Tag: Stats

5 Early-Season Red Sox Stats That Tell You All You Need to Know

They say numbers never lie, and this also rings true for the 2014 Boston Red Sox. A maddeningly inconsistent but nonetheless exciting start to the season has left the Red Sox with plenty of reasons for both optimism and doubt moving forward as the weather warms up and players fully enter their regular-season grooves.

It’s difficult to encapsulate the Red Sox’s up-and-down season in words, but it’s somewhat easier to tell the story of the first five-plus weeks of the season through statistics. When you look at the numbers, it’s clear where we can expect this Boston team to improve, where it might struggle all year and why it’s played below its talent level thus far.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at the five most telling Red Sox stats from early 2014.

Unless otherwise attributed, all of the following stats come courtesy of Baseball-Reference.

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Oakland A’s Prospects off to the Hottest Starts This Year

The Oakland Athletics are off to a hot start after one month of baseball. So, too, are some of their minor league prospects. But it might not be the guys you’d immediately expect to see.

MLB.com keeps an updated list of the top-100 prospects in the game, sortable by team. The “rank” you’ll see on the following slides comes from their list. Hence why you may be surprised to see that of the eight guys on this list, only four are listed in MLB‘s top 20 for Oakland.

Another surprise? No one from the Sacramento River Cats (Triple-A) made the list.

Here’s how guys made the list:

First, they had to be off to a hot start. Obviously. Second, the sample size has to be high. In looking at Single-A stats, you’ll see Craig Gentry has the highest batting average on the team. Except that Gentry played in one game—a rehab stint. Gentry brings up a third way to narrow down the list: age. A 28-year-old in Single-A can hardly be considered a prospect, so even if their production is tops, they weren’t listed.

Statistics were acquired via Baseball-reference.com.

Did I miss anyone? Let me know on Twitter.

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Cold Hard Fact for Friday, April 25, 2014

Fact: Boston’s David Ortiz has played his 1,644th game as a DH, passing Harold Baines for most all time.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: ESPN Stats & Info

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How Will Shane Victorino’s Return Transform the Boston Red Sox’s Lineup?

The Boston Red Sox are in need of a spark to ignite their once-powerful offense. They’re hoping Shane Victorino can be the catalyst they need, as the team looks to regain the offensive magic that made them baseball’s best a season ago.

Victorino appeared in the majors for the first time this season on Thursday night, batting second and playing right field as he did for much of 2013. Victorino’s debut came after he opened the year on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain he suffered during the final game of spring training, depriving Boston of one of its best all-around players to open the season.

The immediate results were less than inspiring, as Victorino went just 1-for-5 and scored one run in what was a lopsided 14-5 Red Sox loss on Thursday. It will take some time for Victorino to get up to speed, as he’s had very few at-bats between spring training and his short rehab stint to get into playing shape. It’s unlikely that Victorino will be able to play the role of savior right away.

That being said, given the lackluster performance of Victorino’s replacements, how his presence lengthens the lineup and his sorely missed defensive prowess, it’s little wonder that the Red Sox, now 10-13 on the season, felt they needed Victorino back in the lineup as soon as possible.

For starters, let’s compare Victorino’s output to that of the four players who have seen time in right field in his absence. While “Shanf” has been on the DL, the Red Sox have relied on Daniel Nava (121 innings), Jackie Bradley Jr. (29), Grady Sizemore (27) and Jonny Gomes (23.2) to patrol right field. The results have not been very good.

Here’s a look at Victorino’s 2013 production compared to what Boston has received from its right fielders so far in 2014:

As you can see, there’s really no comparison. Victorino was one of the most productive right fielders in the majors last season from an offensive perspective, while his replacements have struggled mightily through 22 games in 2014. This is likely part of Boston’s incentive for getting Victorino back in the lineup immediately: No matter how bad he is, he’s unlikely to be worse than the current production they’re receiving.

Victorino’s presence also allows the Red Sox to reconfigure their lineup, adding depth to the lower-middle portion of the order while adding another player with a respectable OBP near the top. John Farrell also wants to bring more lineup stability to his club, as Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe has reported, as Boston’s batting order has changed many times throughout the season thanks to a combination of injury and ineffectiveness.

