Introducing BOB

Introducing BOB

 

 

Say hi to BOB. Or you can call him by his full name, which is Bat on Ball %

 

 


This equation is very simple, it calculates the percentage of plate appearances that’s final outcome comes via a batted ball.

 

 

(Plate Appearances – BB – SO – HBP)
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(Plate Appearances)

 

 

Players at the top of the list are more inclined to make things happen with their bats, hit aggressively & early within a count and let their bat dictate their fate. Players at the bottom of the list are content with waiting pitchers out for a select pitch to drive and don’t mind talking a walk (or striking out) if they don’t get their pitch. With that said, I don’t think one philosophy is better than the other; the stat just gives us a deeper insight into a player’s approach at the plate.

 

 

I’m introducing this stat because it will be used in future articles in a cross analysis with batting average on balls in play (BABIP) to help predict some upcoming 2007 numbers. I’ve also devised a number of other ways to use this stat, allowing us to gain insight into power surges (or declines), possible slowing of the bat, a change in a hitters philosophy and more.

 

 

Top 10 BOB 2006

 

 

First ””””””””””””””” Last ”””””””””””’ OBP ””””””””””’ SLG ””””””””””’ OPS ””””””””””’ BOB
Placido Polanco 0.328542 0.364425 0.692967 0.89697
Juan Pierre 0.32973 0.387697 0.717426 0.896
Yuniesky Betancourt 0.310225 0.403226 0.713451 0.876712
Paul Lo Duca 0.354779 0.427734 0.782514 0.876588
Jay Payton 0.32483 0.418312 0.743142 0.867347
Johnny Estrada 0.328054 0.444444 0.772499 0.86456
Freddy Sanchez 0.378378 0.472509 0.850887 0.857595
Robinson Cano 0.364892 0.524896 0.889788 0.854331
Kenji Johjima 0.332103 0.450593 0.782696 0.854244
Bengie Molina 0.318777 0.466513 0.78529 0.847162

 

 

Bottom 10 BOB 2006

 

 

First ”””””””””” Last ”””””””””””” OBP ””””””””””’ SLG ””””””””””” OPS ””””””””””’ BOB
Adam Dunn 0.365103 0.490196 0.855299 0.543192
Brad Wilkerson 0.305785 0.421875 0.72766 0.572603
Jim Thome 0.416393 0.597959 1.014353 0.57377
Ryan Howard 0.424716 0.659208 1.083924 0.576705
Pat Burrell 0.388007 0.502165 0.890172 0.590829
Morgan Ensberg 0.39596 0.462532 0.858492 0.593939
Jason Giambi 0.412781 0.558296 0.971077 0.599309
Jonny Gomes 0.32538 0.431169 0.756548 0.603037
Ryan Langerhans 0.349593 0.377778 0.727371 0.609756
Travis Hafner 0.438721 0.65859 1.097311 0.612789

 

 

You can see the difference is the caliber in player in the top & bottom 10. We’ll have a more in-depth look at the BOB rankings of 2006 next time.

Share your thoughts with us. What do you think of the results & what can be gained from the ratio? Interested in the ratio of a certain player, etc? Does the low OPS of the high BOB grouping interest you?

More from Matthias Koster
5 replies on “Introducing BOB”
  1. says: Kman

    Hey, nice work there.

    I had an article regarding 2006 in the pipeline. But now, everyone reading this, click on the link rkuzinski provided for a more in-depth look at BOB & OPS in 2006.

    I’m looking at the BOB to see if a correlation can be struck between BOB & BABIP, and if it can be used to create a decent prediction of an upcoming statistics.

  2. says: rkuzinski

    Well, my mini-study looked at all active batters with a certain threshold of ABs (1500). I didn’t generate a list from just 2006.

  3. says: Kman

    I’ve looked into Freddy Sanchez, and his rate, along with a couple of other stats. I’ll probably post it on friday, and whether he’s for real or not.

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