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?