Here’s how the Red Sox are poised to stack up against right-handed pitchers with Victorino back in the daily lineup:

1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Shane Victorino, RF
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Mike Napoli, 1B
5. Grady Sizemore, LF
6. Xander Bogaerts, SS
7. A.J. Pierzynski, C
8. Will Middlebrooks, 3B
9. Jackie Bradley Jr., CF

Against left-handers, I’d expect the top-four names to remain the same, with Gomes slotting in for Sizemore in left field and hitting fifth. Will Middlebrooks, who will rejoin the team before Friday’s game in Toronto, should move up to seventh in the order against southpaws, and David Ross will replace Pierzynski behind the plate and bat eighth.

What you’re left with is a lineup that can more realistically accomplish Farrell’s stated goal of finishing as a top-five offensive club, as well as a lineup that has a better blend of power and speed. This configuration also takes some pressure off Sizemore, who’s slowed down after a hot start, and Bogaerts, who appears to be in an adjustment period and looks a bit lost at the plate.

Finally, and perhaps most obviously, the Red Sox are welcoming Victorino back because of his outstanding defense, especially at home in Fenway Park’s cavernous right field.

Last season, Victorino earned a Gold Glove for a defensive effort that metrics, scouts and fans alike universally rated as outstanding. According to FanGraphs, Victorino finished 2013 with a whopping 24 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and an Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) of 25.0, making him among the most valuable defenders in all of baseball. While J.D. Drew was a strong defender in right field and Trot Nixon could hold his own as well, some fans and reporters argued that Victorino was the best right field defender in Fenway they’d seen since Dwight Evans.

It’s never been easier to appreciate the impact of that defense than after watching Nava, Sizemore and Gomes stumble around ineffectively in right field this season, with limited range and weak arms (save for Gomes) actively hurting the Red Sox on several occasions. On nights when the Red Sox started Gomes in left field, Sizemore in center and Nava in right, you can make the case that Boston was deploying one of the worst defensive outfields in the game.

Now, the Red Sox can immediately turn that glaring deficiency into a strength by starting Sizemore in left, Bradley Jr. in center and Victorino in right a majority of the time. This gives Boston two plus-plus defenders, plus another outfielder with defensive potential in Sizemore. Defense has been one of the most obvious areas of regression for the Red Sox this year, and Victorino’s return should make an immediate positive impact in that regard.

When you combine Victorino’s offensive output, baserunning ability and defensive prowess, he was good for 5.6 fWAR last season, according to FanGraphs. That made him the 14th-most valuable offensive player in the game, and one of the true surprises of the 2013 season.  Victorino’s replacements this year were on track to finish as sub-replacement level performers, and the improvement the Red Sox should see by playing “the Flyin‘ Hawaiian” every day is quite significant.

Victorino may need a couple dozen plate appearances to get up to speed, and even once he does, he may not repeat his career year of 2013. But there’s little doubt that this Red Sox team needs a spark plug on both sides of the ball, and Farrell’s desire to place Victorino back in Boston’s lineup this quickly is understandable.

Through his superiority over his competition, ability to lengthen Boston’s lineup, baserunning acumen and outstanding defense, Victorino makes the Red Sox a much better, much more complete team. If he can reacclimate to major league life quickly, his walk-up music may speak the truth: Every little thing may indeed be alright for the Red Sox this year.



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Playing Fact or Fiction with Josh Hamilton’s White-Hot Start

This is the Josh Hamilton the Los Angeles Angels thought they were getting. Alas, after paying the five-time All-Star $125 million over five years in December 2012, the 32-year-old’s start to 2013 was as cold as his 2014 beginning has been hot.

In his first month as an Angel, Hamilton batted a ghastly .204/.252/.296 on his way to hitting just .250/.307/.432 with 73 runs scored, 21 home runs and 79 RBI, all of which were career worsts for seasons in which Hamilton played at least 100 games.

This April, though, the 2010 AL MVP has been the exact opposite, with 12 hits in his first 24 at-bats (.500, if you couldn’t figure that out), along with a pair of homers and doubles apiece. All of which earned Hamilton a share of the AL player of the week, per Joey Nowak of MLB.com.

