Brew Crew Ball: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Around SBN: The Worst Season of Francisco Rodriguez's Career Bar-right-arrows



Positional Averages

Maybe these are posted elsewhere every year, and I just never found them. But if not, here you go. People always talk about "average production" from various positions, and I never know what they mean.

I'm going to look closer at these numbers and a different way of calculating positional averages for my next Hardball Times column, but in the meantime, here are the raw numbers. They are calculated across the AL and NL for all 2006 games--thus, for 1B, that includes everybody from starters like Prince Fielder to one-game fill-ins, like Corey Hart.

Position AVG OBP SLG OPS
Catcher 0.269 0.329 0.416 0.745
First Base 0.285 0.363 0.489 0.851
Second Base 0.276 0.334 0.410 0.744
Third Base 0.276 0.347 0.458 0.805
Shortstop 0.275 0.332 0.408 0.740
Leftfield 0.278 0.354 0.464 0.818
Centerfield 0.269 0.335 0.427 0.761
Rightfield 0.277 0.347 0.460 0.807
Designated Hitter 0.263 0.347 0.463 0.811

0 recs | Comment 8 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

The thing that stuck out most to me
was the average catcher bats .269 This makes me all the happier that now have a .300 batting catcher and a nice backup.

by Tim on Jan 29, 2007 6:08 PM CST   0 recs

OBP differences
Jeff, I was curious about how you calculated the averages. I keep my own spreadsheet of league averages and my OBPs are slightly different than yours. I just compile all the stats from ESPN's stat pages and was wondering why that causes mine to be a bit off from your method.

by Jim Wisinski on Jan 30, 2007 2:39 PM CST   0 recs

Jeff makes his up
"C'mon, boys, let's get 'em some RUNS!" --- Daron Sutton, pretty much every game of the 2005 season.

by roguejim on Jan 30, 2007 2:48 PM CST to parent up   0 recs

He knows he's still great, though
"C'mon, boys, let's get 'em some RUNS!" --- Daron Sutton, pretty much every game of the 2005 season.

by roguejim on Jan 30, 2007 2:49 PM CST to parent up   0 recs

I used Pinto's day by day database
I took the positional averages from each team's splits pages, added up all the counting stats, and that's how I generated my averages.

If the only difference is with OBP, it might be because we are calculating it differently.  I used (H+BB+HBP)/(AB+BB+HBP+SF)  I know there are a couple of different ways to do it.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 30, 2007 3:12 PM CST to parent up   0 recs

Gorillas!
Mine is the same, must be slight differences in the stat providers.

by Jim Wisinski on Jan 30, 2007 3:52 PM CST to parent up   0 recs

My best guess
is that the systems differ by how they define an at-bat as first-base or pinch-hit or something.  

by Jeff Sackmann on Jan 30, 2007 5:02 PM CST to parent up   0 recs

Nice data, here's what I do
I've been doing something like this for some years now.  I also use the ESPN data, like the commenter above, there is a team data section where you can select by position and I compile the list of NL teams (since I follow the Giants) and create a table for each position showing the production by position for each team.

I figure since data is lumpy, I thought it would be more interesting, like your fellow poster did by comparing projections with the positional averages, to see where each Giants player would have ranked in the previous year ranking if you took out the Giants and inserted in the Giants player for the upcoming season.  From looking at the data that way, sometimes there are positions that are skewing the averages, but by ranking then the player look better, relatively.

I never used public projections before, I would typically use the 3 year average or adjust for what I thought were extenuating factors (like a new player who played at a good or bad hitters park, for example, I would have used his 3 year road rates) and then insert the Giants starter into the ranking again, to see where he would fit in.  So just because Durham had a good year, the Giants would not just keep the same ranking, as his 3 year is lower, so it could go down.

I would get a ranking for each player then average it across the team to see what the average is and then compare them against the year before, to give me some idea how good, relatively, the Giants of the upcoming season is compared to the Giants of the previous season.

I will have to compile all the projections and use them this year instead.

by obsessivegiantscompulsive on Jan 31, 2007 8:06 PM CST   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Brew Crew Ball is made with whole grains and contains bits of real grit. It's the perfect dessert for a quarter-century of futility. Serve it ice-cold by itself or over a fresh Yosting. Guaranteed to enhance your sarcasm and sense of irony!

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Prince-fielder-r_small
Escobar and Gamel (and LaPorta) make BA's Minors All-Star team
Celeb_small
Blast from the Past: A 1987 Sports Illustrated!
Cowswithguns_small
Rumorville: Prince Fielder and Matt Cain
Images_small
So what is satisfactory for Rickie Weeks?
Cowswithguns_small
Who has options left?
Celeb_small
The Feel-Good Story of September Roster Expansion
Small
Playoff Odds Report - please explain
Celeb_small
Now Starting and Making His Major League Debut...
Haas_small
Bob Webb Conspiracy Theory
Small
Will the Brewers have money to spend?

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini

Featured Poll

Poll
Who do you want to face in the first round of the playoffs?
  • New York Mets
  • Philadelphia Phillies
  • Arizona Diamondbacks
  • Los Angeles Dodgers

  13 votes | Results

81 - 60

4

Won 1

21

NL Central Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Chicago 85 56 .602 0 Lost 6
Milwaukee 81 60 .574 4 Won 1
St. Louis 75 66 .531 10 Lost 2
Houston 74 67 .524 11 Lost 1
Cincinnati 63 78 .446 22 Won 2
Pittsburgh 60 80 .428 24.5 Won 1

(updated 9.6.2008 at 4:47 PM CDT)

FanShots

Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.

Recent FanShots

Jeremy Jeffress' interview with Trenni during the broadcast on Friday night. Not very long, but...
Chad Moeller sighting
Anyone know the provenance of this logo? I hadn't seen it before. (But maybe that's just because I'm not all that old.)
A-Rod? Why'd It Have To Be A-Rod?
Does Harden Have an Injury as Well?
Who is the NL Cy Young Favorite?
Reliever, Starter, and apparently for one month only according to MLB's site a catcher as well. DiFelice is as versatile as a Chone FIggens Vinny Rottino Mark Derosa hybrid.
Haudricourt discusses the "no-hitter" on ESPN. (h/t Bugs & Cranks)
We Can Help Frick 'Em
Our friend Bernie's latest take on the Cardinals

Post_icon New FanShot All FanShots Carrot-mini


Moderators

61427post_foto_small roguejim

Mordecai_brown_small Jeff Sackmann

Cowswithguns_small battlekow

Contributors

Images_small KLSnow

Small John

Small dixieflatline

ad

Site Meter