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?
I did a similar thing here:
http://rluzinski.blogspot.com/2006/03/contact-rate-and-ops.html
The ability for a player to “just put the ball in play” seems pretty darn overrated.
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.
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.
My internet name is “rluzinski”, btw. Stupid band-aid. 🙂
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.