, 3.72 Sitch

Congratulations, Mr. Jose Lopez! You may have been just outdone by Mr. Ludwick on Monday, but here in the alternate universe, You’re the Man. Maybe in that alternate universe you’re on Shaq Vs., too. Kate Hudson works wonders, I wonder what B-list actress Big Papi is dating? Michael Cuddyer is showing that it’s not his Sitch (or defense) that got him resigned, but those awesome RBI. And what can I say about Cody Ross? Seriously, what can I say?

2009 “Trailers”

47. Adrian Gonzalez, .772 RBI/24RC. .402 wOBA, 5.29 Sitch
48. Joe Mauer, .751 RBI/24RC. .438 wOBA, 0.32 Sitch
49. Chase Utley, .727 RBI/24RC. .402 wOBA, 4.14 Sitch

Someone recently asked me what it would take for Chase Utley to win the NL MVP. I said to wait a couple years for Pujols to reach free agency and come home to Kansas City. I guess I didn’t realize how terrible Chase is at maximizing his RBI opportunities.

2007-2009 Leaders and Trailers (qualifed, 250 RBI minimum):

1. Jeff Francoeur, 1.30 RBI/24RC. .313 wOBA, 252 RBI, -17.62 Sitch
2. Bengie Molina, 1.28 RBI/24RC. .317 wOBA, 256 RBI, 23.29 Sitch
3. Robinson Cano, 1.28 RBI/24RC. .346 wOBA, 254 RBI, -53.47 Sitch
4. Garrett Atkins, 1.19 RBI/24RC. .339 wOBA, 258 RBI, -6.31 Sitch
5. Mike Lowell, 1.18 RBI/24RC. .359 wOBA, 268 RBI, -4.79 Sitch
6. Ryan Howard, 1.16 RBI/24RC. .385 wOBA, 423 RBI, 22.80 Sitch
…
43. Lance Berkman, 0.80 RBI/24RC. .397 wOBA, 288 RBI, 25.32 Sitch
44. Albert Pujols, 0.80 RBI/24RC. .440 wOBA, 354 RBI, 15.22 Sitch
45. Hanley Ramirez, 0.72 RBI/24RC. .409 wOBA, 254 RBI, -27.34 Sitch

Note how much the Sitch scores fluctuate on both ends of the rankings and draw your own conclusions. Any list with Frenchy and Bengie on one end and Pujols and Han-Ram on the other speaks for itself. Other than noting Cano’s Sitch issues (!), I’ll leave it to you all to fill in the blanks. Perhaps this spreadsheet with complete rankings will help.

As the Official-Baseball-Awards-Are-Awarded-Amid-The-Bitter-Protests-and-Feigned-Indifference-from-the-Internet season winds down, it’s also time for websites and individual bloggers to hand out their own made up awards. I have already crowned the King of the Little Things for 2009, so it’s time to move on to the Carter-Batista Award for 2009. What’s that? If an award is named after Joe Carter and Tony Batista, you might surmise that it has to do with players whose offensive value is exaggerated by their RBI totals.

Readers of this blog don’t need a lecture on why RBI are a bad measure of offensive performance, value, and skill. Like much of my work, this is an excuse to play with a “toy” or “junk stat” to get a point across. Earlier this year, I did a three-part series (1, 2, 3) where I go into much greater detail on the methodology, etc. Here, I’ll just give you the bare-bones.

The idea, inspired by Jonah Keri, is that by dividing a players RBI total by a better counting stat, we can get an idea of how much a players RBI total “overrates” his offense. My earlier version had a more complex construction, but interactions with Tango and terpsfan convinced me that the best way to go about it was to simply use unadjusted “absolute” runs created, like wRC (wOBA Runs Created). The idea stays the same: the higher a player’s RBI/wRC, the more RBI totals “overrate” his contribution, and the more he enters Carter-Batista territory.

[In case you’re wondering I didn’t park-adjust: I did initially, but realized that the RBI are a just as much a product of the environment as wRC, so dividing an unadjusted RBI by an adjusted wRC would be problematic. As usual, simpler turned our to be better.]

Who is this season’s winner? The pool is qualified hitters with at least 90 RBI. Here are the top five candidates:

5. Jorge Cantu, 1.18 RBI/wRC. .343 wOBA (.289/.345/.443), 100 RBI
4. Brandon Phillips, 1.20 RBI/wRC. .337 wOBA (.276/.329/.447), 98 RBI
3. David Ortiz, 1.22 RBI/wRC. .340 wOBA (.238/.332/.462), 99 RBI
2. Jose Lopez, 1.26 RBI/wRC. .325 wOBA (.272/.303/.463), 96 RBI

This stat should not be taken to mean that these guys are bad players or even bad hitters. It just says something about their RBI totals in relation to their true offensive contribution. Brandon Phillips isn’t a great hitter, but he’s a good player because of his 2B defense. Jose Lopez managed to contribute at an above average level this season because of decent defense and durability. We shouldn’t look down on him just because he hit behind Ichiro and his .386 OBP. Sure, Big Papi had a down year with the bat, but his other contributions are incalculable. Literally.

And now, your 2009 Carter-Batista award winner:

1. Ryan Ludwick, 1.26 RBI/wRC. .336 wOBA (.265/.329/.447), 97 RBI

Wow! Ludwick already won the prestigious Average-est Player of 2009 Award. This is entering Michael-Jackson-at-the-1984-Grammys territory. I’m not sure how he did it. Are there any high-OBP guys hitting ahead of Ludwick?

It’s illlustrative to look at the “trailers,” as well. In the last two spots:

47. Joe Mauer, .753 RBI/wRC. .438 wOBA (.365/.444/.587), 96 RBI
48. Chase Utley (naturally), .751 RBI/wRC. .402 wOBA (.282/.397/.508), 93 RBI

Finally, the 2007-2009 leaders and trailers (minimum 250 RBI)

1. Bengie Molina, 1.45 RBI/wRC. .317 wOBA (.278/.302/.440), 256 RBI
2. Ryan Howard, 1.24 RBI/wRC. .385 wOBA (.266/.363/.565), 423 RBI
3. Jeff Francoeur, 1.19 RBI/wRC. 313. wOBA (.271/.314/.409), 252 RBI
…
43. Albert Pujols, .827 RBI/wRC. .440 wOBA (.337/.444/.626), 354 RBI
44. Chase Utley, .821 RBI/wRC. .404 wOBA (.301/.395/.536), 300 RBI
45. Hanley Ramirez, .664 RBI/wRC. .409 wOBA (.325/.398/.549), 254 RBI

Much more could be written, but you all can take it from here draw your own conclusions. Check out the extended list of rankings on this Google spreadsheet.

I’ll be back Tuesday or Wednesday with a follow-up on situational hitting.