Fun With sOPS+
If there is one development in the last couple of years that has drastically improved the casual fan's ability to understand the game, it is the appearance of baseball-reference.com's splits pages. It's especially true of the team and league splits pages, which provide us with endless data on norms, so that when we look at a player's production in various situations, we know how it compares to league or team average.
My favorite stat on those splits pages is sOPS+. OPS you probably know. OPS+ is normalized OPS--that is, 100 is average, better than 100 is better than average, and less than 100 is worse than average. At the moment, Jason Kendall has an OPS+ of 89 while Prince Fielder is at 117. (Last year he was among the league leaders at 156.)
sOPS+ takes that one step farther. The "s" stands for "split," so for any split (say, how a lefty batter does against lefty pitching), sOPS+ tells us how a performance is relative to the average for that split. For instance, Fielder's OPS against lefties is 727--way below average--but it's better than how lefties typically do against southpaw pitchers. So his sOPS+ is above average, at 112.
My favorite application of sOPS+ is seeing how players compare to positional averages. We all know which positions have the most and least offense--you expect a masher to play first or left field, and it's rare to have a middle-of-the-order threat playing middle infield. But those are only general concepts. Do you know how catcher offense compares to shortstop offense? Left field to right field?
So, getting to the point that got me writing today, think about the various production we're getting around the diamond. Braun is mashing the ball, as is Hart; Hardy is hot, Branyan is giving us more from third; Weeks isn't good by any standard at second, while Cameron and Kendall seem rather middling for their positions.
Here's my question for you: At which position are the Brewers getting the best offense, relative to league average for that position? In other words, at which position does the Crew have the highest sOPS+?
(Take a guess, I'll wait.)
(I know, it's a tough one. Don't worry, I'm a patient guy.)
(You haven't guessed yet? Come on.)
(The Jeopardy theme music is about over.)
(Just pick somebody.)
If you said shortstop, you'd be right. Through yesterday's games, it isn't even really close. Brewers shortstops have an sOPS+ of 126. LF is 117, RF is 114, while 1B and CF are 109 and 108, respectively. Here's the whole list.
Those aren't the exact numbers for the starters, since no one has played every single game at their position. But for LF, RF, and 1B, they are pretty close. What's interesting is just how far Hardy is ahead of the pack. His OPS+ is up to 117, tied with Fielder and just behind Braun and Hart. Relative to position, however, his sOPS+ is 135. That ranks him higher than the shortstops of any NL team except for one (Florida). He's certainly not the batsman that Hanley Ramirez is, but his defense may well make up the difference.
We all know that Hardy is white/red/so/extremely hot right now, but sOPS+ puts it in proper perspective. Among non-pitchers, and taking defense into account, it's possible--even likely--that Hardy has been the most valuable player on the Brewers in 2008.
And he's younger than Miguel Tejada, too.
1 recs |
6 comments
Comments
looking at the list
My first thought is that there must be a lot of bad 2nd basemen out there.
by ol Pete on Jul 5, 2008 12:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
Hardy
He’s hitting .448 (30-67) since his sixteen-game hitting streak started. I’m sure the TV crew will talk about that with awe (it is impressive) but I bet they won’t mentioned the least he could be hitting in his streak is .238 (16-67). I think, since they liked McClung’s “I walked six but it’s like I only really walked two” spiel, they should talk about Hardy hitting really only .210 during his streak.
Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.
by TheJay on Jul 5, 2008 2:58 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I got the impression that the comments about McClung were humorous.
by ol Pete on Jul 5, 2008 3:20 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Besides the already-mentioned stuff...
I find it interesting that our pinch-hitting OPS of .654 is actually above average (sOPS+ 103)...I sure figured teams would be getting more offense out of PH appearances.
by Zeyes on Jul 5, 2008 2:59 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs
I was also surprised
at how little offense we got out of DH. It’s a tiny sample, sure, but most of those ABs went to guys who ought to have given us more.
Also, cheese.
by Jeff Sackmann on Jul 5, 2008 3:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs
Send me the Rice a Roni
while you were patiently waiting I guessed SS and LF. That is really impressive by Hardy. I think the reason I guessed right was the time I spent looking at the all star ballot this week and realizing how weak some of the positions were.
by molitorfan on Jul 5, 2008 4:11 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

by 
























