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 |