“(Hamilton is) obviously a different player than he was last year,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said via Nowak‘s story. “He’s back to his playing weight (about 240 pounds). He has a comfort level in the box that started to come together the second half of last season but never really materialized the way it had before in his last couple years in Texas. Right now, we are seeing it. Hopefully, he’s in a better place in the batter’s box now and will maintain it for long stretches.”

That would be big for both the Angels, who once again have postseason aspirations, and Hamilton, who endured a calf strain that cost him a few weeks during spring training before making it back to hit .333/.378/.606 in March. Both sides want a redo on 2013, and a quick start is the best way to go about that.

Hamilton attributes his strong showing through the first seven games of the season to getting back his rhythm and timing in the batter’s box, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. “Hitting is rhythm and timing,” the outfielder told Gonzalez. “If one is out of sync, you are going to struggle.”

With Hamilton not struggling at the outset of his second year in Los Angeles, it’s time to make some general statements about his performance so far and play a little Fact or Fiction with each.

 

Statement No. 1: Josh Hamilton’s power is back.

For a hitter like Hamilton, who sports a .532 career slugging percentage, power is paramount. That wasn’t the case in 2013, especially early on.

A year ago, Hamilton managed a measly .296 SLG and .548 OPS before May. From there, his power fluctuated some, but he actually put up a solid .464 SLG and .783 OPS after April. That’s not quite the Hamilton of old, but it indicates just how much his awful beginning drowned out the progress he made over the rest of the year.

To wit, Hamilton hit .329 with a .518 SLG and .909 OPS over his final 45 games from mid-August until the end of the year.

Now that he’s in his age-33 campaign, it’s only natural for Hamilton to experience some decline in his performance. Thing is, his last April was still more of an outlier than a clear indication that Hamilton’s days as a dangerous hitter were done.

Is he going to return to his 30-plus-homer ways from his peak seasons? It’s a possibility. And even though it’s more of a cute observation than anything else, there is this: Since 2008, Hamilton has topped 30 homers and 100 RBI every other year, and 2014 is one of those other years.

Is Hamilton’s power back? Seems so. In fact, one could make a claim that it was here all along and only went hibernating for a month or two early in 2013.

Verdict: Fact

 

Statement No. 2: Josh Hamilton’s plate discipline is improving.

For Hamilton to sustain this early-season success, the two keys are going to be his health and his plate discipline, both of which have been concerns during his career. While the former is hard to control to an extent, the latter—when and when not to swing—is something that is well within a player’s ability to maintain.

Hamilton has always qualified as a free swinger, as proven by his 56.1 percent swing percentage, which is the percentage of pitches a batter goes after, and he ranks among the top 10 highest in the sport since 2007, his first year.

To start 2014, though, Hamilton has been a wee bit more selective. His swing percentage is at 46.3 percent, which would be a career low by far. Here’s a look at Hamilton’s other plate-discipline metrics so far:

That table basically shows that Hamilton has been swinging at fewer pitches overall (Swing%) while also doing a better job of swinging at pitches in the strike zone (Z-Swing%) after a dip in 2013 and swinging at pitches outside the zone (O-Swing%) at a much better rate than in recent seasons.

Add it all up, and it’s not surprising that Hamilton already has drawn six walks and has whiffed only six times in his first 30 plate appearances. By comparison, in his first year with the Angels, Hamilton had only three walks against 11 strikeouts through his first 30 trips.

A sample size of 30 PA is too small to draw any conclusions about Hamilton’s plate discipline this year, or any player’s for that matter. Studies have shown that a player’s strikeout rate tends to stabilize around plate appearance No. 60, while his walk rate takes about twice as long.

If that holds true with Hamilton, then he’ll need to continue with his current approach through the rest of April before we really buy in. And even then, this is a hitter who always will have an aggressive mentality and some swing-and-miss to his game.

Verdict: Fact (for now)

 

Statement No. 3: Thanks in part to Josh Hamilton’s early success, the Angels can avoid a third straight disappointing season.

It’s all about April for the Angels, who have been underwhelming in the face of lofty expectations the past two years despite a ton of talent on the roster.

It’s too early to put much weight on the Angel’s 3-4 start following two series against fellow AL West clubs, the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, but if any team in baseball needs to avoid a poor first month, it’s the Halos.

