Acuña and Soto had historical rookie seasons, but are they better than high-placed sluggers Stanton and Martinez?
Month: January 2019
MLB Network Top 10 Right Now Recap & Analysis: Catcher
Buster Posey has been the best catcher in baseball over the past half decade, but is he still the #1 catcher in baseball?
MLB Network Top 10 Right Now Recap & Analysis: Right Field
Mookie Betts won the 2018 AL MVP, but is he the top RF in baseball?
M-Sabermetric All-Stars: The O-Swing% All-Star Team
In its triumphant 2018 return, the M-Sabermetric All-Star series dives into all things plate discipline, highlighting the MLB positional leaders in O-Swing%.
MLB Network Top 10 Right Now Recap & Analysis: Third Base
Jose Ramirez leads both the Shredder and M-SABR’s lists despite the sheer depth of third base talent in baseball.
MLB Network 2019 Top 10 Right Now Recap & Analysis: Second Base
Is Jed Lowrie the best non-Altuve second baseman in all of Major League Baseball? We agree with The Shredder that he is.
The Case for the Hall: Scott Rolen
When all was said and done, Rolen finished his career as one of the best defensive third basemen of all-time who also carried an above-average bat for the majority of his career. The trouble is that Rolen was never seen as a team leader, and never led the league in any statistical categories. For voters that are all-in on triple crown stats, Rolen’s leave something to be desired—his 2077 hits would be the lowest total of any third baseman enshrined since World War II and his run and RBI totals are good, but nothing spectacular. Additionally, his reputation as a “clubhouse cancer,” as some teammates in Philadelphia referred to him, is doing him no favors.
The Case for the Hall: Andruw Jones
According to Fangraphs’ Defensive Runs Above Average stat (DEF), which attempts to measure a player’s value relative to others at his position and relative to other positions, Jones’ DEF is 278.8, first among all outfielders to ever play the game of baseball. Jones’ DEF is eons ahead of second place Willie Mays’ DEF, which is a mere 100 runs lower at 170.1. The gap between Jones’ 278.8 DEF and Mays’ 170.1 DEF is larger than the gap between Mays’ DEF and 27th-placed Chet Lemon’s 63.3 DEF. And Baseball Reference agrees with Fangraphs—they credit Jones with 234.7 runs saved from fielding, first among all outfielders ever.
The Case for the Hall: Larry Walker
Some people prefer to elect folks who had long careers only, but Walker was so good during his prime that the fact that he only played for 17 years should not come back to bite him. JAWS, which is a metric that takes a player’s career rWAR and averages it with their 7-year peak rWAR gives Walker a 58.7 JAWS. The average Hall of Fame right fielder has a JAWS of 57.8, which is right around what Walker has. Keep in mind that WAR already penalizes Walker for his home ballpark, so these numbers include an adjustment for Coors. I don’t like to use WAR as the be-all end-all stat, but it’s good to use as a benchmark and Walker measures up perfectly.
M-SABR 