Gettin' 'er Done

Sunday morning (February 4, 2012) I was driving in my car and listening to the FAN 590. Actually, it was my mother’s car, as I no longer own one. And as I no longer own a car, I seldom listen to the radio anymore, but it appears that despite the statistical revolution in baseball (and sports in general), little has changed behind the mic. The host of the program I was listening to is Ben Ennis. I don’t know him as a person, but I do know that he has covered sports extensively, and the Blue Jays specifically, for a little while now. The FAN590 is a legitimate sports radio station, and thus Mr.Ennis almost certainly has a good degree in journalism or media studies or something along those lines. I’m also doubtful that he is up-to-date on the more progressive statistical measures of baseball.
The point of this post is not to judge Ennis’ baseball knowledge, but to harp on a point that he made on his program, a point I have heard made by several pundits in the last couple of years. According to Ennis (and others), Manny Ramirez 2010 performance as hitter didn’t “get it done.” Ennis acknowledged Manny’s on-base-percentage (OBP), but he felt that Manny's power had disappeared, and that a slugging percentage (SLG) of .460 with 9 home runs (HRs) was not "getting it done." HRs are a product of “power”, but they are not the defining stat. Power can be measured in a few ways, but my favourite is to merely look at the gap between SLG and batting average (AVG), also know is isolated slugging percentage (ISO). For context, anything over .150 is considered good, and anything over .200 is very good. Manny Ramirez’ ISO was .162 in 2010, with a .460SLG and a .298AVG. Manny’s OBP was .409, which is spectacular. Enough of you have seen Moneyball that I don’t feel the need to go into OBP and its virtues, but it’s the most important of the standard stats for a hitter. Ennis erroneously brushed it off and instead focused on SLG and HR. My beloved wOBA ranks Manny as the 21st best hitter in all of baseball in 2010 among hitters who played at least half a season (at least 300 plate appearances). Manny’s wOBA was .382, which is awesome. In half a season he was worth 1.2 wins above replacement (WAR), and that makes him an above-average player despite being a big negative in the field and on the base paths. Also according to Ennis, his .460SLG was subpar for a bat-only player. That’s interesting, considering it places him as 7th best of any player who qualified for the DH distinction in 2010 (out of 49), and was better than the Blue Jays’ Adam Lind by 37 points.

When sports people like Ennis assess a player based solely on Home Runs or SLG, they’re being remarkably ignorant of the bigger picture. Yes, Manny only hit 9 home runs (in 320 plate appearances, which still isn’t a bad pace for the majority of hitters), but he walked 14.4% of the time he came to the plate (MLB average is ~8%). Also, he was traded in-season and forced into a part-time role with the White Sox, where he struggled. In his 66 games with the Dodgers, his triple slash was .311/.405/.510 and he hit 8 home runs in only 232 plate appearances. I challenge someone to argue against that production.
So please, when you hear/read a commentator or writer or some other “expert” analyze a player, don’t merely take it at face value. Frankly, when it comes to accurately covering the sport(s) they’re assigned to, many of these guys aren’t “getting it done.”