The type of analysis that we perform is an outgrowth of a passion for the game that we all had long before we ever knew about strikeout-to-walk ratio or context-neutral performance or career paths.
But, geez….628.
That�s Barry Bonds’s on-base percentage, a figure that is so far off the charts as to be mind-boggling.
This week’s question comes from Robert Shore, who asks:
Like many people, I was mightily impressed by Voros McCracken’s work, which strongly suggested that pitchers have essentially no effect on the conversion of balls in play to outs. It occurred to me to wonder about the converse question. Are some batters better than others in converting balls in play to base hits?
Starting today, we will be periodically running some of the best content from the new, super-charged Baseball Prospectus archives. Those new to BP may be reading this content for the first time. Long-time readers can rekindle old debates. We begin today with Keith Woolner’s look at the conversion of balls in play into outs, from 2002. To do your own mining, go to BP’s Search function. To request a specific article from the archives, e-mail jkeri@baseballprospectus.com.
Those of you who have had your fill of Barry Bonds will probably want to skip to Keith Woolner’s latest column. For the rest of you… .628 I’ve spent a lot of time making the point that I, my colleagues here at Baseball Prospectus, and the many other people who do the kind of work…