Here’s why. After April 2013, the club was just 9-17, and in April 2012, they went 8-15. From May on, though, they’ve been much, much better the past two seasons, going 69-67 last year and 81-58 in ’12.

The West is wide open at the moment, due to injuries that have the two preseason favorites to fight for the division crown more than a little short-handed: The Oakland Athletics are without Jarrod Parker after Tommy John surgery, while A.J. Griffin remains sidelined with elbow tendinitis; and the Texas Rangers lost Derek Holland for half the season after offseason knee surgery and Jurickson Profar with a shoulder injury suffered late in spring training that will cost him at least a couple months.

The Angels cannot afford to miss the opportunity that those injuries—as well as Hamilton’s hot start—is presenting. The rest of the team has to get on board with Hamilton and put together a strong opening month. After all, they’ve shown they can play well once the calendar flips to May.

Verdict: Fact

While the expectation shouldn’t be for Hamilton to regain his MVP form, he certainly should bounce back from a disappointing 2013. Ultimately, if that also helps the Angels do the same, then there’s a good chance they’ll be playing in October for the first time since 2009. That’s one final fact Hamilton and the Angels would like to change.

 

Statistics come from Baseball Reference and FanGraphs, except where otherwise noted.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

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Do Hitters or Pitchers Have the Upper Hand Early in the MLB Season?

Is there such a thing as an “April advantage” in baseball, and if so which side—hitters or pitchers—has the edge in the season’s first month? With the calendar flipped to April and the 2014 regular season already underway, now is as good a time as any to explore this concept.

To do so, we took a look over the past five years—the 2009 through 2013 seasons—and found the averages for hitters in several key statistics from the month of April* and compared those to the league-wide averages in the same metrics over the course of the entire season. This was achieved by using FanGraphs’ nifty statistical database.

*Technically, the numbers come from March and April, because that’s how the splits are most easily spliced, but only a very small percentage of Major League Baseball games actually occur in March.

Let’s start with the hitters and then jump over to the pitchers.

Here, then, is a look at hitter performance from each of the past five Aprils in a number of categories, along with hitters’ overall performance in those same categories over the entire year as shown in the row below:

First of all, let’s point out here that what’s great about using FanGraphs for this is that the data can be manipulated so as to exclude pitchers from the hitting element, which only waters down the numbers (and looks silly most of the time, if we’re being completely honest).

Secondly, the statistics chosen are all of the rate and ratio variety, which makes it easier to compare a one-month sample to a six-month sample. Trying to use raw numbers for this wouldn’t be helpful unless they were broken down to a per-game basis.

Now then, what are the takeaways? Well, as you might be able to infer, the highlighting indicates whether hitter performance was better in April or better over the entire season. Given that bit of information, it’s easy to see that hitters actually came in above their respective full-season average in Aprils of 2013, 2010 and 2009.

Maybe not quite what you expected, huh?

Of course, none of the disparities from April compared to April through September are all that egregious, but we’re also talking about tens of thousands of plate appearances in any given month and hundreds of thousands over a full season. So, yeah, even differences that appear minor do add up over such large samples and extended periods of time.

OK, now for the pitching side of things. Here’s a breakdown of overall pitchers’ performance in several metrics from April of each of the past five seasons compared to the rest of the year:

Same deal applies—the highlighting shows whether pitchers were better in April or better from April through September.

In case it’s not immediately clear, the pitching stats are the exact inverse of the hitting stats. Which is to say, when the hitters were better in April of a particular season, the pitchers were worse that same April—take a look at 2013 in both tables again, for example.

On the other hand, when pitchers were better in April, the hitters were worse, which is what happened in 2011 and 2012. This, of course, makes all sorts of sense when you think about it for even a brief moment.

Again, though, it needs to be made clear that while there are differences and fluctuations, they are very slight.

The bottom line that can be drawn from all these numbers? Unfortunately, there’s no cut-and-dry answer about which side holds the edge in April over the past handful of seasons, based on what the statistics above show.

So while you might have expected pitchers to have an advantage early on relative to the rest of the season—perhaps wanting to attribute as much to the idea that batters need an adjustment period to get their timing down or even that the colder weather might make hitting more challenging by limiting hard contact as well as the flight of the ball—the results don’t always bear that out, at least in recent years.

