Yanks Table Setters Provide A Just Average Spread
Posted by Steve L. on November 21st, 2008 · Comments (0)
Using the Complete Baseball Encyclopedia, we can see, in 2008, American League batters (as a whole) sans pitchers batting, had a batting average (BA) of .268 and an on base average (OBA) of .336 (in 87,293 PA). So, on average, A.L. “batters” had an OBA that was .068 higher than their BA.
How did the Yankees look in 2008 – compared to the league average difference between BA and OBA? Here are the numbers:
PLAYER OBA BA OBA-BA (OBA-BA)-.068 Jason Giambi .373 .247 .126 .058 Richie Sexson .371 .250 .121 .053 Juan Miranda .500 .400 .100 .032 Cody Ransom .400 .302 .098 .030 Jorge Posada .364 .268 .096 .028 Alex Rodriguez .392 .302 .090 .022 Shelley Duncan .262 .175 .087 .019 Chad Moeller .311 .231 .080 .012 Hideki Matsui .370 .294 .076 .008 Bobby Abreu .371 .296 .075 .007 Johnny Damon .375 .303 .072 .004 Derek Jeter .363 .300 .063 -.005 Morgan Ensberg .263 .203 .060 -.008 Alb. Gonzalez .232 .173 .059 -.009 Brett Gardner .283 .228 .055 -.013 Jus. Christian .302 .250 .052 -.016 Xavier Nady .320 .268 .052 -.016 Melky Cabrera .301 .249 .052 -.016 Jose Molina .263 .216 .047 -.021 Ivan Rodriguez .257 .219 .038 -.030 Robinson Cano .305 .271 .034 -.034 Wilson Betemit .289 .265 .024 -.044
You sort of expect to see Cano, Molina and Melky at the bottom of this list and Giambi at the top. But, check out the first three batters of the Yankees line-up this past season: Damon, Jeter and Abreu. Their “BA to OBA” spread was just about league average. I never would have expected that, would you?