About the only definitive conclusion that can be made is that pitching has been taking over the sport since 2009. But then, you probably already knew that.

 

Statistics come from Baseball Reference and FanGraphs.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball, check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

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Cold Hard Fact for Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Fact: Jimmy Rollins made his 14th straight Opening Day start for the Philadelphia Phillies, matching Cal Ripken’s major league record for the most consecutive seasons starting at shortstop for the same franchise.

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

Source: The Associated Press (via ESPN)

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Cold Hard Fact for Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Fact: Former MLB pitcher Randy “The Big Unit” Johnson became an amateur photographer after his retirement. 

Bleacher Report will be bringing sports fans the most interesting and engaging Cold Hard Fact of the day, presented by Coors Light.

[rj51photos.com, h/t reddit]

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MLB Spring Training 2014: Team-by-Team Player Stats Tracker

It feels like just yesterday that the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals and celebrated a World Series title, but with Major League Baseball’s spring training in full swing, the 2014 season is just on the horizon.

Even now it feels like the regular season is light-years away, but MLB on Twitter accurately pointed out that spring training is where successful campaigns start:

The Red Sox understand that better than perhaps any other team, and manager John Farrell wants his team to treat this year’s spring training as a clean slate after their World Series triumph, according to Mike Bauman of MLB.com:

To get back to a mindset that was from the first day of Spring Training last year, and not the most recent memory– which was a great one– but to recognize that there was a lot of work, a journey that went into getting that final out recorded in Fenway. I think as you’ve been around the guys since they’ve reported, the conversation, the talk is about what we do today, and not what’s happened previous. In a nutshell, that was probably the overall message.

Most teams likely feel the same way, and while some probably realize that a championship in 2014 isn’t necessarily realistic, spring training is an important tool for squads of all skill levels.

It is also a big deal for every player regardless of his age or experience. Veteran players will use spring training as a way to get their feel and timing down leading up to the season, while rookies view it as an opportunity to make their mark.

Spring training statistics are more important for some players than others, but fans take great interest in them regardless.

With that in mind, here is a full listing of every MLB team’s official spring training rosters, along with stats that will be updated after each game.

 

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What Should Be New-Age Benchmarks for a Baseball Hall of Famer?

What makes a Hall of Famer?

That’s a question that many in the baseball world will be pondering, discussing and, no doubt, debating when the latest round of Hall of Fame ballots are announced Wednesday, Jan. 8.

And yet, that question is more or less unanswerable, because there are so many ways to approach it. The concept of being a Hall of Famer is subjective—it depends on the voter, obviously—but over the years, it’s become more and more objective, more and more of a definable identity.

That’s why, at some point along the way, certain numbers like 3,000 hits, 500 home runs and 300 wins became standards or benchmarks that needed to be met or at least approached in order to enter the Hall of Fame.

But those milestones are nothing other than constructs in place simply because of the rarity with which they’ve been achieved. After all, in the 100-plus years of modern baseball history, only 28 players have ever reached 3,000 hits, only 25 have 500 homers and only 24 have 300 wins.

And yet, there are 208 total players in the Hall of Fame.

In other words, there never was, is or will be a “magic number” that automatically earns a player enshrinement. Who’s to say that a specific statistic should be the deciding factor in whether a player is in or out?

Certainly, though, categories like hits, homers and wins aren’t the best measures anymore.

With the rise and growth of sabermetrics over the past 30-plus years, baseball as a whole has gotten much, much smarter. That doesn’t mean evaluating the sport and those who play it isn’t still an ongoing challenge and debate.

While it’s undoubtedly better to weigh newer numbers that help to better compare players across different generations, eras and run-scoring environments—the sport does, in fact, change from time to time—there still isn’t a catch-all number that guarantees a place in Cooperstown. Nor should there be, really.

That in mind, here’s a batch of new-age metrics and statistics—along with rough target Hall of Fame standards—that might better serve as markers for determining whether a player is worthy of consideration, if not enshrinement. Because it’s about a lot more than one number.

*To be clear, this is aimed strictly at on-field performance. While topics like amphetamines, steroids or any other so-called performance-enhancing drugs are considerations for a large portion of voters and fans of the Hall of Fame, they won’t be considered here.

 

Wins Above Replacement (WAR)

WAR has its share of detractors and critics, and it’s not even calculated the same way by sites like FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.

It’s still one of the best metrics for evaluating performance—and Hall-worthiness—because it makes it possible to compare all players (both position players and pitchers), all eras (from the Deadball Era through the Steroids Era) and all aspects of the sport (hitting, pitching, defense, base running, etc.) in one fell swoop.

Although FanGraphs (fWAR) and Baseball Reference (bWAR) don’t have the exact same under-the-hood formula for WAR, perusing the career leaders in the category in both fWAR and bWAR shows that the sweet spot for becoming a legitimate candidate for Cooperstown is somewhere around 60 WAR.

That’s not to say that coming up short means the Hall is out of reach. WAR is a counting statistic, meaning it’s accumulated over a number of years.

That’s why it helps to examine some rate statistics, which can be better indicators of dominance over a five- or eight- or 10-year stretch.

Like these.

 

Adjusted On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS+)

In short, this is a newer, better version of the traditional OPS. Adjusted OPS+ is better simply because—that’s right—it adjusts for league average and park effects.

That makes it much easier to compare a hitter’s offensive performance from 1938 to 1968 to 2008, or from hitter-friendly Coors Field to pitcher-friendly Petco Park in 2013.

Essentially, the statistic is built around 100 as the average, and any point above or below 100 is a percentage point above or below league average. For example, Miguel Cabrera’s OPS+ of 187 in 2013 means he was a whopping 87 percent better than average.

By Hall of Fame standards, an OPS+ in the neighborhood of 120 to 130 is enough to get a long look, depending on how much of a player’s game was based around merely offense.

 

Weighted Runs Created (wRC+)

Similar to OPS+ in many ways, wRCis another offense-only measure that adjusts for league and park averages. It also is based around 100 as the average, with each point above equal to a run above average.

The difference is that where OPS+ is merely an advanced version of conventional OPS, wRC+ is a more all-encompassing statistic that weighs elements beyond the batter’s box, like baserunning. To make things a bit easier and all-encompassing, wRC+ converts offensive aspects into a baseball basic—runs.

A wRC+ around 130, going by FanGraphs, merits Cooperstown candidacy for most hitters.

 

Adjusted Earned Run Average Plus (ERA+)

In case the point isn’t clear just yet, ERA+ is another metric that covers league and park adjustments. And just like OPS+ and wRC+, it’s also based around 100 as average.

After all, if the past two or three seasons of pitching domination have proved anything, it’s that a 3.50 ERA in 2013 is a heck of a lot different—and worse—than a 3.50 ERA in 2001.

Once again, translating to Hall of Fame criteria, an ERA+ north of 120 often is where the conversation begins.

 

Conclusion

When weighing each of these specific stats, the important thing to remember is the big picture. It bears repeating, again: One number does not a Hall of Famer make.

As pointed out above, there are players who don’t reach these standards in one or more of the above metrics (or even more conventional ones) who are in the Hall of Fame. Similarly, there are players who fit into certain criteria mentioned who aren’t in Cooperstown and might never be.

What’s interesting about three of the four stats cited—the adjusted ones: OPS+, wRC+ and ERA+—is that a Hall of Fame resume typically starts somewhere in the 120 to 130 range. In other words, being roughly 20 to 30 percent above league average in many cases is a good starting point for the Hall.

Of course, all sorts of factors and statistics should be considered, including counting numbers (WAR, hits, homers, strikeouts, etc.), rate numbers (OPS+, ERA+, WHIP, etc.), awards and honors (like All-Star Games, MVPs and Cy Youngs), moments and achievements (including memorable performances and postseason success), and even the “sniff test,” which is more or less an initial gut reaction.

Even after evaluating all of the above, arguments will ensue. That might be seen as a problem to some, but it’s also what makes the question “What makes a Hall of Famer?” something to ask—and ponder, discuss and debate—every single year.

 

Statistics referenced in this article come from FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.

To talk baseball or fantasy baseball; check in with me on Twitter: @JayCat11

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